Purdue University managed to make a big splash without fronting cash in its deal to acquire Kaplan University and its major online education presence.
That’s a key point in an era when public higher education institutions are increasingly saddled with tight state funding and rising cost pressures. But it comes with trade-offs. Purdue agreed to a lengthy contract requiring it to buy support services from parts of the Kaplan operation that will remain tied to a for-profit business. The contract limits Purdue’s early financial downside, but getting out of it in the future would come at significant expense.
Other details in the deal are also pushing the boundaries of what it means to be a public university. Purdue plans for the university it is acquiring from Kaplan to use no state appropriations and instead draw its operating funding from tuition and fund-raising. It has also been exempted from state open-records laws. As a result, opposition is mounting from faculty and open-government groups.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/04/purdues-deal-kaplan-packs-low-front-costs-long-terms-and-boundary-pushing-details