Risepoint Highlights Financial Stability and Operational Resilience in Edtech

London, United Kingdom, July 29th, 2026, FinanceWire

The edtech sector's central challenge has never been demand. Millions of working adults want affordable, flexible pathways to credentials that improve their economic position. Rather, the prevailing wisdom in much of the public narrative has been that the way to build a university partnership is a fee-for-service model funded by upfront university investment, an approach that remains out of reach for the very institutions that most need such partnerships.

Risepoint was built around a different logic. Since 2007, the company has partnered with regional universities to support online programs under an arrangement in which it is compensated as students progress. With a deliberate focus on regional universities that are committed to expanding access, affordability and value are built into the programs from the outset. That alignment has produced something uncommon in a sector prone to consolidation: nearly two decades of continuous operation and a portfolio of more than 100 active university partnerships.

The Fee-For-Persistence Model

Risepoint operates under a fee-for-persistence contracting model. It invests upfront capital to build each online program, taking on financial risk long before the first student signs up. If students leave early, that investment doesn't come back.

The ownership of curriculum, admissions decisions, and instruction remain with the university. Risepoint handles the operational side. It builds the technical side of online programs, provides the necessary marketing outreach, supports students through their retention services.

A company structured this way can only succeed if students are successful in their programs. There's no financial advantage to filling seats with students unlikely to finish. More than 40,000 students completed programs through Risepoint-supported partnerships in 2025.

Carleton and the Logic of International Expansion

When Risepoint entered Canada in March 2022, it did so through a partnership with Carleton University's Sprott School of Business, ranked fourth among Canada's best comprehensive universities by Maclean's and known for its Ottawa location and access to G7 capital business networks.

Carleton became one of the few universities in Canada to bring in an external partner to build and grow its online programs. That decision created accountability on both sides.

Sprott Dean Howard Nemiroff described the rationale in terms of student access. “Canada’s future business leaders require the tools necessary to become and remain competitive in this new global environment,” he said.

Since the online MBA launched in July 2022, more than 2,800 students have enrolled, with inquiries arriving from every province and all three territories. Average student retention has held at 87%.

That figure stands out against the broader record. A study published by Third Way in October 2024, by University of Florida researchers and their colleagues, drawing on the most recent national longitudinal tracking of college students, found that students enrolled in exclusively online degree programs were 8.3 percentage points less likely to complete a bachelor's degree than their non-exclusively online counterparts, a gap that held consistent across racial and ethnic groups. Retention is a direct leading indicator of that completion outcome: students who leave programs are much less likely to finish them. An 87% average retention rate in a graduate program serving primarily working adults suggests the program is keeping students engaged in learning, not losing them from it.

The demand picture in Canada supports that expansion. Statistics Canada data published in March 2026 shows the share of Canadian adults aged 25 to 64 holding master's or doctoral degrees grew from 9% to 14% between 2015 and 2025. The 2023 Pan-Canadian Report on Digital Learning from the Canadian Digital Learning Research Association found that 69% of Canadian post-secondary institutions expect to increase fully-online offerings within the next two years, with demand driven by students managing work, caregiving, and cost-of-living pressures. Nicole Johnson, CDLRA's executive director, has characterized this as a broad digital transformation across Canadian higher education, one with deeper strategic roots than pandemic-era timing.

Stability by the Numbers

Not all edtech companies have proved durable, but the numbers at Risepoint tell a different story. Eighteen years of continuous operation is a long time in a sector that has seen multiple waves of consolidation, restructuring, and exit. Maintaining more than 100 active university partnerships requires genuine operational capability; universities can and do exit arrangements that do not work. A revenue model built around student persistence means the company's financial health and its partners' academic success are tied together in a direct and documentable way.

The Carleton expansion adds a specific, recent data point to that record. When a top-ranked Canadian university, one with no history of external partnerships for its online programs, decides Risepoint is the right partner for its flagship MBA, it speaks to due diligence. The enrollment figures and retention rates since launch suggest the evaluation was correct.

About Risepoint

Risepoint is a leading education technology and services company that partners with colleges and universities to develop, launch, and grow high-quality online degree programs. Founded in 2007, the company operates under a fee-for-persistence model that aligns its success with student achievement by investing upfront in program development and earning revenue as students progress through their studies. Risepoint supports more than 100 active university partnerships across North America, helping institutions expand access to affordable, flexible, and career-focused education while preserving academic ownership and institutional integrity.

Website: https://www.edtech.com/companies/risepoint 

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