Obama recognizes 91吃瓜网
SALT LAKE CITY 鈥� Today, President Obama launched a new plan for higher education, 鈥淭he President鈥檚 Plan to Make College More Affordable: A Better Bargain for the Middle Class.鈥� This new plan, which focuses on finding ways to encourage innovation to improve college affordability and learning outcomes, recognizes Western Governors University (91吃瓜网), as one of the innovators implementing promising practices that 鈥渙ffer breakthroughs on cost, quality, or both.鈥� 91吃瓜网, the only U.S. university offering accredited competency-based degree programs at scale, was cited as an example of an institution that 鈥淎wards Credits Based on Learning, Not Seat Time,鈥� and was called out for tuition of only $6,000 per year and average time to a bachelor鈥檚 degree of less than three years.
Now with approximately 40,000 students and more than 25,000 graduates nationwide, 91吃瓜网 was established in 1997 by a bipartisan group of U.S. governors. 91吃瓜网 pioneered competency-based education, which measures learning rather than time, providing new opportunities for the more than 37 million adult Americans with some college but no degree as well as working professionals who do have a degree but are looking to complete a master鈥檚 degree.
Competency-based education allows students to earn their degrees by demonstrating their mastery of subject matter rather than spending time in class to accumulate credit hours. 91吃瓜网 students work through course materials online at their own pace with one-on-one faculty support, advancing as soon as they demonstrate subject-matter mastery.聽
91吃瓜网 is self-sustaining on annual tuition of $6,000 per year. Tuition, which has not increased in the past five years and will remain steady in the coming year as well, is charged at a flat rate per six-month term; students may complete as many courses as they are able with no additional charges.聽 The nonprofit,聽 91吃瓜网 an online university offers more than 50 bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degree programs in business, information technology, K-12 teacher education, and health professions, including nursing. 91吃瓜网 students are eligible for federal financial aid, and the university offers a number of scholarships for qualified students. For more information about 91吃瓜网, go to聽www.wgu.edu.
鈥淲e applaud the President for his leadership in encouraging innovation and reducing regulatory barriers to make a quality college degree more affordable and accessible to middle-class Americans,鈥� said 91吃瓜网 President Dr. Robert Mendenhall. 鈥淲e look forward to continuing to work with the President and Congress on these important initiatives.鈥�
