00:00The cost and value of a college education have been under scrutiny amid what can be
00:07crippling levels of student debt. That's also been true in some cases for online university
00:12degrees of dubious quality and outcomes. Special correspondent Fred DeSam Lazaro reports on
00:18one effort to create an accessible, affordable and global university, one that's getting
00:24attention as an online alternative. It's part of our series, Rethinking College.
00:30For millions of would-be students just about anywhere in the world, higher education feels
00:37out of reach. It is very upsetting to see how much college costs.
00:43Too expensive or scarce. I was in the refugee camp.
00:47Even forbidden. I was trying to hide it to keep myself safe.
00:52From very different worlds, all three of these young and younger people attend or attended
00:57the University of the People, an accredited institution not only based in California, but fully online,
01:04with more than 150,000 students in 200 countries and territories, about 20,000 of them in the
01:11U.S.
01:12We are the best alternative because they have no other alternative.
01:16Shai Reshef founded the non-profit in 2009, a time when the online education industry was
01:22dominated by for-profit schools.
01:24The technical institute can help graduates prepare for careers as a-
01:27Several were sanctioned or forced out of business for deceptive advertising and substandard academics,
01:33but also saddled students with crippling debt. Shai Reshef himself founded and later sold
01:39an international online education firm, one not mired in controversy, he notes. He says
01:45he wanted to use his experience to give back.
01:48Open source technology, open educational resources, professors who put their content on the net for
01:53the rest of the world to use for free. And the new phenomena were people who were willing,
01:59and especially professors, to help students with their homework for free. That's a university.
02:05The University of the People is tuition free, but it's not totally free. A variety of fees
02:10can add up to about $5,000 for a bachelor's degree. But that, the university says, makes it
02:17accessible to millions of prospective students who could not otherwise afford a college
02:23education. And besides, they have up to 10 years to complete their degree.
02:28The very first time, my impression was like, just like an online scam, something like that.
02:33You thought it was a scam.
02:34Yeah.
02:34Hi, everyone.
02:35A 23-year-old Hmong Sawya Dula fled Myanmar amid ethnic cleansing campaigns against that
02:41country's Rohingya minority. With his parents and five siblings, he found safety in neighboring
02:47Bangladesh, but in a refugee camp, not much more.
02:51No, I'm a student at University of the People.
02:54MILES O' Like more than half the University of the People students, Hmong received a scholarship,
03:00though attending was not easy.
03:01I do not have access to Internet in my home, so I needed to go to a top of a mountain.
03:07So you had to go up to this higher level to get a signal, basically.
03:11Yes, the Internet connection.
03:13If we can raise $100 million, we can educate one million students.
03:18MILES O' Rechef has relied largely on philanthropic funding and an occasional surprise,
03:23like the $3.8 million Yidan Prize awarded annually in Hong Kong for innovation in education.
03:30But principally, he's counted on volunteers.
03:32I'm a volunteer. I did not know how well it will work. I was shocked.
03:39There is a lot of goodwill out there.
03:43I wanted to reach a population that I wasn't reaching in my day job, so to speak.
03:50MILES O' Dalton Conley is a professor at Princeton University
03:53and leader in the emerging field of social genomics.
03:57Audra Watson works at a civic engagement institute in Princeton, New Jersey.
04:01Both are deans at the University of the People, among some 47,000 academics who volunteer to help
04:09students unable otherwise to afford college.
04:12I went to teacher's college, and at that time, years ago, it was at least $40,000.
04:21I'm still paying off my student loans. There are so many people that feel like they can't afford it.
04:26Students get a great education, but it's a very different experience than going to a
04:31brick-and-mortar institution where you get to have a lot more face-to-face interaction.
04:37MILES O' But offerings are limited, focused on degrees with strong job markets,
04:42associate and bachelor's in business administration, computer science and health science,
04:47master's in business administration, information technology and education.
04:52DR. ALFRED ALFRED We have a very lean budget.
04:55So we give the students everything that is a must for them to have great education,
05:00very little beyond that. So, you know, extracurricular activity, football teams,
05:06you know, we don't have all these.
05:07MILES O' Students must pass an entrance exam to assess their readiness.
05:12Classes are taught in English and, for Middle Eastern students, Arabic.
05:16They're small, 20 to 30 students, and demand a 20-hour weekly commitment per course.
05:22It's rigorous, but students can adjust their course load to fit their varied circumstances.
05:26I was in my sixth semester at university. The Taliban came to power.
05:3123-year-old Maliha was studying civil engineering at the University of Kabul, Afghanistan,
05:36when everything changed.
05:38MALIHA MALIHA MALIHA MALIHA MALIHA The first thing that they did was that
05:41they said that women are not allowed to go to schools and universities.
05:45MILES O' To continue their education,
05:47she and more than 4,000 other women began studying in secret with the University of the People.
05:53MILES O' On those dark days that I
05:55was at home and couldn't do anything for my future, University of the People was
06:00like light in my darkest days.
06:02MILES O' If we have this online education that can reach people wherever they are,
06:08we should embrace it and bring the education to them, because
06:12they cannot afford higher education. The U.S. is the best example.
06:15TENS OF THOUSANDS OF AMERICANS EVERY YEAR TAKE THE GED.
06:18HALF OF THEM GO ON TO SOME KIND OF POST-SECONDARY, AND PRICE IS REALLY POWERFUL.
06:22PAUL LEBLANC RECENTLY RETIRED AS PRESIDENT OF SOUTHERN NEW HAMPSHIRE UNIVERSITY, A TRADITIONAL
06:27SCHOOL THAT HAS ALSO BECOME A LEADING PROVIDER OF ONLINE EDUCATION.
06:31THE BUSINESS HAS COME A LONG WAY, HE SAYS, WITH IMPROVED ACADEMIC RIGOR AND STANDARDS.
06:37UNIVERSITY OF THE PEOPLE FILLS AN IMPORTANT VOID, HE SAYS.
06:40THESE ARE SOME OF THE LEAST WELL-SERVED LEARNERS ON THE GLOBE, AND THEY DON'T HAVE ANOTHER
06:46CHOICE.
06:47AND SHI CAME UP WITH A MODEL THAT MAY NOT LOOK LIKE A TRADITIONAL UNIVERSITY, BUT GIVES THEM
06:52THE ESSENTIAL PIECE OF WHAT THEY NEED, WHICH IS THAT EDUCATIONAL PATHWAY.
06:56IT'S REALLY UPSETTING TO SEE THAT EDUCATION IS KEPT BEHIND A PAYWALL.
07:01CHRIS BURGESS GREW UP IN A POVERTY-STRICKEN HOME WHERE SURVIVAL TOOK PRIORITY OVER EDUCATION.
07:07TWO YEARS LATER, HE OPENED A HEALTH FOOD RESTAURANT IN ASBURY PARK, NEW JERSEY, BUT STRUGGLED
07:12DURING AND AFTER THE PANDEMIC.
07:14WE WEREN'T RECEIVING RESULTS.
07:15WE HAD NO WAY TO UNDERSTAND WHY.
07:18TWO YEARS INTO A BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION DEGREE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PEOPLE, HE SAYS
07:22HE'S ALREADY GAINED INSIGHT INTO WHO AND WHERE EXACTLY HIS CUSTOMERS ARE, AND MARK IT ACCORDINGLY.
07:28IN DOCTOR'S OFFICES, TREATING DIABETICS, FOR EXAMPLE.
07:31WE PARTNERED WITH LOCAL DOCTORS AND CREATED SPECIFIC FLYERS FOR THEM TO SHOW THEM, IF YOUR
07:36CLIENT HAS BAD NEWS, IF THEY CAN ORDER ONLINE, YOU JUST HONE IN ON THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ACTUALLY
07:40GOING TO CONTRIBUTE BACK TO THE BUSINESS AND CREATE A RELATIONSHIP.
07:42AND YOU CAN TRACK THIS TO YOUR EDUCATION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE PEOPLE?
07:46100%.
07:47MALIHA AND MAUNG SOYODULA ALSO CREDIT THEIR UNIVERSITY OF THE PEOPLE CREDENTIALS FOR A HUGE BOOST
07:53TO THEIR ASPIRATIONS.
07:54MALIHA WAS ABLE TO FLEE AFGHANISTAN LAST FALL AND, ON SCHOLARSHIP, NOW ATTENDS GRADUATE SCHOOL IN
08:01THE U.S.
08:02SO DOES SOYODULA, WHO ARRIVED LAST AUGUST AND IS NOW ENROLLED IN A SECOND BACHELOR'S PROGRAM
08:07AT NEW YORK UNIVERSITY.
08:09BOTH HOPE TO RETURN SOME DAY TO HELP BRING STABILITY TO THEIR DISTRESSED HOMELANDS.
08:15I SAW THAT YOU ACTUALLY TAKE PEOPLE AND GIVE THEM THE EDUCATION, THEIR FUTURE IS TOTALLY
08:19DIFFERENT.
08:20IT'S A TRUE HONOR TO ADDRESS THIS GRADUATING CLASS.
08:23HIS UNIVERSITY'S DEGREE COMPLETION RATE IS AROUND 25% AND RISING, HE SAYS, TRACKING WITH
08:29ONLINE UNIVERSITIES OVERALL, LOWER IN PART BECAUSE STUDENTS, MANY IN DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES,
08:36HAVE UP TO TEN YEARS TO FINISH.
08:38SO FAR, ABOUT 18,000 HAVE GRADUATED, EIGHTY PERCENT OF THEM EMPLOYED IN FIELDS RELATED TO THEIR
08:44DEGREES.
08:45FOR THE PBS NEWSHOUR, I'M FRED DE SAN LAZARO IN NEW YORK CITY.
09:14AT ONLINE UNIVERSITY has sangled PRODUCTION, ABOUT 3 GENO norte missions.
09:15WHEN THE VOLUN étaitWhere the
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