Otterbein partners with Antioch University to create a national private university system

The first time Otterbein University and Antioch University met was on the gridiron in 1914. Otterbein crushed Antioch during the game, with a final score of 71-0.

The latter has been waiting 108 years for a grudge match, Antioch University Chancellor William R. Groves joked at a news conference Thursday afternoon at The Point at Otterbein in Westerville.

Instead, he said, if you can't beat them, you should join them.

The schools won't be partnering on the football field though. Instead, Otterbein and Antioch announced that they are cofounding a first-of-its-kind system connecting private universities nationwide.

The partnership between Otterbein and Antioch — a private university based in Yellow Springs with multiple campuses across the country — is the first in what the schools hope will be a network of nonprofit, independent universities with similar values and goals for their students. (Antioch University was affiliated with Antioch College in Yellow Springs until 2009, but no longer.)

Otterbein University President John Comerford said this new system is about collaboration over competition.

For too long, universities have been fighting over the traditional 18-to-22-year-old undergraduate student, he said. But that competition often breeds elitism and conceit within universities.

The future of higher education, the two university leaders said, is with graduate and adult education programs, continuing education and degree-completion programs.

They said they believe this system is a solution to that. Affiliated universities will focus on shared graduate and adult-learner programs, while maintaining their own distinctive undergraduate programs and brand identities.

That means new programs not previously offered by Otterbein on its Westerville campus will be available to its graduate students. While the undergraduate programming will remain untouched for now, the network hopes to also create accelerated programs and open early graduate admissions for students at partnering institutions.

For instance, Antioch offers a masters in psychology, which Otterbein doesn't. But Otterbein has a nurse practitioner program, unlike Antioch. Instead of trying to offer what they don't have, Comerford said this collaboration will allow both institutions to leverage both programs to meet the state's growing mental health needs.

Otterbein students also will have the opportunity to study at one of Antioch’s campuses for a semester, similar to a study-abroad program.

Otterbein has enrolled about 2,600 students universitywide, with about 2,300 undergrads and 300 graduate students. Antioch serves more than 5,000 students from across all of its campuses and online, most of whom are graduate and adult learners. Otterbein's undergraduate tuition totals $33,224 a year; Antioch costs $535 per quarter credit hour.

The new parwill provide new ways for students to complete their degrees, including earning stackable certificates, badges and other credits; accelerated-degree programs; five-year combined bachelor’s and master’s programs; and six-year combined bachelor’s and professional degree programs.

Final approval of the system from accreditors and federal and state regulators is expected to take about a year, but Comerford said they are already in talks with other universities who hope to eventually join the network. New programs through the systems are expected to be offered as early as fall 2023.

Universities in the system will be able to leverage and expand degree offerings; offer programs in more locations nationwide; provide multiple learning formats such as online, low-residency, and hybrid settings; increase capacities, and contain costs through shared services and improved technologies.

“This is the first system to be created in which the affiliate institutions are bound by a common mission of educating for social justice and a commitment to building and preserving democracy,” Groves said. "This mission-driven system could not come at a more important inflection point in our nation’s history. Higher education owes this nation more than career preparation."

Editor's note: A previous version of this story misstated the location of Antioch University. The university's administrative offices are located in Yellow Springs, Ohio, and has multiple campuses in California, Washington and New England.

Sheridan Hendrix is a higher education reporter at the Columbus Dispatch. You can reach her at shendrix@dispatch.com. You can follow her on Twitter at @sheridan120. Sign up for her Mobile Newsroom newsletter here and her education newsletter here.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Otterbein creates private university system with Antioch University