2U GOING TO UNDERGRADS? Newly minted publicly traded company, 2U, said today it was expanding its online programs to undergrad campuses, starting with a joint program launched with Simmons College School of Nursing and Health Sciences. The program is slated to start in September. Students will have online classes via 2U's platform and do practical, hands-on work in local communities. 2U has offered a graduate nursing degree with Georgetown University and Simmons for the past couple of years. (All other 2U programs are also graduate programs). This is one of the early signals of experimental, fully online programs that will offer bonafide undergraduate degrees. The degree isn't cheap: tuition will run $1200 per credit hour and students must complete 128 hours of credit. (They can transfer in 80 credits; some credits are less expensive, too.) Bottom line: the Simmons bill (just for tuition) will be between $40K and $50K.
2U, which trades as TWOU, closed down in Thursday trading at $14.15 a share.
Editor's note: With additional information about the pricing, we adjusted the cost: Some of the credits students need are less expensive. This estimate does not include books, fees or living expenses.
