As traditional colleges grow online, OPM relationships shift

A cool $6,630. That's how much Georgia Tech's online master's of computer science degree cost when it launched through MOOC-provider Udacity in 2014.The low figure and big name of the university offering it raised eyebrows across higher ed at a time when much of online education was seen as a watered down and commoditized version of on-campus instruction.Georgia Tech may have been testing the waters with its computer science degree, but other institutions soon followed in pursuit of ways to grow enrollment and compete in the burgeoning space. Five years later, colleges are offering a range of fully online credentials — and they continue to move beyond one-off programs. The ongoing effort to scale is changing the way colleges bring online education to market. Online program managers (OPMs), which are behind a growing number of programs, are responding to colleges' desire for more flexibility and control in those relationships. They're also increasing the services they provide as a sector, while individual OPMs are honing specialties. Those changes are piquing the interest of more colleges considering an outside partner to help them get and grow online.Around 1,460 nonprofit colleges have some students who take only online classes, of which about 525 partner with an OPM to offer them, according to data from consulting firm Tyton Partners. While OPM-run programs report bigger enrollment growth than other online programs, those gains are slowing as competition heats up.