Online education, in its diverse forms and types, is experiencing immense growth rates and carries the promise of an attractive revenue stream. Leaders of many colleges and universities, therefore, are either actively pursuing or contemplating an online strategy. “Careful, though!” was the message delivered by William Fox, president of Culver-Stockton College (MO), and Arthur F. Kirk, president of Saint Leo University (FL) during a session entitled “Advantages and Risks of Online Programs for Private Institutions.”

Both speakers encouraged attendees to consider online offerings, one reasonable motivation being, as Kirk put it, “if not you, some for-profit will do it.” However, both also suggested that campuses proceed carefully and only after reaching consensus on questions such as “What are the objectives?” “What’s the specific market to be targeted?” “Who are the likely consumers?” “What products should be offered?” “Is there sufficient will on campus?” and “Are the significant start-up means available to pursue a promising online strategy?”

Representing institutions with very different online ventures, both speakers agreed that the key to success lies in developing an online education program that naturally fits with an institution’s history of outreach and its bricks-and-mortar operations. Saint Leo is one of the first colleges to offer online education in the national market, having extended a history of wide outreach to nontraditional students, especially active military personnel. Culver-Stockton’s regional approach and, for now, more limited online program offerings match its institutional culture and more modest adult education history. Both speakers stressed, however, that CIC-type institutions should explore online possibilities. As Kirk argued, “All other things being equal, students will prefer CIC institutions over the University of Phoenix. But,” he warned, “the other things do need to be equal.”