Purdue’s Purchase of Kaplan Gets Go-Ahead From Education Dept.

The second of three approvals necessary for Purdue University to complete its acquisition of the for-profit Kaplan University has grown likelier now that the U.S. Education Department “preliminarily concluded” that it had no objections to the deal.

The department noted that final approval requires more information from the parties involved, and that conditions would be imposed. But Purdue announced confidently on Tuesday that the agency’s pre-acquisition review means that it “will give its approval upon the sale’s consummation.”

BuzzFeed News first reported the decision on Monday night, citing departmental emails. The department confirmed the news on Tuesday in a statement to The Chronicle but declined to specify the conditions.

The first step in the regulatory process for the sale was state approval, which Indiana granted in August. The third step is an OK from the Higher Learning Commission, the regional accreditor, which has said that it would need “several months for review and due diligence.”

Until the new public institution is formally named, the dealmakers are calling it Purdue NewU.