It all started with an image that stuck: an adjunct professor sleeping in his office because it was too expensive to live close to campus. Tade Oyerinde, a young businessman who felt that too many people had been let down by higher education for too long, was haunted by that little, unpleasant detail.
What transpired was a transition rather than merely a startup. The fully accredited online community college Campus.edu raised an astounding $100 million in only three rounds. Its concept was remarkably straightforward yet incredibly revolutionary: provide a top-notch, reasonably priced education taught by professors from prestigious colleges, all while making the experience accessible through Pell Grants and aided by specially designed technology.
Campus attracted investors with remarkable success, including Shaquille O’Neal, Jason Citron of Discord, and Sam Altman. The way it addressed a profoundly human issue—education that is too expensive and provides insufficient value—was what distinguished it above the names and figures.
Campus was created with younger learners navigating part-time jobs, intermittent Wi-Fi, and narrow margins of error in mind, in contrast to standard edtech platforms developed for older working adults. Online courses were taught by professors from places like Stanford and Spelman. There were tutors available at all times. Additionally, the offer provided laptops with internet connection.
| Startup Name | Key Facts |
|---|---|
| Campus.edu | Online, accredited community college founded by Tade Oyerinde |
| Total Funding | $100M+ across Series A, A extension, and B rounds |
| Backers | Sam Altman, Jason Citron, Shaquille O’Neal, Founders Fund |
| Business Model | Pell Grant–covered tuition, adjunct-led classes from top universities |
| Notable Feature | Classes taught by professors from Princeton, Stanford, UCLA |
| Expansion Plans | Acquired MTI College, scaling tech and support services |
Campus was able to expand nationally without having to wait years for state-by-state accreditation battles thanks to the acquisition of MTI College. That decision, which was particularly calculated, provided the business with a strong operating base and enabled it to provide services to students in 30 states in a matter of months.
Hype was not chased by the platform. Completion, affordability, and transferability were subtly given top priority. For the first time in their academic careers, students like Princess Willis, a 21-year-old from Tulsa, described feeling truly supported. Both users and funders found that emotional undercurrent—of being noticed and helped—to be quite powerful.
The way Campus handles its lecturers is quite creative. The majority of adjuncts in the US make such low money that they are eligible for food assistance. By paying them twice the going rate, Campus turned that paradigm on its head and established a highly effective and emotionally stable professional teaching environment.
The business expanded quickly without sacrificing quality thanks to strong alliances and a tech stack designed for speed. The graduation rates exceeded the national average by a considerable margin. The number of transfers to Temple, UC San Diego, and NYU started to mount. The feedback loop between institutional affirmation and student experience quickly became more tightly wound.
It is uncommon for early-stage firms to sustain this level of velocity without crumbling under duress. Campus handled it by viewing its staff and students as stakeholders rather than merely data pieces. This mentality, which is particularly evident in Oyerinde’s discourse on equality and dignity, contributed to the development of a trusting culture that is challenging to imitate.
The transition to online learning during the epidemic put many institutions in disarray. Campus, which was already built to be flexible, easily adjusted. That agility was cultural as well as operational. Students required more than simply digital tools—they also needed emotional bandwidth. Both were offered via the platform.
Few firms have attempted to upend higher education with such a keen awareness of its constraints as this one. Despite attending several universities, Oyerinde never received a degree. The fragmented, costly, and frequently discouraging experience formed the company’s guiding principle: assist students in finishing with their options and sense of self-worth intact.
We’re witnessing a surge of young entrepreneurs in the digital sector creating businesses based on their frustrations. For Series, a more intelligent career networking software, Yale students raised millions of dollars. Slash, a gig worker banking firm, raised $41 million. However, Campus feels different—not simply because of its size, but also because of the subliminal sense of urgency.
I have attended a virtual information session purely for observation. No gaudy advertisements or jargon-filled pitches were there. Just a counselor answering inquiries regarding Pell Grant eligibility and a lecturer describing how transfer credits operated. It was remarkably personal, more akin to a purpose-built support network than a startup.
Startups like Campus will be widely followed in the upcoming years as universities struggle with declining enrollment and rising public cynicism. Its strength, however, is that it doesn’t aim to be everything. This community college was designed with this time period in mind; it is supported, efficient, and surprisingly reasonably priced.
