Purdue University Global (PG) is an adult-serving
public university, operated as part of the Purdue University system. With
content delivered mostly online, Purdue University Global's
programs focus on career-oriented fields of study at the
associate's, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral level. The
university also has eight physical classroom locations and an
online law school.[2]
Purdue Global was created in April 2018 from Purdue University's acquisition of the
former private for-profit Kaplan University.[3]
Kaplan continues to offer non-academic support services such as
human resources, marketing and technology support by contract,
under the supervision of Purdue University. PG's academic
headquarters are in Chicago, Illinois; its main campus
(for accreditation purposes) is in Indianapolis,
Indiana; and its online support centers are in Chicago and in
Fort Lauderdale, Florida.[4]
History
Purdue University President, Mitch Daniels, announced the intent to acquire
Kaplan University in April 2017 in order to expand Purdue's
land-grant mission by serving a wider group of students than the
university was able to reach at its traditional campuses, and to
bolster Purdue's online education capabilities.[5]
From 2017 to January 2018, the school's temporary placeholder name
was NewU.[6][7]
Purdue University Global's lineage is rooted in a series of
for-profit colleges:
American Institute of Commerce (1937-1999), Quest College
(1999-2000), and Kaplan College (2000-2004), later renamed
Kaplan University (2004-2017).[8][9]
In the years prior to its sale to Purdue University, Kaplan
University's parent company, Kaplan Inc., closed or sold several
schools, including Kaplan College (a primarily brick and
mortar vocational school, not to be confused with the online
university that became Kaplan University in 2004),[10]
and Kaplan Career
Institute, which were purchased by Education Corporation of
America in 2015.[11][12]
Kaplan University was the last accredited higher education
institution owned by Kaplan, Inc.
Purdue University, a state university in
Indiana, purchased Kaplan University for one dollar
in March 2018.[13][14]
In February 2019, Papa John's Pizza announced that all its
employees would receive free tuition at Purdue Global.[15]
In June 2019, Walmart announced that Purdue Global would be one of
six schools in their Live Better U education benefit
program.[16]
The program is being marketed with the "chance to get a degree for
the cost of a dollar a day."[17]
At least five Purdue Global physical locations have closed or are
in the process of closing since Purdue took over.[18]
Academic
relationships within Purdue System
Purdue incorporated Purdue Global into its network of campuses,
which also include a flagship, Tier-1 research university[19]
in West Lafayette, Indiana, and two
regional campuses known as Purdue Northwest and Purdue Fort Wayne. Each
campus of the Purdue University system has its own admissions
policies and transfers between the campuses are highly
limited.[20]
With the exception of Purdue Global, all degrees from all Purdue
University campuses and Purdue degree programs offered through
Indiana
University – Purdue University Indianapolis and
Purdue Polytechnic Institute
share a similar diploma bearing the name of the institution
granting the degree and the city in which it is given. Purdue
Global graduates receive a diploma that uses the name "Purdue
University Global" instead of the system name, and bears the Purdue
Global logo in place of the Purdue University seal. Purdue
University and Purdue University Global share the same alumni
association.[21]
Purdue University Global is classified by the U.S. Department of
Education as a four-year public university[22]
but because it does not receive state tax dollars, it is exempt
from some of the public records disclosure requirements of public
universities in Indiana. According to the 2017 law that enabled
Purdue or any other Indiana university to create an affiliated
education institution,[23]
it still must report financial, academic and student success data
to Indiana regulators, and any decisions made by the traditional
side of Purdue or emails received by Purdue's administration remain
eligible to the open records law, even if they pertain to Purdue
Global.[24]
In July 2019, Purdue Polytechnic Institute
announced it had received a $12 million grant from the US Department of
Labor to enable 5,000 students to go through a cybersecurity
apprenticeship program over the next four years. The Polytechnic
Institute will partner with Purdue Global to offer online
instruction nationwide for "nontraditional students" seeking work
in the cybersecurity industry.[25][26]
Campus and learning site
locations
Purdue Global's main campus is in Indianapolis, Indiana. Purdue
Global has additional learning sites in Iowa (Cedar Rapids,
Davenport, and Des Moines), Maryland (Rockville), and Nebraska
(Lincoln).
Finances
In 2017, Purdue President Mitch Daniels stated that the Purdue
University deal with Kaplan incurred "virtually no financial risk",
and had a "strong upside potential."[27]
Purdue Global receives revenues from student tuition, tuition from
corporate partners, grant or scholarship aid, Title
IV funds, GI Bill funds, and Department of Defense Tuition
Assistance. Title IV funds include Pell Grants and federal student
loans. The 2017-18 statistics are:[22]
- Federal student loans: $78,642,648
- Grant or scholarship aid: $64,847,510
- Pell Grants: $55,790,475
According to Purdue University, Purdue University Global spent
$18 million more than it took in as revenue in FY 2018, its first
year of operation.[28]
Purdue University Treasurer Bill Sullivan said this was "a
deliberate strategic choice and was, importantly, prefunded by
Kaplan Higher Education (KHE) through the assets it brought to
Purdue at acquisition" valued at more than $66 million in cash.
Sullivan also stated that he expected "elevated startup costs to
continue into 2019 and more modestly in 2020" but pointed to
elements of the acquisition that prioritize revenues to Purdue
University and protect the assets of the Purdue traditional
system.[29]
Graham Holdings Company, reported that it recorded $16.8 million in
service fees with Purdue Global in 2018, based on an assessment of
its collectability under the Transition and Operations Support
Agreement.[30]
In April 2019, Purdue spokesman Tim Doty stated that Purdue
University "has invested over $1 million so employees and their
families can continue, complete or further their education”
through Purdue University Global in the form an employee benefit
that offers free tuition to all Purdue employees and their
families.[31]
In June 2018 it was estimated that Kaplan Higher Education would
spend about $200 million on 'back office services' and $100 million
in marketing for Purdue Global.[32]
The left-leaning Century Foundation claims that in 2016-17, before
the change of management, the school spent 18 cents for instruction
for every dollar of tuition received.[33]
Although Purdue Global has not stated the current ratio publicly,
CFO Bill Sullivan dismissed such claims, saying lower costs are
"the nature of the internet age. It also costs Amazon less to
operate than Target and iTunes or Pandora less than your local
record store."[29]
Offerings, enrollment,
and student body
Purdue Global serves approximately 29,000 students.[1]
It is mainly an online university, but also has locations in
Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Nebraska, and Maine.[3][34]
Following the management change that put Purdue in charge, six
physical classroom spaces were closed or will close in 2019,
including Hagerstown, Maryland; Milwaukee,
Wisconsin; St. Louis, Missouri;
Cedar Falls, Iowa;[35]
Mason City, Iowa; and Omaha, Nebraska.[36]
Purdue Global is academically organized into seven schools:
- School of Business[37]
and Information Technology[38]
- Concord Law School[39]
Concord Law School is not accredited by the American Bar Association, which does
not accredit online universities. As such, California is the only
state allowing Concord's graduates to take the state bar
exam.[40]
Concord's pass rate for the July 2018 sitting of the California bar
exam was 29% for first-time takers and 9% for repeat takers,
compared to 55% and 16% overall pass rates, respectively.[41]
- School of General Education[42]
- School of Health Sciences[43]
- School of Nursing[44]
Purdue University Global has a 68 percent NCLEX pass rate.[45]
- Open College[46]
- College of Social and Behavioral Sciences[47]
According to Purdue University President Mitch Daniels, the
contrast between the typical Purdue West Lafayette student and the
targeted Purdue Global student is "stark."[48][49]
Around the time Kaplan transitioned into the Purdue system,
approximately 12 percent of Purdue Global's student body were
full-time students.[50]
The demographics of the student population were 71 percent female,
49 percent white, 29 percent black, 12 percent Hispanic, 1 percent
Asian, 1 percent Pacific Islander, and 1 percent Native American.
According to Purdue Global, 60 percent of Kaplan's students were
over age 30, and the mean student income at enrollment was $22,323.
For 55 percent of the students, neither parent attended
college.[51]
While the socio-economic diversity of Purdue University is 17
percent, the federal government has not yet reported a diversity
number for Purdue Global.[52]
Academics
Purdue University Global offers both traditional programs and
standardized competency-based learning.[53]
This allows Purdue Global to offer college credit to students who
can demonstrate they have mastered certain learning
outcomes[53]
through professional and military training.[54]
Members of the US Army, National Guard, Reserves, and veterans can
obtain an AAS degree in small group management with six courses, a
bachelor's degree in liberal studies with seven additional course
and a master's in management with 10 additional courses.[55]
Following the acquisition, all Kaplan faculty became Purdue
Global faculty which now include approximately 320 full-time
faculty and 1,590 part-time faculty.[56]
Purdue University faculty are expected to become increasingly
involved in launching programs and courses in the Purdue Global
online system. To date, three new programs have been added in
collaboration with Purdue's West Lafayette faculty including
programs in pharmacy, and aviation.[57]
Like Purdue's other campuses, Purdue Global is accredited by the Higher Learning
Commission. Specific degree programs are accredited by the
ACBSP,
ABET,
CCNE,
AHIMA,
NALA, and others. Its master of science
degree in finance is also registered with the Certified Financial Planner
board and qualifies graduates to sit the CFP examination.[58]
Purdue Global's law school,Concord Law School, is the only fully
online law school in the country. Given that the American Bar Association does not
accredit online universities, the school is unaccredited[59]
but students may still sit for the bar in California, or pursue an
executive JD, designed for executives and others who seek graduate
level training in law but do not wish to become attorneys.
More than a 16 months after its ownership change, the US Department of
Education's College Scorecard has not assessed Purdue
University Global's online campus. Past scores of Kaplan
University, conducted prior to the takeover by Purdue University,
placed Kaplan's on-time graduation rate at 23 percent, similar to
other Indiana schools serving non-traditional
students such as Ivy Tech and Vincennes University.[60][61][62]
In the same era, the typical Kaplan student had on average 3.7 risk
factors proven to lead to lower student outcomes, including being
older than age 22, attending school part-time, filing taxes as an
independent, having a GED, working full-time, having legal
dependents other than a spouse, or being a single parent.[63]
Most Kaplan students enrolled were entirely online but of those
enrolled at a physical campus, 26 percent had begun repaying their
loans by 2018 after leaving school in 2015.[64].
To date, the College Scorecard only reports Kaplan data
from brick and mortar programs. Data is not available for students
who enrolled while under Purdue's management as Purdue
Global.[65]
Leadership and
administration
Mitch Daniels is the president of Purdue
University Global.[66]
He reports to Purdue Global's board of trustees, which is appointed
by the Purdue University Board of Trustees. Five of Purdue's
University's trustees also serve on the Purdue Global
board.[67]
Dr. Betty Vandenbosch serves as Chancellor of Purdue Global and
reports to the president of Purdue University and the six-member
Purdue Global Board of Trustees. Vandenbosch previously was Dean of
the School of Business and Information Technology at Kaplan University.[68]
Christopher Ruhl is the Chief Financial Officer. Ruhl served as the
senior vice president, chief financial officer, and general counsel
at Ivy Tech Community
College from 2012 to 2017. He also was director of the Indiana
Office of Management & Budget (OMB), director of the Indiana
State Budget Agency, and policy director and general counsel for
the Indiana OMB under Governor Mitch Daniels.[69]
Relationship
with Kaplan Higher Education, Inc.
Purdue University Global contracts with Kaplan Higher Education, Inc., a division of
Kaplan, Inc., for support in "marketing and advertising, front-end
student advising, admissions support, financial aid and student
finance, international student recruitment, test preparation,
business office, technology support, human resources, finance and
accounting functions".[70]
The Purdue trustees retain management control and responsibility
over these areas.
According to the contract terms, Kaplan receives 12.5 percent of
the university's revenue, as long as funds are available after all
operating expenses and guaranteed payments to Purdue have been
covered.[70]
Kaplan guarantees Purdue $10 million every year for the first five
years. Kaplan will make up the difference if PG revenues are
insufficient. At the time of purchase, Kaplan's owners paid $20
million to Purdue, pursuant to that agreement.[70][71]
The agreement also stipulates that if Purdue alters the
university's operations in a way that significantly reduces the
school's revenues, Kaplan could seek reimbursement for 12.5 percent
of the lost revenue. An independent financial analyst would be
tasked to adjudicate the issue.[72]
Since the acquisition, Purdue leadership has made several changes
including lowering tuition for Indiana residents, offering free
tuition to Purdue employees and their families,[73]
and closing ground campuses in at least five locations.
If Purdue Global incurs $25 million in cash operating losses for
three consecutive years, or total cash operating losses of more
than $75 million at any point, either Purdue or Kaplan Higher
Education can terminate the contract.[74]
Upon termination, Purdue University Global would retain the assets
that Kaplan contributed, but would also assume responsibility for
any liability arising from the operation of the
institution.[72]
One critic, Bob Shireman, argues the cost of buying out of the
30-year deal is "prohibitive."[75]
Praise and
criticism
In May 2017, the Purdue University Senate passed a resolution
condemning the deal between Kaplan Higher Education and Purdue
University.[76]
In September 2017, Senators Dick
Durbin (D-IL) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) warned that Purdue's
acquisition of Kaplan University posed major risks for Purdue
University's students and reputation. They added that Kaplan has a
“shameful record” as a “predatory”
school.[77]
Mitch Daniels, president of Purdue University, stated that the two
senators were "misinformed".[78]
Regarding criticisms of Kaplan's for-profit days, Daniels quotes
former Democratic Senator Tom Harkin who led a massive 2011
investigation into the for-profit education sector but praised
Kaplan for standing "alone among the large, for-profit education
companies for having taken what are, in my opinion, real and
significant steps to reduce high withdrawal rates and high default
rates by implementing the Kaplan Commitment program."[79][80]
In January 2018, the former Under Secretary of Education under
Barack Obama, Ted Mitchell, praised the
university that would become Purdue Global for its massive
investments "in a learning platform that is, in my estimation,
among the best in the country ... It is a 'lab' whose continued
work promises insights not only for [Purdue Global] but for [Purdue
University] and the wider field..." and that "Kaplan has been a
pioneer in creating protections for students." Mitchell, the force
behind Obama's Gainful Employment rules, also praised Kaplan for
strong results and for taking action when they came up short,
saying "Kaplan’s results have been strong, and where they
haven’t, as in the failure of a number of their programs to
meet the Gainful Employment thresholds, they have taken action to
either remediate or close the programs…That’s how we
want institutions to react to troubling outcomes.”[81]
Arne Duncan, the former U.S. Secretary of
Education under Obama who, with Mitchell, led a crackdown on the
for-profit sector, praised the potential behind Purdue's
acquisition of Kaplan University, saying “...I’m
excited by this opportunity for a world-class university to expand
its reach and help educate adult learners by acquiring a strong
for-profit college. This is a first, and if successful, could help
create a new model for what it means to be a land-grant
institution.”[82]
Harvard researcher Todd Rogers praised the launch of Purdue Global
for its potential to generate “more learning and greater
scaled implementation of interventions that help students succeed"
and that the university had "...a genuine commitment to using
learning and motivational sciences to improve student outcomes, and
to conducting high quality research to become a leader in
contributing to those sciences".[83]
On January 16, 2018, the Purdue Exponent editorial board stated that
the Purdue University Global name was "downright deceitful" for
using the Purdue name and not including the Kaplan name.[84]
In August 2018, former deputy undersecretary of education Bob
Shireman called Purdue University Global "a for-profit college
masquerading as a public university."[85]
Daniels pointed out that Shireman has been accused of
misrepresenting facts in his criticisms[86]
and had been forced to leave the U.S. Department of Education under
a cloud of accusations that he had colluded with short-sellers
attempting to reduce stock values in the for-profit sector.[87][88]
PG initially required students to waive most rights to sue the
school and submit disputes to arbitration. The American
Association of University Professors called this policy
“the stuff of predatory for-profit colleges, not a leading
public research institution”. The AAUP petitioned the
Higher Learning Commission, the
school's accrediting body, on this issue. In September 2018,
Senators Durbin and Brown called for Purdue to get rid of that
policy, which came from the Kaplan rulebook.[14][73]
The policy was eliminated within the first year of the
acquisition.[89][90]
In January 2019, the Purdue Exponent stated that faculty were
not consulted on the deliberations for the Purdue Global
acquisition.[91]
Biologist David Sanders, a Purdue professor,
university senate member, and local Democratic politician,
hypothesized that the deal was enacted to help pay for the tuition
freeze at the West Lafayette campus or that "'certain people see
this as the future. I refer to it as the Walmart-ization of higher education....It’s
cheap, it’s fast, but in two years, it’ll be broken.
The same thing is true with this sort of education.'" Sanders added
he was concerned about Purdue University Global's $100 million
marketing budget.[91]
That same month, professors at Purdue University complained that
Purdue Global was enrolling traditional students, which was in
opposition to what Global had originally promised.[92]
The PG chancellor responded while there was no formal policy that
prevented a full-time, traditional student from enrolling in a
course as a non-degree seeking student, it was not the university's
intent to enroll such students, and that only five of PG's 29,000
students enrolled in a single course in 2018.[93]
In May 2019, three professors claimed that Purdue University Global
was draining Purdue University's branch campuses, and the deal with
Kaplan Higher Education was "online folly.[94]
Purdue University CFO Bill Sullivan responded that the degree to
which the piece "misread Purdue's financial statements and
distorted both the financial state and mission of Purdue Global is
truly disappointing and unfortunate." Sullivan added that "In
negotiating the acquisition of Kaplan University, we crafted an
agreement that provided a nearly impenetrable defense of Purdue's
finances.[29]