‘Radical’ model pays off at college for adults with some credits

Although it is hardly a new arrival on the university scene, College Unbound (CU), a start-up founded in 2009 for underserved adult learners, is increasingly being seen as a viable model for the future of flexible education in light of looming demographic changes and distrust in higher education.

Instead of a traditional degree programme, CU develops personalised lifelong degree plans for adults with some college credits but no degree.

Earlier this year, the organisation was granted full accreditation by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) – the governing body that recognises Ivy League universities such as Harvard.

Nicholas Longo, director of the Rutgers University Democracy Lab and a CU board member, said it was pretty much unheard of for a new accredited university to be created in New England through NECHE – particularly such a “radical” and “cutting edge” one like CU.

“But CU [achieved] it because they are providing something unique that’s desperately needed in higher education.

“I think what College Unbound is doing represents a new more collaborative paradigm, which is more about the co-creation of knowledge, as opposed to simply being more interactive in how you help students learn.”

The number of people with some postsecondary experience but nothing to show for it is a huge problem in the US system, according to Bryan Alexander, adjunct professor at Georgetown University.

“I could have spent nine years as an [undergraduate], studying and learning all kinds of great things, but if I don't have a BA or a BS, then for an employer it’s as if I never went. A lot of campuses are eager to figure out how to solve this problem and how to enrol students, and CU really focuses on that.”

Alexander said the “fascinating experiment” could be a potential remedy to the US’ looming demographic cliff, with student numbers expected to fall as a result of declining birth rates.  

This means “the traditional age student numbers have been dwindling, so the market is shrinking,” said Alexander.

“Campuses are trying all kinds of ways to keep the classes filled up, and going after people with some college [experience], no degree, is one of those ways.”

Launched in Rhode Island, CU now has sites in Delaware Valley, Washington State, and South Carolina, as well as a prison education programme. Today, it serves hundreds of students across multiple states.

The organisation offers a personalised curriculum and a mix of in-person and remote learning, with all students working towards a Bachelor of Arts in Organisational Leadership and Change.

Students are required to develop and implement their own project centred around community concerns, entrepreneurial businesses, workplace initiatives or social ventures, with all learning designed to advance their chosen project.

Previous credits from other institutions can be transferred to the degree programme, no matter how long ago they were earned.

“I think most people in higher education realise there is a need for some reforms and are looking for new ways of doing things, and so CU can be an incubator for new ideas and ways of learning,” said Longo.

Alexander said the organisation could face pushback from the more traditional parts of the sector because CU supports social justice; is democratically oriented, with students having significant say in their educational path; has no research agenda; and operates on a limited budget.

And although Longo believed that the campus life model would never be fully replaced, he said there was also room for places like CU to reimagine it.

“Places where people live and work, like barber shops, libraries and workplaces, can also be sites for higher learning. Learning was already happening in these places; CU is just helping to make it valued in a more formal way to make it work towards a degree.”

Adam Bush, co-founder and president of CU, said the organisation can “complement” the traditional system and reinforce the idea that everyone is learning all the time.

“Institutions of learning have turned off their capacity to honour that by saying it only counts when someone’s taking classes in this way or paying tuition in that way.

“When really, as institutions of higher learning, we have a mandate, we have a responsibility, to help folks be seen as learners, to help folks be a part of learning communities and to have degrees that really matter.”

In April, Yale University published a report about rebuilding trust in higher education, finding that the institution needs to look again at fees, admissions and teaching practices to regain popular support.

Bush said the report reinforces the “ivory tower idea” of what college should be.

“Clearly that’s not the vision that CU has for higher [education], and I think that vision they are putting forward is one that’s pretty defensive and reactive.

“I think higher [education] needs to be proactive; it needs to be in and of the world, and I think we are all richer as a learning community if we’re engaged in the world around us.”

Bush said the lesson he has learned since CU’s inception is that sustainability comes from improvisation and evolution – although their values must remain the same.

“We look different right now than we did 10 years ago. We really need to look different 10 years from now than we do right now, because the world will be different, because the work our students are doing in that world will be different, and they will be asking different things about us.”

patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com