2U

2U, Inc. operates as an education technology company in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Degree Program and Alternative Credential. The Degree Program segment provides the technology and services to nonprofit colleges and universities to enable the online delivery of degree programs. This segment targets students seeking an undergraduate or graduate degree. The Alternative Credential segment offers online open courses, executive education programs, technical cources, skills-based boot camps, and micro-credential programs through nonprofit colleges and universities. This segment targets students seeking to reskill or upskill through shorter duration and lower-priced offerings. It also provides a platform that provides front-end and back-end cloud-based SaaS technology and technology-enabled services. The company was formerly known as 2Tor Inc. and changed its name to 2U, Inc. in October 2012. 2U, Inc. was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Lanham, Maryland.

2U was founded in 2008 by John Katzman , originally naming it 2tor after his dog Tor. Katzman recruited colleagues including Chip Paucek , and technology entrepreneur Jeremy Johnson to be co-founders. Katzman became chairman, and Paucek became the company's CEO. 2U was started, in part, because its founders saw an opportunity due to the fact that few highly ranked universities offered online instruction. 2U is the third company that Paucek was involved in founding.Katzman funded 2U in 2009 through the launch of its first online teaching degree with the University of Southern California . In 2010, 2U partnered again with USC to offer an online degree in social work.In 2011, Georgetown University's School of Nursing and Health partnered with 2U to offer a degree program. The Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina started offering an online MBA through 2U the same year.In 2012, John Katzman left 2U to launch Noodle Partners.By July 2013, the company had raised $10 million in venture capital.In February 2014, 2U announced that Sallie Krawcheck, a former executive at Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc., and Earl Lewis, president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, were nominated to join the board of 2U. On March 28, 2U went public and raised $119 million by offering 9.2 million shares at $13 per share. By July, other schools such as Syracuse University, Northwestern University, and the University of California, Berkeley signed on with 2U to create online graduate degree programs.In March 2015, Yale University and 2U announced that they were partnering in order to offer a full-time, online master of medical science degree. By 2015, about 12,300 students were enrolled in 2U partner programs.Starting in 2017, 2U diversified its strategy and acquired education companies GetSmarter, and later Trilogy Education, firms offering short-term non-credit training programs. Also in 2017, Paucek earned an MBA online from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, through the school's partnership with 2U. In late 2017, former Obama administration official Valerie Jarrett joined 2U's board.In 2018, 2U launched the Harvard Business Analytics Program in conjunction with Harvard University. Students in this program had an average of 17.5 years of work experience, were an average of 42 years old, and paid $50,000 in tuition.In early 2019, 2U announced that it had entered a partnership with EGADE Business School at Tecnológico de Monterrey in Mexico to offer an online MBA program. 2U also partnered with Tecnológico de Monterrey and the Washington University School of Law to offer an online master of laws program. On August 6, 2U announced its first undergraduate program, offering a degree in data science and business analytics, as well as six other degrees, from the University of London , with its member institution London School of Economics . UoL, LSE and 2U planned to keep the cost of the three-year degree at $26,000, far lower than most of 2U's other programs. In September, 2U created a "Framework for Transparency", with a commitment to publishing transparent data on topics including university oversight and accountability, access, quality and outcomes.In 2020, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Sherrod Brown called for 2U and four other online program managers to disclose the terms of their contracts with colleges and universities in order to determine whether they were violating laws meant to safeguard consumers from predatory enrollment practices. In June, 2U announced that it would offer $3 million in scholarships in increments of $2,500 to under-represented demographics, and the recipients would have to demonstrate both need and merit. The scholarships could be applied to about 100 different programs with a strong emphasis on technical training. Later that year, 2U announced a partnership with Netflix and Norfolk State University, to offer free online tech bootcamps to current students and alumni. In November, 2U published its first transparency report, which showed it had invested $1.3B in its non-profit partners' degree programs, and 72% of students graduate from those programs.2U strongly benefited from the shift to online learning brought on by the response to COVID-19, with a large growth in gross revenue in 2020. The company also reduced its debt. 2U was servicing more than 275,000 students as of late 2020. 2U said that the pandemic also increased interest in its revenue-sharing pricing model from new and existing clients. Also in 2020, the London School of Economics agreed to expand its scope business with 2U to include two additional undergraduate degrees in mathematics and finance. In September, 2U and Columbia University's engineering school announced an expansion of their work together, where 2U would help launch the Columbia Artificial Intelligence Program, an online program targeted at working executives.Before the start of the 2020–2021 academic year, Boston, Massachusetts-based Simmons University announced that it would be delivering hundreds of courses online in order to cope with the COVID-19 crisis. The expanded agreement with Simmons also provided for the creation of additional degree programs aimed at non-traditional students, with lower tuition than in-person programs. Simmons received services from 2U on a revenue-share basis.In June 2021, 2U announced a strategic agreement with education assistance benefits manager Guild Education. The same year, 2U purchased massive open online course provider edX for $800 million cash. Also in June, Netflix and 2U announced an expansion of their boot camps for Talladega College, St. Edward's University, Marymount University, and Edward Waters College. In October 2021, Valerie Jarrett resigned from the 2U Board. In November, a Wall Street Journal expose found that 2U often used aggressive means to recruit students for the University of Southern California masters in social work and that "USC social-work graduates who took out federal loans borrowed a median $112,000. Half of them were earning $52,000 or less annually two years later."On May 16, 2022, Bloomberg reported that Indian education tech company Byju's was in talks to acquire 2U, along with fellow US education technology company Chegg. In June 2022, it was reported that Byju's had put forward an offer of more than US$1 billion to acquire 2U. In July 28, 2022, Paucek announced that the company would layoff 20% of its workforce "across the board".

2Uy Inc. seeks to become the leading technology partner in higher education by transforming the traditional academic landscape and tackling the challenges that prevent talented students from accessing quality education.

We envision a world where education is accessible and affordable for everyone, enabling individuals to pursue their passions, realize their potential and achieve their goals.