Key Points:AI-assisted summary
- • Purdue Online is an extension of the main West Lafayette campus, while Purdue Global functions more like a separate online regional campus.
- • Admission to Purdue Online is selective, mirroring the main campus, whereas Purdue Global has an open enrollment policy.
- • Purdue Online primarily offers graduate degrees taught by West Lafayette faculty, while Purdue Global offers a wider range of degrees taught by its own instructors.
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN — Purdue Global, the Purdue University system’s online school, welcomed a cousin of sorts in December 2018.
Purdue’s trustees established a new arm of their main campus, charged with expanding the school’s land-grant mission: Purdue Online, as it was named, would offer an online-only option to those who missed out on West Lafayette in their first go-round at higher education.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because Purdue officials gave a similar rationale for establishing Purdue Global eight months earlier.
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Ever since, the two online entities have shared enough in common to risk being conflated.
A February 2025 Purdue University Senate report determined the public — and even Purdue students and staff — couldn’t differentiate Purdue’s disparate online schools.
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