New online university becomes reality in Missouri

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon and the president of Western Governors University officially launched a new state-based online university on Friday.

They signed an agreement that, along with the governor’s executive order, creates WGU Missouri to offer residents low-cost, flexible access to a college degree. The documents were signed during a ceremony at the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City.

Nixon announced that he would create WGU Missouri last month during his State of the State address to help achieve his goal of increasing the number of Missourians with post-secondary degrees or certificates to 60 percent by 2025. Now, only 37 percent of adult residents have attained that level of education.

WGU President Robert Mendenhall said the university was created in 1997 by 19 governors “to add affordable higher education capacity to state higher education systems with no ongoing impact to state budgets.”