Execute a Successful OPM Transition
Collegis gives you a proven transition plan that puts strategy, data, and direction back in your hands and protects the recruitment and retention work already in motion. We’ve helped institutions like ASU, Montclair State, and the University of Scranton exit their OPMS and are ready to help you.
Exit Your OPM Without Losing Enrollment Momentum
Getting out of your OPM doesn’t mean rebuilding everything in-house overnight. That’s the priciest and riskiest approach. Most institutions still need real operational muscle to safeguard enrollments during the transition. Collegis Education provides the continuity and expertise to manage the offboarding process successfully while preserving enrollment efforts already in motion.
We help you reclaim your program strategy, your data, and your online program’s strategic direction without having to take every function onto your own plate on day one. Working together, we’ll build a model around your goals, giving you access to the expertise you need now and the flexibility to shift more ownership to your institution over time.
This isn’t a swing from “outsourced” to “all internal” but rather a shift from partner-controlled to institution-controlled.
Collegis Education Post-OPM Success Stories
24% increase in new online learners
Montclair State University brought key OPM functions in-house and partnered with Collegis for marketing and enrollment support, driving 500+ new online students in Fall 2025 and 24% year-over-year growth.
15,000+ new online learners
Arizona State University Online exited a high-profile OPM relationship and partnered with Collegis to drive 15,000+ new online learners in Fall 2025.
7,300+ new website visitors
After exiting its OPM, the University of Scranton rebuilt its organic visibility with Collegis Education, generating 7,300+ new users and 568 blog-driven conversions through SEO and content strategy.
A More Flexible Model With Greater Institutional Control
In a revenue-share model, your OPM runs critical functions across enrollment, marketing, data, technology, and student support end-to-end, and often in a black box you don’t have visibility into. Transitioning those responsibilities takes careful sequencing to protect the work already in motion.
Collegis Education brings a clear point of view on how to move from your current OPM model to the future state you’re working toward. We guide the transition in the right order, putting the people, processes, and capabilities in place before they need to perform.
Here are the steps we take to ensure business continuity stays at the center of every stage:
We start by mapping what your OPM manages today, uncovering critical dependencies, surfacing risks and points of failure, and identifying what must be addressed before responsibilities change hands.
With your goals as the guide, we establish the operating model, ownership structure, and capabilities needed to move forward successfully.
Before cutover, we coordinate the people, processes, systems, and data required for the new model, with clear ownership and safeguards for enrollment continuity.
Then we manage the handoff while keeping critical work moving. Collegis can also operate key functions across enrollment, marketing, data, technology, and student support where ongoing expertise or capacity is needed.
Once the new model is in place, we focus on performance and evolve responsibilities as your internal capabilities and priorities change.
Know Your Options & Build Your OPM Exit Plan
Our OPM Independence Playbook gives you a practical framework for assessing OPM dependence, comparing future operating models, and preparing your institution for a successful transition that keeps enrollment out of harm’s way — including a month-by-month roadmap that starts 24 to 18 months out.
Build and Operate What Comes Next
Your new model doesn’t have to be fully built in-house on day one.
Collegis can take on many of the functions your OPM manages today, working alongside your teams to provide the expertise and operational capacity you need. You gain greater visibility into how the work gets done and how it performs, while maintaining the flexibility to adjust our role over time.
We bring the capabilities needed to keep your new model performing across:
Enrollment Strategy + Recruitment
Strengthen student recruitment and conversion with data-informed enrollment strategies, responsive outreach, and support from inquiry through registration.
Marketing + Demand Generation
Build qualified demand through integrated digital marketing, paid and organic strategies, content, and performance optimization.
Data + Analytics
Connect institutional data and create greater visibility across the student lifecycle so your teams can turn insight into action.
Technology + CRM
Optimize the technology, integrations, automation, and CRM infrastructure behind efficient enrollment operations.
Retention + Student Support
Use personalized, data-enabled engagement to support persistence, student satisfaction, and long-term success.
Program + Academic Support
Strengthen program strategy, instructional design, and related academic capabilities based on institutional needs.
See What It Takes to Build OPM Capabilities In-House
Use our Build Your Own OPM Workbook to assess your institution’s readiness, identify gaps across critical functions, and determine what you can own internally and where outside expertise still makes sense.
What Comes Next Is Yours to Define
You know where you want to go. Collegis brings the strategy, execution, and experience to get you there while protecting enrollment along the way
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FAQs about OPM transition strategy
Institutions have several OPM alternatives, including renegotiating an existing agreement, moving to a flexible fee-for-service or online program enablement model, and developing an institution-led model supported by specialized partners.
The right approach depends on your enrollment goals, internal capabilities, technology and data environment, and how much operational responsibility your institution wants to own.
Start by understanding what your OPM owns or operates today and what would happen if those services stopped.
Evaluate dependencies across contracts and finances, operations, data, technology, marketing, recruitment, student support, talent, institutional knowledge, and governance. Then determine what your institution is prepared to own and where partner support is needed to maintain continuity.
No. Greater institutional control doesn’t require full insourcing.
Your institution can own its strategy, data, governance, and critical assets while relying on a partner like Collegis to operate functions such as marketing, recruitment, technology, data and analytics, or student support. The balance is yours to define, and it can change as your capabilities grow.
Every transition is different, but planning should begin well before the contract ends. The OPM Independence Playbook outlines a roadmap beginning 24 to 18 months before contract end, followed by future-state planning, capability building, testing, cutover, and stabilization.
Starting early creates more time to address dependencies, build or transition critical functions, and align changes with enrollment cycles.
We plan around enrollment cycles and operational readiness, not just the contract end date. Collegis can establish clear ownership, coordinate data and asset transfers, build and test replacement workflows, and operate key enrollment functions throughout the transition. This helps maintain continuity while the new model comes online.
Collegis can continue operating many of the functions traditionally provided by an OPM based on what your institution needs.
Our capabilities include enrollment and recruitment support, digital marketing, data and analytics, technology and CRM support, retention and student success, program strategy, and instructional design. Unlike a fixed service bundle, our support can evolve as your institution builds capabilities, changes priorities, or decides to take greater ownership of specific functions.
Transform Challenges Into Opportunities
Facing challenges in enrollment, retention, or tech integration? Seeking growth in new markets? Our strategic insights pave a clear path for overcoming obstacles and driving success in higher education.
Unlock the transformative potential within your institution – partner with us to turn today’s roadblocks into tomorrow’s achievements. Let’s chat.