Multi-institution degree programs aren't unusual in the age of online education, says Janet Poley, who is president of the American Distance Education Consortium and who has been advising the alliance. But institutions that participate in such degree programs are usually located in the same state, Ms. Poley says. In programs that cross state lines, one university usually takes charge. Its students take two or three courses from the institutions in other states and transfer those credits to their home institutions. Having the courses for one graduate degree spread out among several states is rare, Ms. Poley says.
Students enroll in one of the participating institutions and take online courses from all six.
The student receives the master's degree from the university in which he or she enrolled. Bureaucratic red tape was the main obstacle, says Ms. Poley, given that state legislatures, boards of regents, and graduate deans all regulate the curriculum in some fashion. But she says it didn't take much to persuade any of the six governing boards to cooperate. Because each of the institutions is offering the degree as a new program, each had to get it approved. Although it generated a lot of discussion, it didn't generate much heat.