As massive cuts to federal funding escalate long-standing financial uncertainty for many colleges, institutions are increasingly reducing course and program offerings. Although that approach may alleviate immediate budget pressures, 57 percent of college students nationwide are already prevented from completing their degrees on time because their institutions don’t offer the required courses during the days and times or via modalities they need.
But colleges could work together and allow students to take classes at other institutions—a model known as course sharing that a recent white paper argues could benefit institutions and students alike. The report from online course-sharing platform Acadeum found that colleges that share courses see higher retention and more revenue.
“Colleges simply cannot be everything to everyone,” Charles Ansell, vice president for research, policy and advocacy at Complete College America, said in the report. “Course sharing and collaboration more broadly enable them to focus on their mission while doubling down on completion with minimal costs.”
Acadeum manages a network of 460-plus institutions that allows students to choose from thousands of online courses and earn credits toward a degree at their home institution, which gets to set competitive prices and collect a share of the tuition money.
“Simply by going to a consortium model where colleges help students manage where they take the course—so it’s aligned to what you want them to take, it’s at a school you’ve preapproved and you’re competitive or equal to the price—colleges can bring in revenues that will help support other initiatives on campus,” said Richard Keaveny, CEO of Acadeum. “The other big opportunity schools have is that there are programs they can bring on that can be aligned where they add in courses they have with one or two other courses from the network that then can be very job- or skill-oriented.”
According to Acadeum’s most recent impact report, the colleges in its network generated some $45 million in new revenue through increased student retention.
The paper released last week, entitled, “If You Love Them, Let Them Go: How Colleges Are Boosting Retention and Enrollment by Sharing Courses With Their Peers,” profiles how two colleges in Acadeum’s consortium—Angelo State University in Texas and the University of Mount Union in Ohio—used course sharing.
Back in 2017, Mount Union had hardly any online education presence, which contributed to the small liberal arts college’s difficulties in offering flexible course options for many of its students. As a result, it lost out on about $900,000 in tuition revenue that summer as students took required courses through other institutions that could better accommodate their schedules and keep them on track for graduation.
But since joining Acadeum’s online course-sharing platform in 2019, Mount Union has tripled its summer enrollment and quadrupled summer session revenue, which was about $1.1 million in 2024, according to the paper.
“Mount Union was 20 years behind in online education,” said Bryan J. Boatright, associate vice president for academic affairs and dean of graduate, digital and continued learning at Mount Union. “Now, we’re ahead of the game. We can compete with the Southern New Hampshire Universities of the world.”
However, Boatright said it’s not Mount Union’s intention to become an online education behemoth like SNHU, but rather to expand options for its students.
“We cannot possibly afford to offer the expertise that would come with adding an additional 2,000 courses to the portfolio students can pick from. Faculty members aren’t cheap, and the more specialized they are, the more expensive that becomes,” he said, adding that course sharing also gives institutions more control over the courses their students take compared to those they may have taken as transient students. “I have access to the syllabus, faculty credentials—and we get to keep some of the revenue.”
Angelo State experienced similar gains after joining Acadeum’s course-sharing consortium a few years ago. According to the paper, 70 percent of students who participated in course sharing between 2021 and 2024 were not on track to graduate when they started. By retaining those students, however, the university generated an estimated $2.85 million in additional tuition revenue.
“When a student completes a class they need through course sharing, they’re back on campus the next semester sitting in your classes, participating in your lectures and later graduating from here,” said Meagan Word, director of student academic progress at Angelo State University. “That’s our goal—to have students back in our classes the following semester and down the road graduating.”
The two case studies show how working together could be key for colleges to stay afloat in an increasingly precarious financial environment, according to Jim Hundrieser, senior adviser to the president of the National Association of College and University Business Officers.
“As our colleges and universities navigate a landscape filled with significant enrollment and financial challenges, the best move for higher education and our nation isn’t competing for a shrinking number of students,” Hundrieser said in the report. “Rather, it’s collaborating to support all students to ensure they have the resources needed to complete their degree or credential. When students win, institutions win too.”
