Strayer University
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Strayer University is a
private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
for-profit university Proprietary colleges are for-profit colleges and universities. They are operated by their owners or investors, rather than a not-for-profit institution, religious organization, or government. Because they are not funded by tax money, their long ...
with its headquarters in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
It was founded in 1892 as Strayer's Business College and later became Strayer College, before being granted university status in 1998. Strayer University operates under the holding company Strategic Education, Inc. (), which was established in 1996 and rebranded after the merger with
Capella University Capella University is a private for-profit, online university headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The school is owned by the publicly traded Strategic Education, Inc. and delivers most of its education online. Capella has 52 degree pr ...
. The university enrolls more than 50,000 students through both its online learning programs and 64 campuses located throughout 15 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. The university specializes in degree programs for working adults and offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in accounting, business administration, criminal justice, education, health services administration, information technology and public administration.


History


Early history

Siebert Irving Strayer founded Strayer's Business College in
Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
in 1892. Strayer established the college to teach business skills to former farm workers, including shorthand, typing and accounting. Thomas W. Donoho joined the school in 1902. In its first decade of operations, enrollment at the school gradually increased, attracting students from other states, and in 1904 Strayer opened a branch of the school in
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
Enrollment further expanded as demand for trained accountants grew after the passage of the
Revenue Act of 1913 The Revenue Act of 1913, also known as the Underwood Tariff or the Underwood-Simmons Act (ch. 16, ), re-established a federal income tax in the United States and substantially lowered tariff rates. The act was sponsored by Representative Oscar U ...
and
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
increased the need for government clerks with office skills. During the 1930s, the college was authorized to grant collegiate degrees in accountancy by the Washington, D.C., board of education. The school founded Strayer Junior College in 1959, when it was given the right to confer two-year degrees. In 1969, the college received the accreditation needed to grant four-year
Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degrees and was renamed Strayer College.


1980s and 1990s

From the 1980s to the late 1990s, Strayer College grew rapidly; enrollment increased from approximately 1,800 in 1981 and 2,000 in 1983, to around 9,000 by 1997. The college expanded the range of degree programs and courses it offered to include subjects such as data processing management and health care management. In 1987, the college was given authorization to grant
Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...
degrees. During the 1990s, the college began to focus on offering information technology courses. According to ''The Washington Times'', high demand for computer training due to the increased use of computers in offices and movement toward "knowledge-based" employment led to higher enrollment at Strayer. In addition, Strayer began providing training programs in computer information systems for companies including
AT&T Corporation AT&T Corporation, originally the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is the subsidiary of AT&T Inc. that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agen ...
and government agencies such as the
Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...
. In 1996, the college launched Strayer Online to offer classes via the Internet.


2000s to present

In 1998, Strayer College was granted university status by the District of Columbia Education Licensure Commission and became Strayer University. During the early and mid-2000s, Strayer established its first campus locations outside of
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
,
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
and the District of Columbia, in
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
,
South Carolina )''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no) , anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind" , Former = Province of South Carolina , seat = Columbia , LargestCity = Charleston , LargestMetro = ...
,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
,
Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, and
Florida Florida is a state located in the 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, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
. According to the university's website, Strayer University now operates additional campuses in
Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...
,
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
,
West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...
,
Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
,
Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...
,
Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...
, and
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. Sondra Stallard was named the thirteenth president of Strayer University in May 2007. Stallard had been dean since 1996. Stallard previously served as dean of the school of continuing and professional studies at the
University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
. Strayer enrollment grew in the decade 2001–2010, from 14,009 in the fall of 2001 to 60,711 in the fall of 2010. Enrollment dropped to 42,975 by 2015. In 2010 the
U.S. Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...
, reported that the repayment rate of federal student loans at Strayer University was 25 percent. Strayer claimed its loan repayment rate to be 55 percent. In 2011 the ''
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' claimed that Strayer had a 15 percent graduation rate, listing it among the lowest college graduation rates in the Washington, D.C., area. Strayer claimed the graduation rate for its full cohort of bachelor's students was 33 percent. In December 2011, the university acquired the Jack Welch Management Institute from Chancellor University for about $7 million. The institute offers a fully online Executive MBA program, as well as certificate programs. In 2012, Michael Plater was named fourteenth president of Strayer University. Previously, he served as provost and chief academic officer. On August 9, 2012, the syndicated
comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...
''
Doonesbury ''Doonesbury'' is a comic strip by American cartoonist Garry Trudeau that chronicles the adventures and lives of an array of characters of various ages, professions, and backgrounds, from the President of the United States The president ...
'' described Strayer's unusually high executive compensation as part of a series of satirical strips on for-profit education. In addition to reporting Silberman's 2009 compensation (which it described as fifty times more than
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
's president), the strip said that in the same year that Strayer spent $1,300 per student on instruction, it spent $2,500 per student on marketing and returned $4,500 per student in profit. In 2013 ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' listed Strayer University of Washington D.C. as a "red flag" institution for posting a student loan default rate that surpassed its graduation rate. In October 2013, the university initiated a major change in its physical operations by announcing the closure of its 20 Midwest campus locations. Strayer reported total enrollments dropped 17 percent, while new enrollments dropped 23 percent. It was announced that all students currently enrolled in programs in the Midwest at the time would be able to continue their education through Strayer's online only program offerings. In 2015, Brian Jones, who had previously been Strayer University's general counsel, was named the university's fifteenth president. Prior to joining Strayer University, Jones was a lawyer and higher education entrepreneur. He served as General Counsel of the
U.S. Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...
from 2001 until 2005. In January 2016, Strayer Education announced that acquired the New York Code + Design Academy (NYCDA), making it a wholly owned subsidiary of Strayer Education offering web and mobile development courses. Strayer resumed expansion again in 2018 after opening a campus in Montgomery, Alabama. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Strayer temporarily closed all its campuses; at least 18 Strayer campuses closed permanently in 2020 as a result. Strayer University has reopened 50 campuses that had been closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and stated that it would evaluate reopening additional campuses in 2022.


Partnerships

Comedian and game show host
Steve Harvey Broderick Stephen Harvey Sr. Also aired August 16, 2015. (born January 17, 1957) is an American television host, producer, actor, and comedian. He hosts ''The Steve Harvey Morning Show'', ''Family Feud'', '' Celebrity Family Feud,'' the Miss U ...
was a spokesperson for Strayer and has appeared in several advertisements and spoke at Strayer's commencement ceremony in May 2015. Strayer partnered with Daily Mail in February 2015 to produce a new section of the Daily Mail site named Strayer Business News. As part of the deal, Daily Mail would co-produce education and business content for its new business section. Strayer announced the launch of Strayer@Work, a new performance improvement solution for businesses in May 2015. As part of the launch, Strayer also announced a partnership with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) to offer free college education to all participating FCA dealership employees. FCA dealers pay a monthly fee to send employees to Strayer.Want To Go To College For Free? Work For A Chrysler Dealer
Dale Buss, May 17, 2015, Forbes, May 12, 2016
Strayer has educational partnerships with approximately 300 Fortune 1000 companies.Retailers cheer FCA's free college program for U.S. dealerships
Larry P. Vellequette, May 11, 2015, Automotive News, May 12, 2016
In March 2017, Strayer announced a collaboration with financial news network Cheddar to produce digital entrepreneurship specialization as a part of Strayer's MBA program. In 2018,
Queen Latifah Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album ''All Hail the Que ...
became a spokesperson for Strayer.


Locations

More than half of the students enrolled at Strayer University take all of their courses online, and the entire bachelor's and master's degree programs can be completed via the Internet. , Strayer had a total enrollment of 52,253 students. Strayer University is headquartered in Washington, D.C., with campus locations mainly in the eastern and southern U.S. The university has 64 campuses located in 15 U.S. states and Washington D.C.


Academics


Admissions

The admissions requirement for undergraduate degree programs at Strayer University is a high school diploma or its equivalent. For graduate degrees (not including the Executive MBA) students must have proof of completion of a baccalaureate degree from an accredited college or university, a cumulative GPA of at least 2.50, and official transcripts from all other colleges or universities attended. Admissions requirements for the Jack Welch Executive MBA program include a minimum 3.0 undergraduate GPA, a baccalaureate degree from an accredited institution in the United States, and 5 years professional experience. An associate degree earned from a partner school can be transferred in its entirety toward a bachelor's degree.


Academic programs and accreditation

The university's principal aim is to provide higher education to working adult students. Strayer University's academic programs include undergraduate and graduate degree programs. The courses offered by the university are business-focused, including courses in business administration and information technology. Degrees can be earned in subjects such as accounting, business administration, criminal justice, education, health services administration, human resource management, information technology and public administration. Strayer University is accredited by the
Middle States Commission on Higher Education The Middle States Commission on Higher Education (abbreviated as MSCHE and legally incorporated as the Mid-Atlantic Region Commission on Higher Education) is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit membership organization that performs peer evalua ...
, one of the six regional accrediting bodies recognized by the Department of Education. The
Jack Welch John Francis Welch Jr. (November 19, 1935 – March 1, 2020) was an American business executive, chemical engineer, and writer. He was Chairman and CEO of General Electric (GE) between 1981 and 2001. When Welch retired from GE, he receive ...
Management Institute, acquired by Strayer University in 2011, was established by Jack Welch after his retirement from General Electric. The institute offers executive MBA degrees and executive certificates covering business-related topics. In September 2016, it was announced that the Jack Welch Management Institute was ranked on Princeton Review's list of Top 25 Online MBA Programs of 2017. In May 2017, Strayer announced that its Registered Nurse (RN) to Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BSN) program had earned accreditation by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).


Faculty and students

Strayer University's total enrollment is greater than 52,000 students. The student body is predominantly women of color. Seventy-four percent of the student body is female and 76 percent are people of color. The average age is 34. Since the early 2000s, Strayer University has had a high proportion of minority students or people of color. The college has had more women students than men since the late 1990s. According to the university, two thirds of Strayer's students are women and over half are African American or Hispanic. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that Strayer's student body is 56 percent black, 21 percent white, and 13 percent Hispanic. The majority work full-time. Many students receive financial assistance from federal government financial aid programs or education assistance programs operated by the
U.S. Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...
and
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is a Cabinet-level executive branch department of the federal government charged with providing life-long healthcare services to eligible military veterans at the 170 VA medical centers an ...
;
U.S. federal government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 ...
sources accounted for 84.9 percent of Strayer's 2010 revenue. In addition, about one-quarter of students have tuition assistance from their employers.


Faculty

In 2012, a
United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...
committee reported that, as of 2010, 83 percent of Strayer's 2,471 faculty members were employed part-time, and not required to do research. Strayer's online segment consists of 90 full-time instructors and 847 part-time instructors.


Student outcomes

According to research from the
Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...
, Strayer University students, as a whole, hold the fifth largest amount of US
student loan debt Student debt is a form of debt that is owed by an attending, formerly withdrawn, or graduated student to a lending institution, or to a financial institution. The amount that is loaned, often referred to as a ''student loan'' or the debts may be ...
, approximately $8 billion. The 5-year default rate of Strayer students is 31 percent, and the average repayment of debt after five years is -7 percent. According to the
College Scorecard The College Scorecard is an online tool, created by the United States government, for consumers to compare the cost and value of higher education institutions in the United States. At launch, it displayed data in five areas: cost, graduation rate ...
, Strayer University's 8-year graduation rate varies from 3 percent (Arkansas) to 26 percent (Virginia), depending on the campus.


Alumni

Notable alumni of Strayer University include: *Gen. Robert Magnus, retired assistant commandant of the Marine Corps * Charles Mann, businessman and former NFL football player * M. Virginia Rosenbaum, American surveyor and newspaper editor *Don Watkins, author, columnist, and fellow at the
Ayn Rand Institute The Ayn Rand Institute: The Center for the Advancement of Objectivism, commonly known as the Ayn Rand Institute (ARI), is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit think tank in Santa Ana, California, that promotes Objectivism, the philosophy developed by Ayn Rand ...
* Carolyn Wright, American lawyer, jurist and the Chief justice of the
Fifth Court of Appeals of Texas The Fifth Court of Appeals of Texas is one of the 14 Texas Courts of Appeals. It currently sits in Dallas, Texas. It has simultaneously both the smallest Court of Appeals' jurisdictional geographic size (only six counties, one of which is shared ...


Strategic Education Inc.

Strategic Education Inc. is a publicly traded corporation, established as a
holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...
for the college and other assets in 1996. The company was created to take what was then Strayer College public and raise capital for expansion. In August 2018, Strayer Education Inc. merged with Capella Education Company to form Strategic Education, Inc.


Lawsuits and investigations

In July 2013, Strayer University contacted HSI Sterling to report suspicious activity surrounding academic transcripts and coursework. In 2014, a former Strayer University admissions official was convicted of large-scale immigration fraud. From about November 2012 to October 2013, a Strayer University admissions official with two co-conspirators who worked for private company Integrated Academics were involved in a conspiracy to fraudulently create at least 58 official Strayer University transcripts so that foreign students would appear eligible to retain their student visas in the United States. The conspirators were ordered to forfeit nearly $300,000 of proceeds from the fraud to the United States government.


References


External links

* {{authority control Companies listed on the Nasdaq Distance education institutions based in the United States Educational institutions established in 1892 Strayer University 1892 establishments in Maryland