Second annual study provides new KPI benchmarks around enrollments, finance, and budget, explores the impact of AI, and provides strategic recommendations for online leaders to thrive in these uncertain times. 

WASHINGTON, D.C., ISSUED AUGUST 12, 2025…UPCEA, the online and professional education association, today announced the release of a new research report, “Benchmarking Online Enterprises: Insights into Structures, Strategies, and Financial Models in Higher Education” (BOnES). The report offers timely insights into how online enterprises are driving institutional sustainability through new revenue streams, AI adoption, and scalable operations. The report provides key benchmarking data on structure, staffing, finances, and innovation.

This year’s findings highlight continued dominance of academically decentralized models, with administrative structures split between centralized and decentralized approaches. New performance indicators offer per capita budget and revenue benchmarks, revealing wide variability and reinforcing that no single model guarantees success.

With growing investments in online enterprises, the expansion of staff, the continued diversification of program portfolios, and emerging use of AI, this report is a vital resource for institutional leaders navigating an increasingly competitive and financially pressured landscape.

“This report and its findings arrive at a critical time for postsecondary leaders,” stated Julie Uranis, senior vice president for online and strategic initiatives at UPCEA. “Given the instability in higher education, the insights and benchmarking opportunities in #BOnES25 will help leaders make strategic decisions and understand the expected yield of investments in the online enterprise. This is an important resource to guide revenue diversification and portfolio alignment, and will ultimately improve opportunities for the learners we serve.”

KEY FINDINGS

The report offers a nuanced view of online education, capturing areas of advancement as well as barriers that institutions must address to remain competitive.

• Investments in online enterprises are expanding capacity and driving revenue growth: Between 2024 and 2025, median budgets and revenues increased markedly. Much of this investment supported staffing growth, reflecting the strategic importance of online education in institutional portfolios. Furthermore, some institutions are improving efficiency, with every budget dollar generating nearly five dollars in gross revenue on average. However, this metric is widely variable, illustrating the different levels of fiscal scalability that enterprises are achieving.
• AI integration reflects both experimentation and uneven maturity: Nearly half of online enterprises reported a collaborative approach to AI decision-making, while others are either highly autonomous or lack formal processes altogether. AI use is most concentrated in teaching and administrative functions, though adoption patterns differ significantly by institution type and size.
• New KPIs support more precise comparisons: This year’s study includes per capita measures of budget and revenue relative to student credit hours, unduplicated headcount, and FTEs. 

STRATEGIC RECOMMENDATIONS

The 2025 BOnES report emphasizes the increasing need for intentional, data-driven decision-making to ensure the long-term viability of online education enterprises. While many units have grown in size and sophistication, this year’s findings reveal that sustainable success depends not just on scale—but on alignment, clarity, and strategic focus.

The report offers five distinct recommendations to help online leaders guide their enterprises: interrogate financial models; benchmark for efficiency, not just scale; develop a clear AI strategy; align staffing with strategy; and invest in organizational clarity. 

INSIGHTS BEYOND THE REPORT

In addition to key benchmarking data, this year’s BOnES report reveals deep undercurrents shaping the role of online education within the broader institutional ecosystem. These emerging dynamics—some financial, some structural, and some market-driven—reflect how online enterprises are evolving in response to institutional pressures, resource shifts, and increased competition.

• Online as a Financial Engine: More than half of online units are being asked to reduce costs and generate additional revenue, either to support broader institutional shortfalls or reduced funding. Online education is becoming an increasingly critical lever in financial planning.

• Faculty Integration Reflects Strategic Commitment: Nearly all institutions now include online teaching in regular faculty course loads, while use of per-course, per-credit, or per-student pay continues to decline, cementing online learning as core to institutional operations.
• Smarter Marketing Needed to Match Growth Ambitions: While the overwhelming majority of online leaders expect to expand their share of the online marketplace in the next three years, confidence in current marketing capabilities remains low—highlighting a strategic gap that could limit visibility and enrollment in an increasingly crowded field.

“With increased pressure to generate revenue, institutional leadership can develop ambitious revenue targets for an online enterprise,” said Bruce Etter, senior director of research and consulting at UPCEA. “While understandable, these targets are often incomplete equations. To generate X in revenue, an investment of Y is needed. The data provided in this report help to provide clarity for those variables and other essential benchmarks for online leaders.”

“UPCEA’s 2025 Benchmarking Report is a vital resource for online education leaders seeking to make informed, strategic decisions in a rapidly evolving environment,” added Asim Ali, executive director of the Biggio Center for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning at Auburn University. “The financial benchmarks and AI adoption insights are especially timely, helping leaders like myself better evaluate where we stand, where we need to invest, and how we can scale responsibly. In a time of increased institutional pressure, having access to real, actionable data is invaluable.”

UPCEA’s 2025 Benchmarking Online Enterprises Report offers a timely and essential resource for institutional leaders navigating the complexity of online education. With data-driven insights into funding models, staffing, AI adoption and strategy, and market positioning, the report equips decision-makers to align their online enterprises with institutional goals and financial realities. By benchmarking against peers and acting on key indicators, colleges and universities can build more sustainable, competitive, and learner-centered programs in an increasingly dynamic landscape.

REPORT AVAILABILITY & WEBINAR

For more information about the report or to access the full findings, visit https://upcea.edu/2025-benchmarking-online-enterprises-study/.

UPCEA will discuss key findings from the report during a free webinar on October 9, 2025, at 2:00 PM ET. Click for details and registration, or visit https://upcea.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_sVXWlBR-RJmpNVB3eQIAdg. 

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ABOUT UPCEA

UPCEA is the online and professional education association. Our members continuously reinvent higher education, positively impacting millions of lives. We proudly lead and support them through cutting-edge research, professional development, networking and mentorship, conferences and seminars, and stakeholder advocacy. Our collaborative, entrepreneurial community brings together decision-makers and influencers in education, industry, research, and policy interested in improving educational access and outcomes. Learn more at https://UPCEA.edu and follow @UPCEA on social media.