With Accreditation, Free Online University Plans Expansion

The University of the People, a low-cost online college that will graduate its first class of seven seniors this spring, announced Thursday that it has been certified by a national accreditation group and aims to increase its student body seven-fold in the next two years, The New York Times writes.

The university, launched four years ago by Israeli entrepreneur Shai Reshef, currently has 700 students from 142 countries. Mr. Reshef said that with accreditation from the Distance Education and Training Council, he expects to boost the student body to 5,000 by 2016. University of the People does not charge tuition but assesses fees of up to $50 for applications and up to $100 to process exams.

“This has been the big question for anyone who thought about enrolling,” said Mr. Reshef, who has invested millions of dollars in the university and secured backing from New York University, the Clinton Global Initiative, and Microsoft, among other entities. “We have 1.2 million supporters on Facebook, I think second only to Harvard, and every day, there is discussion about when we will be accredited.”

Read a Chronicle of Philanthropy article about the University of the People.