No arguments on the long shot part, and you're right, focusing on accreditation does put some serious limitations on exactly how we can structure our business model. Not focusing on accreditation, however, means it is very easy to create a business model that is impossible to accredit. Udemy, for example, will never be able to achieve their original vision of being a real college or university because their business model relies so heavily on revenue sharing for the instructors, which is a big no no for accreditation boards.

Cost is actually the one area where we can compete very aggressively. Columbus state may be able to sneak under the $10k mark, but for an equivalent program we'll be just over $3k with a much more flexible and adaptable system. That number, btw, is with state and federal subsidies for the school, often upwards of $10,000 per student per year. We're coming in completely unsubsidized at a price that's less than a third of our cheapest competition with an offering that is significantly higher quality (we're competing with MIT for some of our professors).

Brand building really is the toughest nut to crack, and one what we have a couple different strategies for. Not really comfortable discussing those strategies on this forum, but let's just say we've thought a great deal about the problem.