Doral College is a private, non-profit institution of higher learning based in

Doral, Florida Doral is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. One of 34 municipalities in the county, it is located west of Miami International Airport and west of Downtown Miami. Doral occupies bordered on the west by the Ronald Reagan Tu ...

Inception

Doral College was founded to offer college credits to charter high school students. The school is a joint venture between

Doral Academy Preparatory School Doral Academy Preparatory High School is a public charter middle/high school located in Doral, Florida, United States. The school is supported by Academica, an education service provider. Curriculum The school offers twenty-nine Advanced Pla ...

, a charter high school in South Florida, and Academica, a for-profit education company. The college is located on the campus of

, and offers online and hybrid courses to its student body as well. In 2014, Academica was paid 7.5% of Doral College's fees, in addition to $9 million in management fees from publicly funded charter schools.

Accreditation

Doral College initially functioned without accreditation, which was a source of considerable controversy. When Manny Díaz was hired in 2013, he was tasked with earning accreditation from the

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) is an educational accreditor recognized by the United States Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. This agency accredits over 13,000 public and priv ...

(SACS), but this effort was not successful. Currently, Doral College is licensed by the

Florida Commission for Independent Education Florida is a U.S. state, state located in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia (U.S. state), Geo ...

(CIE) and accredited by the

Distance Education Accrediting Commission 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 ...

. The College was founded and granted initial licensure by the state of Florida in 2011 to offer Associates in Arts degrees.

Enrollment

The student base is made up entirely of high school students who take college classes concurrently with their high school classes. The college is available to students at specific area

charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of auto ...

s in

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

. Enrollments total just over 700.

Presidents

Anitere Flores Anitere Flores (born September 8, 1976) is a Republican politician from Miami, Florida. She served three terms in the Florida House of Representatives from 2004 to 2010. Subsequently, she served in the Florida Senate from 2010 to 2020. In the 201 ...

(2011-2015) * Douglas Rodriguez (2015-2021) * Judith C. Marty (2021-present)

Legislator-to-Doral pipeline

Doral College is closely associated with three legislators who shape the legislative environment in which the for-profit operates. Conflict of interest allegations have circulated around parent company Academica, including a 2014 federal investigation.

Flores

The founding president of Doral,

, was a sitting state legislator when she took the job.

Fresen

Erik Fresen Erik Fresen (born June 9, 1976) is a former Republican member of the Florida House of Representatives, representing the 114th District, which stretches from West Miami to Cutler Bay in northeastern Miami-Dade County, from 2012 to 2016. He pre ...

, who chaired the Florida House education budget committee, is brother-in-law of Fernando Zulueta, founder of Academica.

Díaz

Current Florida State Republican Senator Manny Diaz has been employed by Doral since 2013 with a six-figure salary. He currently serves as Chief Operating Officer of Doral College. As chairman of the Florida House Choice and Innovation Subcommittee, he worked to loosen rules for charter schools.

References

Universities and colleges in Miami-Dade County, Florida Private universities and colleges in Florida Distance Education Accreditation Commission {{Florida-university-stub