How to start a new college
 

Martel and I have bounced around the idea of starting a new college- probably a college of psychology, perhaps just for the last two years of a four year degree. Anyway, I googled but didn't come up with anything right off the bat, and thought I'd ask you guys. So, how does one start a new college and get it legitimized?

uhhhhhh.... millions of dollars?

pretty darn close...

Accreditations would be the thing that you need, and you probably don't get those until you have a proven program... and it'd be tough to get people to sign up for a program that doesn't have proper accreditations (otherwise you can just send away for a diploma in the mail)

You'd also need to get a staff... I'm sure you could do it all with visiting type professors, that would be willing to devote the time... but that professort would have to have enough name recognition to get people to come to your school.

Before you do that... the question I would ask is what can you do for a student that a legitimate university doesn't already do? Bottom line is... why would a student come to you?

A school, like anything else is a business, and for a new business to get started, you'll want to come up with a business plan, and go over it with an accountant and a lawyer to make sure you have all your bases covered.

Something cheaper may be renting out one of those empty buildings super wal-mart created, and build a psychology library and a lecture hall or two inside the building. You could start charging for memberships and/or individual lectures. This way you can start small and maybe graduate from periodic lectures, to regular lectures, then to permanent faculty.

Depressed real estate is a must! And make the interior look comfy like that of barnes and noble's.

edit: Starting a private school there to attract yuppy high school students who are strongly interested in psychology would also help the outfit get on its feet financially.