Purdue Acquires Kaplan

"What are you looking at? You're laborers. You should be laboring. That's what you get for not having an education."
--Dr Jerry Hathaway (Real Genius)

Interesting acquisition in higher ed as Purdue buys Kaplan University. Kaplan U. is primarily invested in on-line education although it operates 15 facilities across the US.

The obvious objective is to expand Purdue's footprint in online higher ed. Most schools have elected to do this thru internal growth. Purdue is among the first to expand in this manner thru external acquisition.

The new online university will use the Purdue name in some fashion that has yet to be identified. Purdue also intends to rely solely on tuition and fundraising to cover operating expenses. No state appropriations will be utilized.

I have wondered for some time whether a publicly funded institution with broad accessibility mandates can compete with more focused, privately funded rivals. Now we have a public/private hybrid that seems to further complicate matters.

Will be interesting to see how this one unfolds.