In 2011 Central Washington University began offering its information technology administrative management (ITAM) program in an online format, aimed at working adults who were both place- and time-bound. The program serves as a complement to two-year technical degrees and is the only university program in the state that accepts 100 percent of the credits earned in these degrees toward a bachelor of applied science degree. Knowing that online programs often have lower retention rates than on-campus programs, the department built in ways to ameliorate some of the factors that can negatively affect retention.
Beyond the Credential Factory: Why Higher Education Must Shift from Management to Flourishing
For decades, higher education leadership has obsessed over “student success” as a purely operational metric. We track retention and graduation rates and postgraduation outcomes with the same linear precision that
Yoshitaka Iwasaki
August 3, 2026
