Dive Summary:
- For-profit college Ashford University's owner, Bridgepoint Education Inc., announced in a news release Monday that the institution will cut about 450 of it's more than 2,000 admissions staff and reassign 400 employees to student support jobs and a new "department of student inquiry."
- The statement added that the changes were meant to address the nation's focus on student outcomes and success, and represent Bridgepoint's culture of continuous improvement.
- Two regional accrediting organizations raised concerns recently about Ashford's academic structure, and some of the announced changes relate directly to those issues.
From the article:
Ashford University, a for-profit college that enrolls about 90,000 students online, with another 1,000 at its Iowa campus, has announced that it is slashing its admissions staff and putting more employees to work in areas meant to ensure students' academic success. In a news release on Monday, the company that owns Ashford, Bridgepoint Education Inc. said the institution is cutting about 450 admissions staff, out of more than 2,000, and reassigning 400 employees to work in student support and a new "department of student inquiry," which "will work with prospective students to ensure they are sufficiently prepared for the demands of a university education." ...