The University of Atlanta was a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

, for-profit,

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance. Traditionally, this usually in ...

university headquartered in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. It opened in Mobile, Alabama as Barrington University until it received accreditation in 2008. It relocated to Atlanta in 2008 and changed to University of Atlanta and was authorized by the

State of Georgia Georgia is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee and North Carolina; to the northeast by South Carolina; to the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean; to the south by Florida; and to the west by ...

's Nonpublic Post Secondary Education Commission. Until it closed June 30, 2013, the University of Atlanta was accredited by the

Distance Education and Training Council The Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC), formerly the National Home Study Council and then as the Distance Education and Training Council, is a non-profit national educational accreditation agency in the United States specializing in t ...

History

Operation as Barrington University

The University of Atlanta was founded as Barrington University (not to be confused with

Barrington College Barrington College was a four-year Christian liberal arts college located in Barrington, Rhode Island. It is no longer in operation. History Barrington College was founded by E. W. Kenyon, pastor of the New Covenant Baptist Church, in 1900 as ...

) in the early 1990s by Robert and Steven Bettinger. Barrington University, was incorporated, licensed and headquartered in

Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 United States census, 2010 cens ...

offering $4,450 degrees granting considerable credit for life experiences. Barrington operated as a subsidiary of Boca Raton-based Virtual Academics.

Controversy

The company's literature claimed that its chairman had a doctorate and a master's degree; an investigation showed that he had neither. Barrington also claimed accreditation by the International Association of Universities and Schools Inc. (IAUS). However, a 2003 investigation by the ''

South Florida Business Journal South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz' ...

'' revealed this was a for-profit corporation set up in Florida (not Switzerland or Washington, D.C., as claimed) by Virtual Academics' chairman, Robert Bettinger, and the owner of another for-profit college in 1998. According to the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'', they did this to avoid further problems due to their schools' lack of accreditation. The IAUS' charter was subsequently dissolved by the State of Florida for failure to pay annual registration fees. The ''South Florida Business Journal'' also reported that Barrington was paying professors and schools in China commissions to sell Barrington degrees to Chinese students; this revelation caused a major drop in Chinese enrollments and a resulting decline in revenues. In 2000, school began having problems with the State of Alabama. The state threatened to revoke its operating license. State investigators determined that Barrington had been operating out of the offices of a secretarial and answering service. A

General Accounting Office The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a legislative branch government agency that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the supreme audit institution of the federal govern ...

investigation found that Barrington was offering degrees for a fee based solely on life experience and requiring no classroom experience. By 2008, the State of Alabama was conducting a crackdown on such schools operating in Alabama, requiring that all be accredited or actively seeking accreditation by October.

Establishment and operation as University of Atlanta

In 2008, while still operating in Mobile, Barrington changed its name to the University of Atlanta. The university also received accreditation from the

(DETC).Report From the Accrediting Commission
pp. 26-30 in ''DETC News'', Fall 2008, Distance Education and Training Council, accessed 12-12-2009. In early 2012, the University of Atlanta's accreditor, the Distance Education and Training Council DETC, announced that the school had stopped enrolling new students and that University of Atlanta resigned its accreditation on June 30, 2013.

Authorizations and affiliations

As Barrington University, the school's only accreditation was a fraudulent one received from an

accreditation mill An accreditation mill is an organization that purports to award educational accreditation to higher education institutions without having government authority or recognition from mainstream academia to operate as an accreditor. Implicit in the term ...

. The University of Atlanta was authorized by the Georgia Nonpublic Postsecondary Education Commission It was a member of the

European Association for Distance Learning The European Association for Distance Learning (EADL),Higher Education Open and Distance Learning Knowledge Base for Decision Makers', prepared by the European Distance Education Network for UNESCO, Information Society Division, 2001, page 29 former ...

the

American Council on Education The American Council on Education (ACE) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) U.S. higher education association established in 1918. ACE's members are the leaders of approximately 1,700 accredited, degree-granting colleges and universities and higher education ...

, and The American Academy of Project Management In 2008, it became affiliated with the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...

's Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES) although in it was listed in the DANTES list of participating institutions. The university was accredited with premier status by the

Accreditation Service for International Colleges The Accreditation Service for International Schools, Colleges and Universities (ASIC) is an independent international educational agency based in the United Kingdom. It is an independent, government-approved accreditation body specializing in th ...

(ASIC) in the United Kingdom.

Academics

According to the

's Nonpublic Post Secondary Education Commission, the University of Atlanta was authorized to grant

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

(BSc),

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

(MSc) and

Doctor of Science Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...

degrees in different fields of study.

References

External links

Archived copy (14-01-2019)
of the {{Coord, 33, 55, 38.43, N, 84, 16, 17.90, W, display=title 1991 establishments in Vermont Defunct private universities and colleges in Georgia (U.S. state) Distance education institutions based in the United States Educational institutions established in 1991 Former for-profit universities and colleges in the United States Unaccredited institutions of higher learning in the United States Universities and colleges in Atlanta