CollegeAmerica was 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 recorded ...

for-profit college Proprietary colleges are for-profit colleges and universities generally operated by their owners, investors, or shareholders in a manner prioritizing shareholder primacy as opposed to education provided by non-profit institution (such as non-se ...

with its main campus in

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

. The college was one of four educational institutions affiliated with the Salt Lake City-based

Center for Excellence in Higher Education The Center for Excellence in Higher Education (CEHE) is a Utah-based nonprofit, 501(c)(3) corporation that owned and managed Independence University, CollegeAmerica, Stevens-Henager College, and California College San Diego before their abrup ...

(CEHE). It was founded as the training division of

Control Data Corporation Control Data Corporation (CDC) was a mainframe and supercomputer company that in the 1960s was one of the nine major U.S. computer companies, which group included IBM, the Burroughs Corporation, and the Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), the N ...

. Although it was previously accredited by the

Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges The Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges (ACCSC) is a private, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in the United States that provides national accreditation to Private school, private post-secondary educational institutions. It is re ...

, all institutions owned by CEHE were placed on probation in September 2018 because "the inputs, resources, and processes of CEHE schools are designed and implemented in a manner that is not designed for student success." After losing accreditation at one of its campuses in April 2021, the company froze new enrollment at all of its campuses before closing them all by the end of 2021.

History

Non-profit status

In 2012, the college announced its intent to transfer to non-profit status for

Title IV Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (HEA) covers the administration of the United States federal student financial aid programs. American colleges and universities are generally classified with regard to their inclusion under Title IV, ...

financial aid purposes (not to be confused with their non-profit

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status) through its affiliation with the CEHE. However, a whistleblower suit was filed in Idaho against the CEHE collective of schools by two former recruiters alleging they were paid "bonuses, commissions, and other forms of incentive compensation in violation of the federal ban on such compensation." In May 2014 the U.S. Department of Justice joined the suit, stating that from its point-of-view the CEHE "directly or indirectly encouraged its recruiters to enroll anyone who was willing to apply for federal funds regardless of the students’ likelihood of success or ability to benefit" from the associated schools' educational programs. The Colorado Attorney General filed a similar lawsuit in December 2014, though it alleged "staff consistently misled and lied to students about the selectivity of the school, the transferability of credits, the jobs they could obtain, the salaries they could earn, and more," though CEHE denied the allegations as "full of distortions ndhalf-truths." On August 11, 2016, the U.S. Department of Education rejected the college chain's attempt to make its schools non-profit for

financial aid purposes, leaving the schools for-profit for Title IV. In the Department of Education's statement, they said "non-profit institutions must be owned and operated by a non-profit where no part of the net earnings benefit any private shareholder or individual," and it had found, in its review, this was not the case. The CEHE filed suit against the Department of Education on August 30, calling its decision "arbitrary and capricious and inconsistent with the treatment of similarly situated nonprofit schools."

Campus locations

Main and branch campuses offered a wide variety of programs and courses. CollegeAmerica had six campus locations: *Colorado Springs, Colorado (206 students) *Denver, Colorado (139 students) *Fort Collins, Colorado (126 students) *Stevens-Henager Idaho Falls, Idaho (111 students) *Flagstaff, Arizona (78 students) *Phoenix, Arizona (512 students) The campus in Cheyenne, Wyoming, was closed on March 17, 2017, due to steadily declining enrollment. All campuses were closed by the end of 2021 as a result of CollegeAmerica's loss of accreditation.

Academics

CollegeAmerica offered associate, bachelor's, and master's degrees in a variety of programs, including healthcare, business, information technology, and graphic arts. The college offered a total of 41 degree programs: 9 associate degrees, 25 bachelor's degrees, and 7 master's degrees. The college offered a total of 15 healthcare degrees, 13 business degrees, 9 information technology degrees, and 4 graphic arts degrees.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Collegeamerica Private universities and colleges in Arizona Defunct private universities and colleges in Colorado Educational institutions established in 1964 1964 establishments in Colorado