The University of Arizona Global Campus, formerly Ashford University, is an
online university
A virtual university (or online university) provides higher education programs through electronic media, typically the Internet. Some are bricks-and-mortar institutions that provide online learning as part of their extended university courses while ...
"operated in affiliation with the
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
T ...
." In 2020, Ashford University was acquired by the
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory.
T ...
, becoming the University of Arizona Global Campus.
Zovio
Zovio, formerly Bridgepoint Education, Inc. (BPI), is a publicly held, American For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit education services company. It was the online program manager for one online university, the University ...
, a
for-profit higher education corporation and Ashford's former owner, is the campus's
online program manager
As part of EdTech, Online Program Managers (OPMs) provide products and services on which educational institutions can run online courses. OPMs, mostly for-profit enterprises, have allowed universities to enter into the online education business an ...
. It has been implicated in multiple scandals, including improper teaching methods,
fraud
In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...
against consumers, targetting mentally ill
veteran
A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military.
A military veteran that has ...
s, and mismanaging
credit balances and
leaves of absence.
Until 2020, Ashford University was a holding of Zovio (formerly called Bridgepoint Education), a for-profit education technology services company. The school is an
open enrollment institution serving working adults and offers
associate's
An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree.
The f ...
, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in more than 50 degree programs online. The university consists of five colleges: the Division of General Education, the
Forbes School of Business & Technology (FSBT), the College of Education, the College of Health, Human Services, and Science, and the College of Liberal Arts.
The University of Arizona Global Campus is accredited by the
WASC Senior College and University Commission
The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) was an organization providing accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary and elementary schools in California and Hawaii, the territories of Guam, American Samoa ...
with Notice of Concern.
History
Origin as TeleUniversity 1999–2001
University of Arizona Global Campus claims a history dating back to 1918. The school, however, has stronger roots with TeleUniversity, an online school created by entrepreneur
Michael K. Clifford in 1999.]
Charter Learning 2001–2003
In 2001, the company changed leadership with co-founders Wayne Clugston, Scott Turner, and David Vande Pol. TeleUniversity was renamed Charter Learning with a focus on helping working adults complete their bachelor's degree while attending their community college. Charter Learning provided American Council on Education credit recommended upper division curriculum in Organizational Management, the Maricopa Community College system provided the lower division coursework and instruction, and Charter Oak State College granted the degree. In 2003
Warburg Pincus
Warburg Pincus LLC is a global private equity firm, headquartered in New York, with offices in the United States, Europe, Brazil, China, Southeast Asia and India. Warburg has been a private equity investor since 1966. The firm currently has over ...
, a private equity firm, invested in Charter Learning and the name changed to Bridgepoint Education. In 2005, Bridgepoint Education purchased the small Franciscan University of the Prairies campus in Clinton, Iowa, retained the school's valuable accreditation, and renamed it Ashford University. Most of Ashford University's students, however, were enrolled to learn exclusively online and the campus closed in May 2016.
Catholic colleges: 1918–2005
Seeing a need for higher education in
Clinton County Clinton County may refer to:
*Counties named for George Clinton, first and third Governor of New York, and later the fourth Vice President of the United States:
**Clinton County, New York
** Clinton County, Ohio
*Counties named for DeWitt Clinton, ...
and the surrounding area, the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis, Sisters of Saint Francis founded Mount St. Clare College in 1918.
This liberal arts institution was also an approved teacher education college from 1932 to 1954. In 1942, 60% of the rural teachers in Clinton County and 62% of the teachers in the city of Clinton school system had received all their training from Mount St. Clare College. In 1950, the
North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), also known as the North Central Association, was a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states engaged in educational accreditation. It w ...
first accredited Mount St. Clare College. The college acquired a convent building, new library, new gymnasium, the Science Building, and Durham Residence Hall and became coeducational in 1967. The 24-acre campus was about a half mile from the Mississippi River and about a mile north of Highway 30. The most notable building on campus was St. Clare Hall, which served as the Mount St. Clare Convent, Novitiate, Academy, and College. Durham and Regis Halls provided residence to on campus students.For the 1979–1980 school year, the college received approval for its first four-year degree, a bachelor's program in business administration. The same year, Mount St. Clare Academy merged with St. Mary's High School in Clinton, forming Mater Dei High School (now known as
Prince of Peace Preparatory). With the space freed by the academy's merger, the school began to offer more four-year programs. In 1997, the sisters moved off campus into their new mother house, The Canticle. In 1998, the Durgin Educational Center was opened, which included new athletic facilities, including Kehl arena. In 2003, Mount St. Clare College changed its name to The Franciscan University. The university also offered its first master's degree online. In September 2004, the school modified its name to The Franciscan University of the Prairies in order to avoid confusion with similarly named schools.
Ashford University: 2005–2020
For-profit enrollment boom (2005–2012)
Charter Learning acquired the financially failing Catholic college to gain regional accreditation and access to federal funds. After the sale, the institution's name was changed to Ashford University.
In 2010, Ashford University was highlighted in College, Inc. a
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
Frontline exposé about for-profit colleges. In June 2012, WASC denied initial accreditation to Ashford University. Following WASC's denial of accreditation for being, according to
''Insider Higher Ed'', "lacking in several areas, including low numbers of full-time faculty, high student dropout rates and questions about academic rigor," WASC demanded additional information from Ashford prior to an October site visit. Its second application was accepted in 2013. In approving accreditation, the WASC Commission Action Letter stated "The Commission found that the University has responded to Commission concerns and judges that it is now in substantial compliance with Commission standards." The WASC visiting team noted in its final report that "the team found an institution that has been fundamentally transformed and whose culture has been changed in significant ways, including a shift from a market driven approach to an institution committed to student retention and success". At its meeting June 26–28, 2019, the WASC Senior College and University Commission acted to reaffirm Ashford's accreditation through Spring 2025.
Academic organizations included the Ashford Junior-Senior Honor Society, the Ashford Student Iowa State Education Association, the
Golden Key International Honour Society
The Golden Key International Honour Society (formerly Golden Key National Honor Society) is an Atlanta, Georgia-based non-profit organization founded in 1977 to recognize academic achievement among college and university students.
Golden Key has ...
,
the Mu Sigma Eta math and science honor society, the
Phi Beta Lambda business organization, the Psychology Club, the Scholars Institute honors program, and the
Sigma Tau Delta
Sigma Tau Delta () is an international excelled English honor society for students of English at four-year colleges and universities who are within the top 30% of their class and have a 3.5 GPA or higher. It presently has over 850 chapters in ...
literature and education honor society. Campus students were eligible for the Ashford Junior-Senior Honor Society, the Scholars Institute,
Mu Sigma Eta math and science honor society, and
Sigma Tau Delta
Sigma Tau Delta () is an international excelled English honor society for students of English at four-year colleges and universities who are within the top 30% of their class and have a 3.5 GPA or higher. It presently has over 850 chapters in ...
literature and education honor society.
Enrollment declines (2013–2020)
In 2013, Ashford University announced an alliance with
Forbes Media
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
, and Ashford's College of Business and Professional Studies was renamed the
Forbes School of Business. It was later renamed
Forbes School of Business & Technology at Ashford University. On July 9, 2015, the university announced that the Iowa campus would close in May 2016. The inability to meet campus enrollment requirements was a key factor in the Ashford University Board of Trustees' decision to call for the campus closure.
In 2017, Ashford University school faced the potential loss of
GI Bill
The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...
funding
as enrollment decreased more than 50 percent from its peak in 2011. Bridgepoint Education merged Ashford with the
University of the Rockies
University of the Rockies (now the ''University of Arizona Global Campus'') was a private university in Denver, Colorado. It operated from 1998 to 2018 and offered graduate and postgraduate instruction in the social and behavioral sciences both o ...
and planned to convert Ashford to a
non-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
university. In 2018, the university took steps to become a nonprofit institution.
According to Nolan Sundrud, a Bridgepoint spokesman, the nonprofit status would allow the University to be "...judged and measured as colleges and universities should be - on their ability to support student success."
The switch required approval from both the
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...
and the Department of Education. In November 2018, Ashford's accreditor, WASC, delayed allowing the school to become a non-profit.
In 2019, Bridgepoint bought
Fullstack Academy
Fullstack Academy is an immersive software engineering coding bootcamp located in New York City. Students of the full-time flagship course learn full stack JavaScript over the course of a 13-week, on-campus program. Fullstack Academy offers beg ...
, and moved its personnel to Chandler, Arizona, boasting that its facility would feature an open working environment, with a café, gym, and on-site health clinic. Bridgepoint then rebranded and changed its name to Zovio. On April 14, 2019, Ashford University was featured in an
NBC News
NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, a division of NBCUniversal, which is, in turn, a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's var ...
investigation of for-profit colleges that were targeting military veterans.
In June 2019,
Zovio
Zovio, formerly Bridgepoint Education, Inc. (BPI), is a publicly held, American For-profit higher education in the United States, for-profit education services company. It was the online program manager for one online university, the University ...
announced a mass layoff at its headquarters in San Diego. A month later, WASC approved Ashford to become a non-profit entity.
Zovio faces shareholder lawsuits related to factual misstatements and an informal inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission. One such suit was dismissed by the California Superior Court on July 8, 2019, and a subsequent appeal was later dismissed with prejudice.
In October 2019, Zovio received a letter from the US Department of Education stating that it would be required to post an irrevocable letter of credit of 25 percent of the Title IV funding for fiscal year 2018 upon change of ownership. In February 2020, Zovio reported a net operating loss of $56.6 million in 2019. Enrollment declined from a peak of 77,734 in 2012 to 32,620 in 2019.
In March 2020, during the Coronavirus pandemic, Ashford's parent company announced that they would be hiring 200 additional enrollment advisors. In 2020, Ashford received $1 million in federal Covid relief funds.
Ashford University Enrollment, 2005–2019
Athletics
The Ashford athletic teams were called the Saints; as the university was a member of the
National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...
(NAIA), primarily competing as an
NAIA Independent within the Association of Independent Institutions (AII) from 2012–13 to 2015–16 (when the school closed). The Saints previously competed in the defunct
Midwest Collegiate Conference
The Midwest Collegiate Conference (MCC) was a college athletic conference, consisting of colleges and universities located in Iowa and Wisconsin. Founded in 1988, the conference's member schools competed on the NAIA level in 15 different sports. ...
(MCC) from 1988–89 to 2011–12.
Ashford competed in 17 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports included baseball, basketball, bowling, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis and track & field; while women's sports include basketball, bowling, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, track & field and volleyball.
University of Arizona Global: 2020–present
Criticism of acquisition
In August 2020, faculty members of University of Arizona's
Eller College of Management
The Eller College of Management (Eller) is a business school at the University of Arizona located in Tucson, Arizona. The Eller College of Management began in 1913 as bachelor's degree program in commerce before becoming the University of Arizona ...
said the acquisition of Ashford University would "impair the value of the University of Arizona, expose the University of Arizona to litigation, impede our ability to compete in the high-quality online space, and harm relationships with current and prospective donors and faculty."
Gary Rhoades, professor at the Center for the Study of Higher Education at University of Arizona and former general secretary of the
American Association of University Professors
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) is an organization of professors and other academics in the United States. AAUP membership includes over 500 local campus chapters and 39 state organizations.
The AAUP's stated mission is ...
said "This is a sad example of public universities' 'cynical academic capitalism,' grounded in white privilege and the exploitation of 'others' who the public universities themselves have generally have largely underserved."
According to Dave Wells of the Grand Canyon Institute, "Ashford is considered a predatory institution with a history of students dropping out or transferring with huge amounts of debt."
As part of the transfer of ownership, University of Arizona Global has a service agreement with Zovio. According to the agreement, Arizona Global "will pay to the Company services fees equal to the Company's direct costs to provide the services plus an additional amount equal to 19.5% of Global Campus's tuition and fees revenue." Zovio continued to lose more money as enrollment at the newly branded University of Arizona Global Campus declined. According to the
Chronicle of Higher Education
''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals (staff members and administrators). A subscription is required to rea ...
"recent disclosures by Zovio also suggest enrollment struggles lie ahead for America's newest mega-university, at least in the short term."
Lawsuits and accreditation issues
In 2021, the university's parent company agreed to resolve an inquiry by the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office through an Assurance of Discontinuance regarding Ashford University students. More specifically, the company agreed to pay the Massachusetts Attorney General $295,120 and to stop collecting written off balances that former Ashford University students in Massachusetts owed to the school. The university also received $564,001 from the
American Rescue Plan
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, also called the COVID-19 Stimulus Package or American Rescue Plan, is a economic stimulus bill passed by the 117th United States Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021, to s ...
. In July, UAGC"s accreditor, WASC, notified the school that it had "strong concerns that the targets set for academic improvement” at the school “are seriously inadequate to reach levels of student outcomes that should be expected at an accredited institution.”
In December 2021, a California trial against Ashford University and Bridgepoint Education is underway. The California Attorney General alleges that Ashford University and Zovio engaged in "unlawful business practices": providing "false and misleading information to students to persuade them to enroll in the school" and "illegal debt collection practices when students struggled to pay their bills."
Leadership
The current President of University of Arizona Global Campus is Paul Pastorek, a former Superintendent of Louisiana Public Schools and an advocate for charter schools.
Funding and student aid
The former Ashford University received approximately 95% of its money from the US federal government, including $41 million from military tuition assistance and $26 million from
GI Bill
The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...
funds. Ashford University has partnered with more than 100 companies to offer tuition discounts and a limited number of full-tuition grants. Partner companies include
T-Mobile
T-Mobile is the brand name used by some of the mobile communications subsidiaries of the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG in the Czech Republic (T-Mobile Czech Republic), Poland (T-Mobile Polska), the United States (T-Mobile ...
,
Bridgestone
is a Japanese multinational tire manufacturer founded in 1931 by Shojiro Ishibashi (1889–1976) in the city of Kurume, Fukuoka, Japan. The name Bridgestone comes from a calque translation and transposition of , meaning 'stone bridge' in Japan ...
,
Hewlett Packard
The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...
,
Zurich Insurance Group
Zurich Insurance Group Ltd is a Swiss insurance company, headquartered in Zürich, and the country's largest insurer. As of 2021, the group is the world's 112th largest public company according to ''Forbes'' Global 2000s list, and in 2011 it ran ...
, and
Comcast
Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
. More than 1,000 students used the full tuition grant to get a degree at Ashford.
Academics
According to the
National Center for Education Statistics
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance ...
, in 2019–2020 Ashford University employed 119 full-time faculty and 2,006 part-time faculty. The university consists of five colleges:
Forbes School of Business and Technology, College of Education, College of Health, Human Services, and Science, College of Liberal Arts
and Honors College.
Student body
University of Arizona Global's undergraduate population is 43 percent white, 31 percent black, 16 percent Hispanic, 4 percent 2 or more races, and 2 percent Asian. Sixty-eight percent were eligible for
Pell Grants
A Pell Grant is a subsidy the U.S. federal government provides for students who need it to pay for college. Federal Pell Grants are limited to students with financial need, who have not earned their first bachelor's degree, or who are enrolled i ...
. According to SEC reports approximately 71 percent of the student body is female, and the average age is 35. In comparison, University of Arizona's undergraduate population is 50 percent white, 27 percent Hispanic, 7 percent non-resident alien, 5 percent Asian, and 4 percent black.
Student outcomes
According to the US Department of Education's
College Scorecard
The College Scorecard is an online tool, created by the United States government, for consumers to compare the cost and value of higher education institutions in the United States. At launch, it displayed data in five areas: cost, graduation rate ...
, Ashford University has a 22 percent 8-year graduation rate.
In comparison, University of Arizona's 8-year graduation rate is 63 percent. The College Scorecard reported that of student debtors two years into repayment, 32 percent were in forbearance, 28 percent were not making progress, 13 percent defaulted, 12 percent were in deferment, 7 percent were delinquent, 5 percent were making progress, 2 percent were paid in full, and 2 percent were discharged.
Rankings
Washington Monthly
''Washington Monthly'' is a bimonthly, nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C. The magazine is known for its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, which serves as an alternat ...
ranked Ashford University 549th of 614 master's degree schools in the US. In comparison, University of Arizona ranked 87th among national universities.
Student life
University of Arizona Global Campus students have the opportunity to join several honor societies. Online students can join the
Alpha Sigma Lambda
Alpha Sigma Lambda () is the oldest and largest national honor society for Non-traditional students (typically adults also engaged in professional careers) who achieve and maintain outstanding scholastic standards and leadership characteristics ...
and
Phi Theta Kappa
Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society ( or PTK) is the international honor society of students attending open-access institutions and seeking associate degrees, bachelor's degrees, or other college credentials. Its headquarters is in Jackson, Mississippi ...
honor societies. Students are able to join
Delta Alpha Pi International Honor Society,
Golden Key International Honour Society
The Golden Key International Honour Society (formerly Golden Key National Honor Society) is an Atlanta, Georgia-based non-profit organization founded in 1977 to recognize academic achievement among college and university students.
Golden Key has ...
,
and SALUTE Veterans National Honor Society.
According to the US Department of Education
College Navigator College Navigator is a consumer tool created by the US Department of Education and its National Center for Education Statistics so that people can evaluate US colleges that receive Title IV funds. College Navigator includes institutional data on pr ...
, 3,677 service members are using their Tuition Assistance (TA) benefits for Ashford. An additional 2,666 use their
GI Bill
The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...
benefits for the school.
Lawsuits and controversies
Audits, investigations, and lawsuits (2006–2011)
According to U.S. Senate testimony by Arlie Willems, retired reviewer for the Iowa Department of Education, the Iowa Department of Education denied Ashford University's request in 2006 to offer an online Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) on the grounds that the program "was more a collection of discrete courses than a cohesive program, was understaffed for appropriate interaction with students and supervision of both courses and clinical experiences, including student teaching. Many faculty members lacked appropriate academic background and/or experiences for their assigned responsibilities. The most serious concern noted by the team was the lack of responsibility on the part of the program in providing quality clinical experiences, the aspect of teacher preparation considered the most important by preparation programs in Iowa."
Willems also testified that Ashford entered into partnership with
Rio Salado Community College
Rio Salado College is a public community college headquartered in Tempe, Arizona United States. It is part of the Maricopa County Community College District and accredited by The Higher Learning Commission. It offers associate degree and certi ...
whereas education courses from the Ashford BA in Social Science with a Concentration in Education could apply to Rio Salado's post-baccalaureate teacher education program. Once students have completed the online Ashford BA and the online Rio Salado teacher education program, they are eligible for an Arizona teaching license. Willem's noted that this partnership could be seen as a creative way to solve a problem in order to continue drawing students, or it could be seen as a way to circumvent the accountability system for quality in order to continue collecting tuition from students. An individual who has attained an Arizona license in this way does not automatically receive an Iowa license because Iowa and Arizona do not have a reciprocity agreement.
According to Willems, complaints from Ashford students concerning this agreement and licensure include:
# Individuals from Iowa and many other states had completed Ashford's online Bachelor of Arts in Social Science with a Concentration in Education. These individuals had been led to believe that, upon completion of this program, they would be eligible for a license in their home state because Ashford has a state-approved teacher education program (the on-ground undergraduate program).
# Individuals were students or graduates of the Ashford online baccalaureate program, but were not aware of the need to complete the Rio Salado program as well in order to receive an Arizona license. These individuals were not even aware of the Rio Salado partnership.
# Ashford students were intending to complete student teaching through Rio Salado College and believed they would then automatically be eligible for an Iowa teaching license.
# Students were completing an online degree through Ashford in early childhood believed that this degree would lead to an Iowa teaching license. It does not.
In May 2008, the
U.S. Department of Education
The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...
's Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit services division commenced a compliance audit of Ashford University covering the period March 10, 2005, through June 30, 2009. The OIG audit reached the following conclusions:
The stock of Ashford's parent company,
Bridgepoint Education, fell the most in almost five months when the misuse of federal student aid was first publicly disclosed in 2009.
When the official results were released in 2011,
Senator Tom Harkin
Thomas Richard Harkin (born November 19, 1939) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as a United States senator from Iowa from 1985 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously was the U.S. representative for Iowa' ...
said this audit "reveals the same troubling pattern of
for-profit colleges
Proprietary colleges are for-profit colleges and universities. They are operated by their owners or investors, rather than a not-for-profit institution, religious organization, or government. Because they are not funded by tax money, their long ...
' taking advantage of students and taxpayers." The Department of Education has not yet responded to the findings.
The audit was the subject of a
U.S. Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
committee hearing on March 10, 2011.
A
Bloomberg News
Bloomberg News (originally Bloomberg Business News) is an international news agency headquartered in New York City and a division of Bloomberg L.P. Content produced by Bloomberg News is disseminated through Bloomberg Terminals, Bloomberg Televi ...
report revealed that Ashford was recruiting disabled soldiers at the Wounded Warrior Battalion at
Camp Lejeune
Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune () is a United States military training facility in Jacksonville, North Carolina. Its of beaches make the base a major area for amphibious assault training, and its location between two deep-water ports ( Wilming ...
, North Carolina, including a Marine with a
traumatic brain injury
A traumatic brain injury (TBI), also known as an intracranial injury, is an injury to the brain caused by an external force. TBI can be classified based on severity (ranging from mild traumatic brain injury TBI/concussionto severe traumatic b ...
.
2011 Iowa Attorney General investigation and US Senate hearings
According to a February 15, 2011, filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ashford University and its parent company, Bridgepoint Education, received a letter from the Iowa Attorney General's office on February 9, 2011, requesting "documents and detailed information" from January 1, 2008, to the present to determine if Ashford's business practices possibly violated the state's Consumer Fraud Act.
On March 10, 2011, Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) chaired a hearing of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that examined a
case study
A case study is an in-depth, detailed examination of a particular case (or cases) within a real-world context. For example, case studies in medicine may focus on an individual patient or ailment; case studies in business might cover a particular fi ...
of Ashford's parent company, which has experienced near-exponential profit growth in the last few years despite low graduation rates. Bridgepoint owns two universities that it purchased when both were near bankruptcy, Ashford University in Iowa and the University of the Rockies in Colorado. When it purchased Ashford University in 2005, it had fewer than 300 students but in 2010 it claimed to have over 78,000 students, 99% of which were online.
[Kelly Field]
"At a Senate Hearing, Tough Questions for a Fast-Growing For-Profit's Accreditor"
''Chronicle of Higher Education'', 10 March 2011
Senator Harkin took issue with success of the company saying that while Bridgepoint may have had record profits the students were not succeeding. According to information provided by Senator Harkin in the committee hearing, 63% of students who enrolled at Ashford University during the 2008–2009 school year withdrew before completion of their prospective program. Senator Harkin pointed out that Bridgepoint recorded more than $216 million in profits in 2010; of which 86.5 percent of its revenues come from federal funds. In reference to the dependence of Bridgepoint on public funds, Senator Harkin was quoted as saying, "I think this is a scam, an absolute scam."
Kathleen Tighe, an inspector general with the U.S. Department of Education, testified at the hearing that in an audit of Ashford, she discovered Ashford was improperly distributing student aid to students. "Seventy-five percent of the improper disbursements to students in our sample were made to students who never became eligible," Tighe said. Bridgepoint hadn't returned the improperly obtained student aid to the federal government, and said on a recent report she'd seen that Bridgepoint was "sitting on $130 million" in these types of funds.
Due to the ongoing Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) proceedings, and in order to preserve due process, Ashford's parent company, Bridgepoint Education, chose not to send executives to the HELP committee hearing while engaged in negotiations with FSA.
Rather, Bridgepoint published a summary of responses called Bridgepoint Education Transparency.
Audits, investigations, and lawsuits (2011–2021)
In 2011, Ashford was audited by the
U.S. Department of Education
The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...
for its recruiting and finance practices. Bridgepoint Education responded with a report asserting that the information in the Senate hearing was inaccurate or incomplete.
On December 3, 2014 a suit was filed in Arizona federal court charging that Bridgepoint Education was violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by robocalling sales prospects. Similar suits were filed in federal court in San Diego and the Northern District of Ohio.
In 2015, the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is an agency of the United States government responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector. CFPB's jurisdiction includes banks, credit unions, securities firms, payday lenders, mortg ...
reported that they were investigating Ashford University related to '"unlawful acts or practices related to the advertising, marketing or origination of private student loans."'
In 2016, Bridgepoint Education received a subpoena from the
Securities and Exchange Commission
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street Crash of 1929. The primary purpose of the SEC is to enforce the law against market ...
related to the potential joint resolution of investigations by the California Attorney General and the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is an agency of the United States government responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector. CFPB's jurisdiction includes banks, credit unions, securities firms, payday lenders, mortg ...
. In 2016, a former senior vice president at Ashford University alleged that Bridgepoint falsified its financial reports by inaccurately projecting the student retention rate. On September 12, 2016, the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is an agency of the United States government responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector. CFPB's jurisdiction includes banks, credit unions, securities firms, payday lenders, mortg ...
fined Bridgepoint Education, the parent company of Ashford University, $31.5 million for deceiving students about the cost of private student loans; $23.5 million was targeted for relief and refunds to consumers. In 2016, the Iowa Department of Education notified Ashford that it would discontinue approval for
GI Bill
The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...
benefits after June 30.
In September 2017 the Department of Veterans Affairs accepted the shift in its state-based eligibility for veterans' benefits from Iowa to Arizona, but also stated in a letter that the VA has independent regulatory authority aside from the Arizona State Approving Agency.
In September 2017, the VA gave Ashford approval to enroll GI Bill students indefinitely. Ashford University and its parent company Bridgepoint Education were the subject of an investigation published in ''
The Chronicle of Higher Education
''The Chronicle of Higher Education'' is a newspaper and website that presents news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty and student affairs professionals (staff members and administrators). A subscription is required to rea ...
''. The article included information about Bridgepoint's political moves with Arizona politicians in order to maintain
GI Bill
The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...
funding.
In November 2017, the California Attorney General brought a lawsuit against Ashford and its parent company Bridgepoint for engaging in "unlawful marketing, sales and debt collection practices".
In March 2019, Bridgepoint Education reported that it had made unreliable statements about its earnings and losses. The company estimated an operating loss of $13.6–$14 million loss for the quarter ending in December 2018.
Ashford University was featured in an NBC News Investigates piece that aired April 14, 2019. One recruiter, Eric Dean alleged that Ashford was targeting veterans with PTSD.
In November 2021 the California Attorney General case reached its trial phase.
References
External links
Official websiteCollege Inc.
{{authority control
Distance education institutions based in the United States
2020 establishments in California
Educational institutions established in 2020