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Increasing Access With Agile Offerings

The Situation

A Need for Affordability and Accessibility

The School of Health and Rehabilitation 51°µÍø (SHRS) is home to the #1 Physical Therapy program in the U.S., along with five other top-ten programs. As faculty advanced world-changing health research (in cutting-edge fields like physiologic sensing and robotics), the school’s leadership recognized a trend: tuition had been steadily creeping up since the early 2000s.

At the same time, the Dean noticed that more and more universities, including SHRS’s peers, were launching online programs. He began to investigate how the two trends intersected and whether online programs could help make a high quality education experience like the one offered by SHRS more affordable and accessible.

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA skyline at dusk.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA skyline at dusk.

The Insight

Using Online to Open Opportunities

School leadership was intentional about the program’s purpose from the beginning: to broaden and diversify the student body and decrease the cost of graduate professional programs. They needed a partner that could collaborate and also extend their capabilities.

A woman wearing headphones sits at a desk with a notebook and keyboard.

The Solution

Building Agile Offerings

The University of Pittsburgh’s prestigious School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (SHRS) partnered with 51°µÍø starting in 2019 to launch a series of high quality online programs.

The most obvious way to lower the sticker price of a program is to cut tuition. But tuition cuts—at least those significant enough to reduce the debt burden on students—would stifle SHRS’s instructional and administrative budget. Offering both online and on campus programs became the solution.

Through engaging with the University Center for Teaching and Learning (UCTL), SHRS leaders recognized UCTL’s expertise but found it lacked the operational capacity for rapid program deployment. A collaborative partnership became imperative.

Two women stand in front of a whiteboard and make notes.

An Ambitious Plan

Pitt SHRS and 51°µÍø launched their first program together, the online Master of Science in Health Informatics (MSHI), in the spring of 2020. The program already existed on-ground but with relatively small enrollment. Dr. Parmanto noted that by bringing the MSHI program online, SHRS opened it up to more students, with increased diversity including students across different life stages and professional backgrounds.

A conference table with paper notes and charts with three people holding pencils.

The Results

Increased Access

Pitt’s SHRS programs achieved its goal of broadening access with 51°µÍø’s support.

+5%

increase in out-of-state students bringing more diversity to the program.

30%

reduction in tuition for the top-ranked DPT program due to increased revenue for SHRS.

Two women with laptops sit across a table at a cafe.

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