Spotlight on: Terrance Hopson, MW Regional Vice President, Western Governors University
March 2025 — In an interview with Invest:, Terrance Hopson, MW regional vice president of Western Governors University, said that the school’s partnerships with local employers have been key to not only ensuring the school’s continued growth, but also contributing to the prosperity of the local economy and the long- term success of its students.
Reflecting on the past year, what have been some of the main highlights and key milestones for Western Governors University?
Over the last 12 months, our work has been enlightening. Our mission is to change lives for the better by determining areas of opportunity for our students, no matter where they come from or what their walk of life is. At WGU, we have been able to connect individuals with high-wage in-demand jobs. We know that the surest way for our students to be successful is not only ensuring that they are coming to the institution but also ensuring that we are working with them to connect them with jobs for the future. We’ve done a great job of keeping our tuition at a flat rate. Our students take courses within six-month blocks of time for a flat tuition rate. This is important because we want to ensure our students do not graduate with a ton of debt. We try to alleviate that financial burden by keeping tuition low and ensuring we are providing scholarships for the students who need them. WGU continues to blaze a path for its students to graduate with credentials of economic value. The school has been operating for close to 30 years and has graduated over 350,000 students nationwide during that time. We have amazing partnerships with Dakota County Technical College, Inver Hills Community College, North Hennepin Community College, and White Earth Tribal & Community College. We work with state officials, community colleges, four-year institutions, and community-based organizations to galvanize the movement in order to contribute to the state of Minnesota’s economic growth. We want individuals to attend school, obtain jobs, and stay in Minnesota.
How does Western Governors University keep the academic curriculum up to date and in line with market demands?
When WGU was founded in 1997, our 19 founding governors’ mission was to be competency-based and student-oriented. We accomplish this through each of our four schools – business, IT, education, and health professions. Each school has degree programs geared toward areas of high workforce need. We want to ensure that incoming students are graduating with degrees that will help them obtain jobs in fields with existing needs. To accomplish this, we work closely with employers to ensure our curriculum aligns with industry standards. We also have a robust career department that works closely with our students to provide wraparound support services they need to enter the job market. Employers are consistently reporting that they would hire WGU graduates, so leveraging these partnerships is essential to fostering student success.
Has enrollment increased or decreased in recent years, and what is behind this result?
Interest in IT has increased significantly in recent years because of a huge need in the tech industry. In Minnesota, we are seeing a shortage of tech jobs, which means there is a great deal of demand but not enough people to fill those roles. As a university, we try to connect people with those jobs. Within our curriculum, we have mini-touch points of stackable skills embedded within our programs, like certificates obtained within degrees. This allows us to contribute more talent to the workforce to assuage the deficit. There is also a teacher shortage, and WGU has the largest school of education in the country. We are in a great position to be able to combat those shortages because we are a large institution and because of the work we are able to perform, regardless of our students’ physical locations.
What about WGU’s value proposition sets it apart from other universities?
The way in which we educate individuals has drastically changed. We are educating a unique, diverse group of students, which is vastly different from our profile from 40 years ago, which necessitates a novel approach to our operations. At WGU, we want to be an option for these potential students. One aspect that makes us unique in terms of our value proposition is that not only are we online, but we are also affordable and flexible. That means that regardless of physical location, you can access your educational studies unbound by time constraints. No matter where an individual may be in their life, there are opportunities for higher education. It is imperative that we provide support to students on an individual basis. We hold ourselves to a high standard and measure graduation rates over time and on-time completion rates. Our students are encouraged to discern the best timeline for completing their degrees. Technology is one important aspect to keep in mind, especially with AI. Our school consistently evaluates our curriculum to remain relevant in the job market.
How is Western Governors University leveraging technology and innovation to provide the best educational experience for its students?
We are always looking at how we can continue to use technology to ensure that our students are successful both during school and post-graduation. Machine learning is an important facet of this, and we are determining how we can use AI to streamline the learning process for both faculty and students. One example is WGU’s Learner Care Dashboard, which is an early intervention platform that gives faculty members real-time analysis of students if they may be struggling in a specific area.
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