Stuck in an OPM contract that feels more like a ball and chain than a launchpad for success? We hear this a lot. A while back, many universities teamed up with Online Program Management (OPM) providers, hoping to quickly grow their online programs. Yet over time, these “partnerships” became a handcuff instead of a helping hand.

If you’re ready to ditch the rigid OPM model and take back control, we’re here to help. We’ve worked with institutions to successfully break away from legacy contracts, reclaim their brand, and unlock record growth with a more modern, modular approach that puts you back in the driver’s seat.

OPMs Sounded Great Until They Weren’t

OPMs haven’t just failed institutions; they’ve failed students.

What began as a promise to expand access and ease operational burdens has, in many cases, had the opposite effect. These partnerships were supposed to help universities grow their online programs while staying focused on what they do best: educating students. But instead, they’ve made it harder (and more expensive) to serve students well. Tuition-sharing models inflate costs. Templated courses dilute learning experiences. And when schools lose control of their brand, data, and curriculum, students lose out on the personalized, mission-driven experience they came for. Here’s where things went wrong:

• Opaque, Long-Term Contracts: Many OPM agreements lock institutions into decade-long commitments with confusing fine print. Contracts often auto-renew and include steep penalties or notice periods for termination. In other words, it’s painfully hard to get out once you’re in, even if the relationship isn’t working.
• High Revenue Sharing (and Questionable ROI): It’s not uncommon for OPMs to take 50% or more of tuition revenue for each enrolled student. That’s money straight out of your program’s budget and your students’ pockets. While OPMs claim to assume upfront risk, over time, this revenue share can far exceed the cost of the services provided. It’s like paying for a luxury car and only getting to ride in it half the time.
• Brand Dilution and Loss of Identity: When you hand off marketing and course design, you’re also handing off how your institution is represented and how students experience it. OPMs often apply the same marketing funnels, content, and learning structures across all partners. That results in a generic, templated experience with little alignment to your values or student needs. But the student experience is the customer experience, and when you don’t own that, you don’t really own the outcomes. The best institutions are tailoring the student journey to meet ever-changing expectations and showcase their unique strengths. OPMs make that nearly impossible.
• Lack of Data Access and Transparency: Data is today’s gold in modern marketing, but under many OPM contracts, universities struggle to access their own prospect and student data. OPMs often operate in a black box, providing minimal insight into marketing performance, lead quality, or student engagement beyond basic enrollment numbers. This lack of transparency leaves schools flying blind, unable to learn from the data or improve internal capabilities. Meanwhile, you better believe the OPM is leveraging that data for its own benefit.
• Misaligned Incentives: Ultimately, an OPM’s goal is to increase its revenue, which comes from your tuition. That can encourage aggressive recruiting tactics or prioritizing quantity of enrollments over quality. For example, an OPM might flood programs with students to boost earnings, even if many of those students aren’t the right fit and struggle to succeed. When metrics like cost-per-lead or headcount take precedence, student experience and long-term outcomes can suffer. It’s a classic case of conflicting interests: what’s best for the OPM isn’t always what’s best for the university or the students.

Even state governments are stepping in to protect students and institutions from the exploitative practices of many OPMs. In July 2024, Minnesota became the first state to pass legislation prohibiting public colleges from entering into new tuition-sharing agreements with OPMs that provide recruitment and marketing services. 

Minnesota’s legislation reflects a growing concern that some OPM contracts prioritize profit over student success, often leading to inflated tuition costs and questionable marketing practices. The law seeks to realign incentives so that educational quality and student outcomes take precedence over revenue generation.

This regulatory shift signals a broader reevaluation of OPM partnerships nationwide. As states begin to scrutinize these agreements more closely, universities have an opportunity to explore alternative models that offer greater control, transparency, and alignment with their educational missions.

Break the Bundle, Keep the Control

So what’s the better way forward? Instead of handing the keys to a one-stop OPM, universities are opting for unbundled, fee-for-service partnerships that allow them to pick and choose the support they need, creating space to in-source strategic functions and responsibilities. Think of it as moving from an all-inclusive (but restrictive) package to a flexible menu of services. You maintain control of your core assets like your brand, academics, and student experiences, while bringing in expert partners for specific needs like digital marketing, lead generation, or student engagement.

This modular partnership model offers several advantages:

• Transparency and Ownership: With fee-for-service models, you know exactly what you’re paying for each service. There’s no mysterious revenue split or long-term cut of your tuition. You retain ownership of strategies and data. A good partner will share all campaign data and results with your team so you see what’s happening every step of the way, and you own all the insights for future use.
• Flexibility to Meet Your Needs: Maybe you have great in-house instructional design, but need help with digital marketing. Or perhaps your marketing team is strong, but you need enrollment coaching for your staff. Modular partnerships let you plug gaps à la carte. You can start with, say, a targeted digital ad campaign or a branding refresh, without committing your entire operation to an outside firm. Over time, you can scale services up or down as needs change. This agility is impossible under rigid OPM contracts.
• Cost-Effective Growth: By avoiding the revenue-share trap, universities often find they can reinvest more in their programs. Yes, fee-for-service means paying upfront for services, but the costs are often far lower in the long run than giving away 50% of tuition for years. You pay for expertise and labor, not for someone else’s profit margin. Every dollar goes toward driving your outcomes (not into an OPM’s pocket). Plus, without a multi-year lock-in, you can course-correct or switch partners if something isn’t delivering ROI.
• Aligned Incentives: An unbundled partner’s success depends on your success, not on maximizing student volume at all costs. Because you retain control, you can set the KPIs that matter. A true partner will collaborate to achieve those shared goals, rather than chasing metrics that pad their bottom line. In short, the university’s mission stays front and center.

This is the future of university partnerships: more control, more collaboration, and more clarity. Even the U.S. Department of Education is considering guidance that could push OPMs to adopt fee-for-service models. In other words, the industry is moving in this direction anyway. Forward-looking colleges aren’t waiting around; they’re seeking online program management alternatives that give them greater autonomy right now.

You Should Own Your Data, Not Rent It

One of the biggest advantages of breaking free from the old OPM model is the ability to fully leverage your first-party data. First-party data includes everything you collect about prospective students and applicants, like website analytics, inquiry forms, CRM data, email engagement, etc. It’s incredibly powerful for crafting targeted campaigns and nurturing relationships over the entire student lifecycle.

Under an OPM, however, schools often have limited access to this treasure trove. As mentioned, OPMs might hoard the data or only share high-level results. That’s a huge missed opportunity. Why? Because first-party data strategies allow you to focus on quality and long-term engagement, not just quantity of leads. For example:

• Instead of blasting out generic ads to broad audiences, you can use your own data to identify and target students who have shown genuine interest, say, people who attended a virtual info session or browsed specific programs on your site. These prospects are warmer and more likely to convert.
• You can personalize messaging based on behavior. If a student started an application but didn’t finish, your team can send a tailored follow-up or retarget them with content addressing common concerns. With access to the right data, you can engage students with the right message at the right time.
• Perhaps most importantly, you can track the entire journey: from the first click on an ad, to application, to enrollment, to retention, and even alumni engagement. OPMs usually focus only on the front end (leads and enrollments). But universities care about whether those students actually succeed and stay. By owning your data, you can analyze which marketing efforts yield students who not only enroll but also persist and graduate. That insight helps you refine your recruitment strategy to find best-fit students, improving outcomes and efficiency.

As Oodle’s own higher ed marketing team has observed, using first-party data shifts the focus to student lifetime value rather than just a quick enrollment. You might generate fewer leads in total, but they’ll be the right leads. Students who are more likely to matriculate, thrive in your programs, and feel connected to your institution. In the long run, that means better retention rates and more alumni advocates. Leveraging first-party data means you may spend a bit more on targeted marketing upfront, but you’ll save money by enrolling students who stick around. It’s about quality over quantity, and doing what’s best for the student as well as the school.

Bottom line: data is power. When you reclaim control from an OPM, you reclaim your data and the ability to act on it. That enables smarter, more personalized marketing. The kind that prospective students not only expect, but respond to. Don’t let an OPM’s black box keep you in the dark. Turn on the lights and put that first-party data to work to drive your strategy.

What You Can Do Now If You’re Still Under Contract

Not ready (or able) to walk away from your OPM just yet? That’s okay. You can still make smart moves today to set yourself up for a cleaner break, or just get more out of the contract you’re stuck in.

1. Start capturing your own first-party data. Even if your OPM controls the funnel, you can still build your own lead sources. Use your .edu site, virtual events, and content downloads to gather emails and insights directly.
2. Audit your student journey. Map out the experience from first click to first class. Where are the handoffs? Where are students dropping off? Identifying those gaps helps you understand what’s working and what’s not.
3. Invest in your brand. You don’t have to wait for a contract to expire to clarify your positioning and start telling a more authentic story. Brand equity builds over time and is one of your most powerful tools for reducing reliance on third-party lead gen.
4. Bring in a sidekick, not a replacement. You can partner with an external team (like us) to tackle things your OPM isn’t doing well (creative, media, analytics, etc.) without breaching your contract. This lets you test what a modular approach could look like, risk-free.

Small steps now can make a big difference later. And when you’re ready to make a move, you won’t be starting from scratch.

Reclaim Control of Your Online Programs

Breaking up with your OPM doesn’t mean going it alone. It means finding a partner who works with you. Someone who’s invested in your goals, respects your team, and builds strategies that fit your brand (not their business model).

That’s what we’ve built at Oodle: a modular, mission-aligned alternative to traditional OPMs. We believe higher ed deserves better. Better data ownership. Better collaboration. Better results. That starts with a partner who helps you build smarter, student-first strategies without giving up control of your budget, your brand, or your future.

Higher ed is facing big decisions with enrollment cliffs, budget crunches, and shifting student expectations. You can’t afford to be locked into outdated contracts that work against your goals. Let’s reimagine what a partnership can look like. Explore our higher education solutions and see how Oodle helps institutions like yours take back control and build something stronger in the process.