The idea of a site organizing group action came to Andrew Mason while a graduate student at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy. Looks like the company is now employing the ‘campus as market’ concept that is at the core of many student launched ventures (ie Facebook, Dominos Pizza, Crooked Monkey) From The Ticker at The Chronicle of Higher Education:
Groupon, the online service best known for daily deals that offer reduced prices for retailers from restaurants to health spas, is going into higher education for the first time. Starting on Tuesday, according to the Chicago Tribune, the Web site will offer a coupon for a graduate-level introduction-to-teaching course at National-Louis University, in Chicago. Under the Groupon system, if enough people sign up for deal, they each will get a nearly 60-percent discount on the course, from $2,232 to $950. The class would fulfill three of 36 credits needed to graduate.
BTW, not that I really care, but are there public policy issues related to using discounted courses to entice would be teachers to the profession? Moreover, is this enticing people to take on student debt?
Perhaps there will be a Groupon for low interest rates on student debt? Pay a price to lock in debt at a certain rate? (Was that in Romney’s 59 point plan? If not, maybe it will show up in Obama’s speech — he and Groupon are both University of Chicago based).
Campus Entrepreneurship 