On June 30, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed H.B. 96, the state’s biennial budget bill that sets out appropriations for the next two years. Deep within the new 3,156-page law is language that governs the relationships between Online Program Management (OPM) companies and Ohio institutions, including public, private non-profit, and for-profit colleges and universities.
The new state law follows increased national interest in OPMs under the Biden administration, which ultimately confirmed, days before the transition, long-standing federal guidance that enables OPMs to enter into revenue-sharing agreements. Ohio becomes the second state in the nation to pass a law that will regulate OPMs, following Minnesota, which passed legislation before the Biden administration’s confirmation of the federal guidance.
The law follows the controversial closure of Eastern Gateway Community College last fall and a 2022 Government Accountability Office report, which called on the Department of Education to collect information on OPM arrangements.
In January 2025, after much speculation about how they would regulate OPMs, the Biden administration released guidance designed to prevent misrepresentation by OPMs—but also confirming the “bundled services” guidance that OPM arrangements relied on. This was, of course, welcome news to program managers and institutions alike.
The Ohio bill builds off of emergent federal consensus centered on permissibility and transparency.
Does the Ohio approach represent a common sense, balanced model for state and federal regulators to emulate?
Here’s What’s in the Bill:
- Defines OPM: The law specifically defines an OPM as an entity, which is not an institution of higher education, that enters an agreement with an institution in the state to “to provide marketing and recruitment services and at least one additional service, including course design, technology, or faculty training, to support an online degree program.”
- Holds institutions responsible for program compliance: All institutions in the state must ensure OPM contracts are in compliance with “relevant program standards and requirements.”
- Demands provider transparency: All institutions must post on their program website that it utilizes an OPM. The law also requires that the OPM must identify itself when providing a service to a learner.
- Prevents OPMs from engaging with financial aid: The new law prohibits OPMs to “control, make decisions regarding, administer, or disburse” student financial aid.
- Requires contract disclosure: Private non-profit institutions authorized within the state must include in their annual reports to the state’s Chancellor a disclosure of any contract entered into with an OPM.
Our team will continue to track and monitor national and state policy related to OPMs and third party partnerships.
