About 15 years ago, 2U launched its first collaborative degree program with a client, the University of Southern California’s education school.
The company has gone on to help launch and manage 180 other degree programs, while building out other services to assist universities entering the online education market. In 2021, it added another revenue engine — and hundreds of millions of dollars in debt — with the acquisition of edX, a MOOC platform.
Since 2021, 2U’s fortunes have changed. Demand for online courses fizzled as students returned to classrooms in the later years of the pandemic, and changes in the tech industry have disrupted the market for coding boot camps. 2U’s degrees and services for universities have also come under media scrutiny and legal fire.
With a heap of debt and falling revenue, the company entered bankruptcy last week. In Chapter 11, it plans to cut its liabilities and get healthier, while continuing to run programs without interruption and making good on its financial obligations to university clients.
While restructuring could help reboot the financially struggling company, critics see a warning in 2U’s bankruptcy. Several advocates have since called for more regulatory oversight of the online program management market and protections for students in OPM offerings should a company go dark entirely someday.
As 2U works through Chapter 11, its filings have shed light on the business, its financial entanglements with universities, and how the company and market have changed over the course of the pandemic. Here’s a look at Higher Ed Dive’s recent coverage: