Accreditation problems continue to mount for the fast-growing Ashford University. Days after it was rejected by a potential new accreditor, the for-profit institution owned by Bridgepoint Education Inc. disclosed on Friday that its original accreditor had serious concerns too about matters like how much it spends on education versus marketing, and whether the university has enough full-time faculty members.
On Tuesday the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools sent a letter notifying the college that it was under “special monitoring” status and had until August 10 to report on whether it was meeting the commission’s standards. Sixty days after the college reports to the commission, the accreditor will make a visit to the institution and decide, in February, if it will continue to accredit the college, with or without some sanction, or in an extreme move, withdraw accreditation.
It’s the second time this week that Ashford has gotten bad news from an accreditor. In fact, the latest action by the Higher Learning Commission is a response to a report by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, which announced on Monday that it had rejected Ashford’s application for initial accreditation.
As part of a new move toward transparency, the association also released a 73-page report detailing the college’s numerous deviations from the accreditor’s standards. Among the problems the association found were too little spending on instruction, an inadequate number of full-time faculty and student-support staff members, a high turnover of students, and inconsistent quality and rigor in the curriculum. The accreditor’s report also voiced concerns about Ashford’s independence from Bridgepoint and its financial viability.
Ashford is reapplying to the Western Association, but the college now finds itself in a more difficult position, facing the possibility that it could lose accreditation from one agency without having secured it from another. A college must be accredited by a federally recognized regional or national accreditor in order for its students to receive federally backed student aid.
Ashford has been accredited by the Higher Learning Commission since Bridgepoint acquired the campus, in 2005, through the purchase of the Franciscan University of the Prairies, a small Roman Catholic institution in eastern Iowa. The university now enrolls nearly 1,000 students. But Ashford’s overall enrollment of more than 90,000 is almost all online, and most of its operations take place at the company’s headquarters, in San Diego.
It has applied to the Western Association because its location has potentially put it out of compliance with the Higher Learning Commission’s “substantial presence” requirement, which says that a majority of a college’s administrative and business operations must be located within the agency’s 19-state region, along with at least one campus.
In addition to the August report on complying with the Higher Learning Commission’s standards, Ashford faces a December deadline to come into compliance with the “substantial presence” requirement.
In a news release on Friday, Bridgepoint said that college leaders believed it was in “substantial compliance” with the Higher Learning Commission’s standards.
“We are accredited, and will continue our critical service to our nontraditional students, largely comprised of working adults and underserved populations,” Elizabeth Tice, president and chief executive officer of Ashford University, said in the release.
