Higher-education leaders are learning that starting a virtual program is a wholly different venture than opening a traditional campus, and the recipe for success requires a different approach. Among the chief mistakes many schools make: Not investing heavily enough in marketing and recruiting, and not getting faculty buy-in and support.

Last semester, nearly a year after its launch, an $8.6 million online campus created by the University of Illinois had just 121 students enrolled in only five degree programs--far short of the 9,000 students that officials had anticipated within the project's first five years.

Earlier this decade, New York University's online school faltered when officials struggled to find a balance between profit-driven business and the traditional, not-for-profit educational model. NYUonline spent $25 million and produced just seven courses.

At the other end of the spectrum, the University of Massachusetts recently received a coveted award from the state Technology Leadership Council for its excellence in business and technology. UMassOnline brought in $36.9 million in revenue during fiscal 2008, and its enrollment grew two and a half times faster than the national average for online enrollments during this period.

Building a successful online college requires a sound, well-disciplined business model, experts say, and marketing postsecondary degrees that expand graduates' earning power should be the cornerstone for any startup distance-education program.

Researchers and online entrepreneurs say the proven roadmap for success--to the dismay of college faculty--largely strips professors and academic deans of their control in exchange for a model that uses millions of dollars in startup funds for massive marketing campaigns and aggressive student recruitment drives.

University faculties have proven proficient in portions of the planning stages for a web-based college. They often use tens of millions from university coffers to mold rigorous course options designed to challenge students the same way their campus-based peers are challenged in the lecture hall. But many startup online schools falter when enrollment staggers.

Even the country's big-name universities, it seems, need to advertise their new product. Having little or no money left for ad campaigns after developing their online courses, some schools struggle, request an influx of more campus funds, or simply close shop.

"They don't do a thorough market analysis, and they just want to expand their enrollment and expand their revenue," said Alfred Rovai, an education professor at the online Regent University who has written books about distance-education programs. "They have the ‘build it and they will come' mentality and … they just haven't done their homework. … [Large universities] basically are reluctant to spend a lot of money on marketing and recruiting."

Striving to boost enrollment numbers with online courses, Rovai said, has led to the downfall of several high-profile programs--providing lessons for smaller ventures that can't draw from plentiful campus endowments.