CHANGE: Cornerstone University launches ‘100%’ smartphone business degree.

Cornerstone University, located in Grand Rapids, is offering an associate’s degree and bachelor’s degree in strategic business management along with a master’s in organizational leadership through its new program.

Students pay a fixed rate of $2,400 per four-month term or $3,750 for the graduate level work. The intended audience is working adults.

According to the program’s website, SOAR aims to remove the financial barriers of traditional higher education by providing an affordable tuition structure where students “pay at least 50% less than other private online colleges.”

To achieve this, the platform prioritizes providing a “flexible schedule” driven by “engaging microlearning” through original podcasts, videos, audiobooks, and presentations developed by Cornerstone faculty. The goal is “to help students soar in all aspects of career and life.”

It remains to be seen whether smartphone degrees are worthwhile. But at a time when private schools are under tremendous financial pressure, adding tuition-paying students at basically zero marginal cost to the school seems smart.