Above: CEO and Founder Aaron Rasmusssen introduces Outlier
The main thing that I learned from MasterClass is that people have a respect for quality. - Aaron Rasmussen |
About OutlierOutlier, founded in 2018, is a for-profit, for-credit university-level online course provider based in the United States that seeks to do two things: increase access to quality college education and dramatically reduce student debt. This idea came to Rasmussen when he was a student and supplemented his education at the University of Boston with community college classes to reduce his debt.
Founded by the co-founder of MasterClass Aaron Rasmussen, Outlier features all of the same cinematic production levels, intimate atmosphere, digitally-native content, and star-powered instructors as its inspiration, but instead of learning cooking from Gordon Ramsay, you are learning Introduction to Psychology from professors out of Columbia U, Cornell U, and Colgate U. Students can purchase these on-demand courses, complete the curricular requirements, and receive 3-4 credits from the University of Pittsburgh for less than 20% of the average cost of a similar course from a state university.* These credits can then, if necessary, be transferred to another institution for use in acquiring an undergraduate degree. *In the United States, in Canada Outlier costs will equal to 40% of average cost for a similar course. |
Outlier's Market & Courses
Outlier specifically seeks to offer anglophone, on-demand, affordable alternatives to the first 20-25 common university-level introductory courses in the average bachelor’s degree. As of January 2022, Outlier offers 13 of these courses and continues to grow.
Outlier courses are delivered either on a 14-week or 7-week intensive time period, with intakes rotating throughout the year (typically, every 2 weeks). Lectures and other learning materials are available on-demand up to the midterm, whereupon new materials are released for the final half of the term. Course syllabi map out intended progression for students to complete their work. When applicable, quizzes, assignments, and exams are due within a specific time period, with remote proctoring as required for exams. Outlier offers tech support for their students, Slack channels for student collaboration, and for most courses, 300 free Brainfuse 1-on-1 remote tutoring minutes to assist with questions. For students who complete all of the work and do not pass the course, Outlier offers a full refund for the course. |
Above: Outlier professor Kelly Richmond Pope, Ph.D + CPA provides tutorial for her course, Introduction to Financial Accounting
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Outlier’s Leadership
Outlier’s board of directors features some highly skilled and successful individuals proven to be competent in their roles, relevant members shown below:
Aaron Rasmussen, Founder & CEO Successful serial entrepreneur credited as a co-founder to MasterClass and responsible for much of its initial creative direction, with a personal connection to the company’s goals |
Julia Stiglitz, Board Member Previous partner at GSV Ventures before joining Outlier, and prior to this Vice President of Entreprise at Coursera (see: competitors) |
Anjuli Gupta, Head of Partnerships Previous director of University Partnerships at Coursera (see: competitors) across a portfolio of the US and Canada |
Ava (Herceg) Plasse, VP of Video Previous senior creative producer at MasterClass and other film studios |
Outlier Stats
Information on Outlier’s financials is limited, but Outlier is estimated to have generated an overall revenue of 13.2 million in 2020.
Outlier courses cost students approximately $400/USD ($510 CAD). The quantity of students using Outlier for their courses is unclear, as is Outlier’s projected amount of students utilizing the service. However, initial Outlier courses allowed 50 students per cohort, so it is possible that this metric still applies. As Outlier has intakes every two weeks for most courses, this would equal to thousands of students per year. This capacity is further reinforced by Outlier’s frontline workers scholarship offering 1000 free courses to frontline workers in 2022. For a small company with only a handful of courses, this can be considered an impressive output, however it does not compare to the output of most fully fledged institutions.
Outlier courses cost students approximately $400/USD ($510 CAD). The quantity of students using Outlier for their courses is unclear, as is Outlier’s projected amount of students utilizing the service. However, initial Outlier courses allowed 50 students per cohort, so it is possible that this metric still applies. As Outlier has intakes every two weeks for most courses, this would equal to thousands of students per year. This capacity is further reinforced by Outlier’s frontline workers scholarship offering 1000 free courses to frontline workers in 2022. For a small company with only a handful of courses, this can be considered an impressive output, however it does not compare to the output of most fully fledged institutions.
Outlier GoalsOutlier is currently partnered with the University of Pittsburgh Johnstown (UPJ), and despite some trepidations from the faculty, the partnership has been successful. After Outlier's trial period in Fall 2019 ended, a new 5-year agreement was signed. Outlier has noted expansion of institutional partnerships as one of its primary goals, with the intent of enhancing the recognition and acceptance of its non-traditional education offerings. Achieving this legitimacy will in turn attract more students to Outlier’s program, and allow them to continue offering affordable, accessible education to students across the globe.
Left: Outlier Founder and CEO Aaron Rasmussen works with Hannah Fry, Ph.D, in the development of Outlier's Calculus I course. |
Outlier Competition
Below is a comparison chart of Outlier and its competitors. Outlier's greatest differentiations from these competitors are the production quality of learning materials, and its association with a top 100 institution as opposed to institutions outside the top 100, or American College on Education's (ACE) college credit recommendation service alone.
Outlier Additional Offerings
Beyond courses to students, Outlier also offers the following partnership opportunities:
Employer Partnerships: where Outlier offers courses to employers to provide to their employees
High School Partnerships: where Outlier offers their university-level courses to highschool students for advanced preparation
“OnRamp” University Partnerships: where students begin their studies with Outlier and transition into another institution
Outlier Studio*: where Outlier partners with university institutions to “supercharge instruction and increase student engagement”
*Outlier Studio is the partnership under review within this EVA
Employer Partnerships: where Outlier offers courses to employers to provide to their employees
High School Partnerships: where Outlier offers their university-level courses to highschool students for advanced preparation
“OnRamp” University Partnerships: where students begin their studies with Outlier and transition into another institution
Outlier Studio*: where Outlier partners with university institutions to “supercharge instruction and increase student engagement”
*Outlier Studio is the partnership under review within this EVA
Recent Awards / Acclaims by Outlier
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