Online Program Managers Empower Latino Students

By Rosa Mendoza

Latino students have achieved significant gains in higher education over the past two decades, which is largely due to technological advances. Online learning, specifically, has helped remove barriers and create greater access to more paths to post-secondary degrees. However, despite improvements, Latinos continue to face educational disparities, many of which are the result of socio-economic factors and the digital divide.

Online program managers, or OPMs—specialized vendors that work with colleges and universities to develop, manage, and deploy online programs—have emerged as a valuable partner to help continue to close these gaps. OPM partnerships provide resource-constrained schools with the tools and expertise to develop high-quality programming and reach more students with learning options that align with their education and career goals.

A new research paper by ALLvanza—a non-partisan organization that advocates for all Americans to be prepared to succeed in today’s innovation- and technology-driven world—examines the importance of OPM partnerships, particularly for Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs). Drawing on interviews with administrators from geographically and programmatically diverse schools and research, data and publicly available information from over 40 sources, our paper identifies several key barriers that OPMs help institutions overcome:

1. OPMs provide the technical expertise that many colleges and universities lack in-house to develop, market and manage online programming;
2. Partnerships help reduce start-up costs and mitigate schools’ risk; and
3. They enable educators and administrators to focus their time and energy on education, which drives better student outcomes.

Over the last decade, demand for online programs has grown dramatically. During the 2022/23 academic year, most U.S. college students enrolled in at least one online course, and more than a quarter were enrolled exclusively online. And, overwhelmingly, students are satisfied with their experience. A full 96 percent of online college graduates would recommend distance learning to their colleagues, and three-quarters of students say online education is better than or equal to in-person learning.

Distance learning is no longer a novelty; most students now expect it, and many depend on it to complete a degree. Yet, many HSIs—which receive 74 cents or less per dollar in federal funding compared to all other colleges and universities—lack the resources to offer online programs on their own. Ninety percent of HSIs reported “hitting up against at least one technological or financial challenge to continuing” online programs, and a “lack of IT personnel was a problem” for nearly seven in ten, a report last year found.

“OPMs are essential to the success of online education,” Dr. Antonio Flores, President and CEO of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, said in an interview with ALLvanza. “OPMs and online programs can greatly enhance outcomes by providing non-traditional students the flexibility to pursue higher education in a way that suits their schedules and needs. Additionally, online programs can be more affordable for students.”

Dr. Joseph Foy, President of Benedictine University, shares this outlook. OPMs partnerships “bring together teams with different backgrounds and skill sets, which smaller institutions, such as HSIs, might not have the resources to assemble on their own,” he said. “This collaboration offers significant advantages, especially when it comes to expanding and enhancing online educational programs.”

While regulatory changes under President Biden, which were later retracted, created some uncertainty about the future of OPM partnerships, the Trump Administration’s actions suggest it will support a regulatory framework that will foster continued growth. Policymakers, regardless of their political affiliation, have every reason to support these partnerships.

“Online programs are essential, regardless of the future of the Department of Education,” said Cristóbal Stewart, Dean of the School of Professional and Graduate Studies at the University of Mount Saint Vincent. OPMs, he added, “help us bring down the cost of education” and “allow us to better serve our students.”

At ALLvanza, we work to ensure that every community is empowered to take full advantage of the opportunities that technology brings. As a first-generation college graduate, I understand the financial, logistical and emotional challenges many Latino students face. The availability of online learning is especially valuable for them and others for whom the traditional on-campus college experience may not be viable.

OPM partnerships hold tremendous potential to continue to reduce educational barriers and put a post-secondary degree within reach of more students who otherwise might not pursue a higher education. I hope and expect that policymakers will focus on strengthening these relationships— not discouraging them—which will better ensure that Latinos, the fastest-growing segment of our population, are prepared to compete, succeed and lead in the economy of the future.