Last week, the California State University (CSU) system announced an expansion and centralization of the online courseware efforts. Under the Cal State Online plan, the 23 member campuses of the California State University system will combine their online courseware offerings under a single portal. Incentives will be offered to professors at all schools to participate in the program. Cal State Online in limited release for Fall 2012, with a full deployment by Spring 2013.

The notable thing about the Cal State Online system is not how they are adopting online learning, as other schools have already had success with this model. It’s not even that they are doing it, and thus California shouldn't be considered an early adopter in delivery of online educational content. What is compelling about CSU’s model is the reason for this online migration.

California has the largest state university system in the nation. In an uncertain economy, students seeking to improve their chances at employment are applying to universities in record numbers; at the same time, state and federal support for public schools is rapidly diminishing. As a result, some campuses of the California State University system are turning away qualified applicants because they lack the infrastructure to support the number of interested students. This situation has reached such a point that the California State University system feels compelled to migrate to a more agile and accessible model to alleviate the burden their brick-and-mortar campuses face.

Despite these efforts, the pressing question is, will it work to solve the problems that the CSU system faces? By increasing the availability of online content, the number of admissions will not be limited by the number of seats in a lecture hall. This in turn will increase revenues from tuition making up for lost support from the state and federal government; however, this may create only a temporary reprieve in the fundamental problems these universities face, as many anticipate that the ‘gainful employment’ regulations that make for-profit institutions responsible for the alumni’s student debt will soon be applied to public and private institutions as well.

To be certain, attending a CSU institution is not cheap. A recent article in the Atlantic noted that in California, it is currently cheaper for an average family of four to send their child to Harvard than a CSU institution due to the Ivy League School's generous financial aid programs for their middle class attendees coupled with California State’s increasing reliance on tuition dollars to make up for lost revenues. While infrastructure and financial challenges are not unique to California, it is looking increasingly likely that this could become a reality for many US colleges that fail to adapt adequately.

Regardless of what happens to the California State University system, it will be interesting to watch it unfold. Adapting an entire university system is a tall order. Accordingly, the future of this initiative will be interesting to monitor.