2025 predictions: How Much Will It Cost to Open a University in the US?
Your Guide To Ready-To-Run Universities in the USA
This involves helping our clients understand all the legal and financial requirements around university establishment, as well as providing marketing and branding advice to ensure their university or college stands out from other educational institutions.
Our competitors can only offer a limited service, either licensing or accreditation, as most don't have the skills or team required to provide a turnkey service. This is why EEC stands out from the crowd – we can offer our clients everything they need to get their university off the ground easily and efficiently.
At EEC we're looking at building a long-term relationship with our clients, where launching a university is only the first step.
We are confident that no other company can match our team of experts and their specialized knowledge.
In our previous articles, we discussed the three important steps to start an accredited university:
- Get a Business License: It's the first legal requirement to establish your private university.
- Obtain State Authorization: This step ensures compliance with local regulations and shows that your university is recognized by the state it’s in.
- Achieve Accreditation: This rigorous evaluation process verifies the quality and credibility of your university's programs and operations.
Recommended: Download our FREE exclusive Open Your University Toolkit that contains five essential eBooks you need to get started!
In this article, we will explore a new topic that we haven't discussed previously: non-accredited and accredited ready-to-run universities.
We will start by discussing non-accredited universities, then move on to explaining what a ready-to-run university is and how it can benefit you.
Defining A Non-Accredited University
A non-accredited university refers to a higher education institution that has not undergone evaluation or approval from an accreditation agency.
As we explored in our earlier articles, these accrediting bodies evaluate various aspects such as education quality, faculty, facilities, and student experience to ensure compliance with established standards. However, certain institutions choose not to pursue accreditation or fail to meet the requirements.
You might be surprised, but non-accredited universities actually do offer potential benefits, despite lacking the prestige and recognition associated with accredited institutions:
- Curriculum Flexibility: Non-accredited universities have the freedom to design unique and innovative programs that may not be available at accredited institutions. This appeals to students seeking unconventional educational experiences or niche areas of study.
- Reduced Bureaucracy: Accreditation processes involve significant time, documentation, assessments, and reporting. As an owner of a non-accredited university, you can avoid excessive red tape and focus on providing quality education without burdensome compliance requirements.
- Lower Operating Costs: Seeking and maintaining accreditation can be expensive, with fees for applications, site visits, and ongoing reporting. Operating a non-accredited university allows you to save on these costs and potentially offer more affordable tuition rates to students.
- Entrepreneurial Opportunities: Owning a non-accredited university provides a unique chance to create an institution aligned with your vision and values. You can develop a distinctive brand and tailor the educational experience to your target audience.
- Attracting Niche Markets: Although non-accredited universities may not appeal to everyone, they can attract specific student segments seeking a less traditional educational experience. This includes working professionals, entrepreneurs, artists, or individuals desiring flexibility and customization in their learning journey.
What’s A Ready-To-Run University?
A ready-to-run university is an educational institution that has completed all the necessary steps to obtain its business license and state authorization.
It comes with all the curricula, course syllabi, policies, handbooks, catalog, Enrollment Agreement, and a fully deployed Learning Management System (LMS).
In short, it is a turnkey solution for anyone looking to own and operate an educational institution.
What Are The Benefits of a Ready-To-Run University For You?
Ready-to-run universities offer numerous benefits:
- Time and resource-saving: Setting up an educational institution from scratch can take years, and requires a lot of effort, money, and time. With a ready-to-run university, all of the groundwork has already been laid out for you. This means that your new institution can start offering classes immediately, without any delays.
- Faster response to market needs: Traditional universities often struggle to keep up with the demands of the rapidly changing job market. By the time a new course is developed and implemented, it may already be outdated. A ready-to-run university can quickly adapt its curricula to meet the needs of the market, ensuring that its students are equipped with the latest knowledge and skills.
- Flexibility: Traditional universities are often bound by their infrastructure and fixed systems, which can limit their ability to adapt to changing circumstances. A ready-to-run university, on the other hand, is designed to be agile and responsive to the needs of its students and the market. It can easily adjust its course offerings, policies, and procedures to meet the changing needs of its students and the world at large.
- Easy implementation: Starting a university involves various complex processes and paperwork. We’ve discussed this in the previous blog posts. A ready-to-run university simplifies this process, since it comes with all the necessary documents and systems, making it easier for entrepreneurs and educators to operate an educational institution much faster.
- Quality assurance: ready-to-run universities go through all the formal steps to obtain their business license and state authorization. This ensures they meet the required standards and regulations, providing your students with a quality education.
- Opportunity for innovation: With the foundation already in place, a ready-to-run university allows educators to focus more on innovation and improving the learning experience for students, rather than spending time on administrative and operational tasks.
How Much Do Ready-To-Run Universities Cost?
A ready-to-run university must complete the initial steps of obtaining a business license and State Authorization.
Ready-to-run universities are available for purchase at varying prices, typically ranging from $100,000 to $800,000, depending on various factors such as student enrollment, graduation of the first cohort, and program offerings.
If, however, you are interested in acquiring an accredited university instead, prices start at $1.5 million and can go up to $10 million, depending on the type of accreditation (national, regional, or programmatic) and the presence of buildings and campus.
Piece of advice: we recommend starting small and gradually growing your institution over time, following the same approach outlined in our previous blog posts. Begin with a non-accredited university and work towards obtaining accreditation as you progress.
Conclusion
To summarize, a ready-to-run university offers a complete solution for those interested in establishing an educational institution in the U.S. It provides time and resource savings, as well as the flexibility to meet market demands promptly.
As the world grows more interconnected, the importance of adaptable educational institutions becomes crucial, ensuring your students are prepared for the ever-changing job market.
We hope you found this blog post beneficial. If you have further questions about ready-to-run universities and would like to get access to our exclusive deals, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Should you find yourself with questions or in need of personalized assistance, I encourage you to reach out. For personalized guidance, feel free to reach out to Expert Education Consultants via email at info@experteduconsult.com with any questions you may have. This service is complimentary.
To explore customized solutions tailored to your specific needs, schedule a personalized one-on-one paid consultation with Dr. Sandra Norderhaug here.