Finally! A Groupon for something other than sushi classes and samba lessons! A Groupon for something we’d be spending money on anyway! A Groupon for college!
National Louis University, a private college in Chicago, is pioneering the way to discounted tuition by offering a Groupon for an Intro to Teaching course today.
Jocelyn Zivin, the vice president of marketing and communications for National Louis University, told Metro the college made the decision to offer the deal after meeting with founder of Groupon Andrew Mason.
“What if we wanted to reach this Groupon population that sounds like the sort of people who get graduate degrees?,” Zivin said college officials asked themselves. “How can we connect with those people?”
The three-credit course is offered for the bargain price of $950 compared to its typical cost of $2,232. That’s a 57 percent discount. The success of the idea is yet to be determined.
The Groupon is live now. So far, two deal-savvy students have caught on. The Groupon will be tipped after 15 people purchase it. It expires September 14. It is limited to one per person, but buyers may purchase one additional Groupon as a gift.
“It’s brand new territory for both the college and Groupon,” said Zivin. “The buzz we are getting from the higher education world is outreaching the number of people who have signed up so far. We have to see if it works.”
Could this be the beginning of a trend of digital discounts on tuition? We certainly hope so!
