It was only a matter of time before major corporations became interested in the online education community. The for-profit industry has been in business for decades without much acknowledgement from any large corporations, but recent years have indicated to the world what a booming business online education and for-profit education can be, thereby attracting the attention of many entrepreneurs. The global university, University of the People, was one indication that business entrepreneurs were taking note of the fast pace of online education, even as the university’s founder maintained an “open policy” of free tuition. However, aside from interested entrepreneurs, the biggest news is Wal-Mart’s recent declaration that it is trying to secure a partnership with an accredited online university for its employees.
Wal-Mart is the epitome of a global corporation, coming in just behind McDonalds and Starbucks as a symbol of Western industrialization. It is no shock to the regular consumer or economist that the company is now considering joining forces with another up-and-coming business venture to produce what appears to be a lucrative partnership. Wal-Mart’s goal for the future is to work to educate its work-force population which is an ever-growing entity, and therefore it seemed to be a monumental task to decide on a for-profit company that could support such a large population for a cheap education cost.
The process of industrializing for-profit schools began a few months ago when Wal-Mart sent American Public Education (a company which runs two accredited online universities) an email asking if it would be interested to be a partner with Wal-Mart in offering online college courses to its employees. The past few months have consisted of many negotiations between the two major corporations, which only recently came to a $50 million agreement through which Wal-Mart agreed to spend this amount in tuition over the next three years and other assistance for interested employees.
The partnership between American Public Education and Wal-Mart could not have come at a better time, and has meant a boost in its net worth and stocks due to the guaranteed wealth and secure partnership. This partnership surprised many analysts and economists, who assumed Wal-Mart would choose a larger for-profit entity such as University of Phoenix, which dwarfs the much smaller American Public Education in its student numbers. However, Wal-Mart chose the lesser-known company at a great advantage to both its price point and the reputation of the schools themselves. The company was not very well known before the partnership with Wal-Mart, and as a result, the schools it is responsible for have now begun to prosper like never before, without spending a large amount of money.
Enrolling its students in a traditional brick-and-mortar school was not a possibility for the CEOs of Wal-Mart, who knew the costs of online education were much lower and much more appealing for its employees. As a result, we were able to witness the first merging of a major industrial corporation with a much smaller for-profit corporation: a connection that is bound to spawn new unities within the next few years.