Rasmussen University is a private

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 lo ...

with multiple locations throughout the United States. It offers associate's, bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees at 23 campuses in

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

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North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, S ...

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Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

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and offers many programs fully online. In October 2020, American Public Education, Inc began the process of acquiring Rasmussen. Rasmussen offers on-campus and online classes leading to

Bachelor A bachelor is a man who is not and has never been married.Bachelors are, in Pitt & al.'s phrasing, "men who live independently, outside of their parents' home and other institutional settings, who are neither married nor cohabitating". (). Etymol ...

of Science (BS), Associate of Applied Science (AAS), and Associate of Science (AS) degrees in career-focused areas. It also offers a variety of certificates and diplomas.

History

Walter Rasmussen founded the school in 1900 as the Rasmussen Practical School of Business, in

Stillwater, Minnesota Stillwater is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Washington County. It is in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area, on the west bank of the St. Croix River, across from Houlton, Wisconsin. Stillwater's popula ...

. Rasmussen believed the need for skilled professionals by the local business community was not being met.Rasmussen College: from the EdRef college search directory
/ref> With the advent of

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to gran ...

in 1920 through the Nineteenth Amendment, the school’s female enrollment began to increase. In 1945 Walter Rasmussen

retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

and named Walter Nemitz to succeed him as director of the college. Nemitz had been with the college since 1934 and as director instituted a number of

curriculum In education, a curriculum (; plural, : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to ...

upgrades. By 1950, more than 22,400 students had graduated from the school. In 1961, Walter's sons Wilbur Nemitz and Robert Nemitz took ownership of the school. In 1974, Rasmussen College acquired the St. Cloud Business College, and in 1979 acquired the Northern Technical School of Business. In 1983, the school opened a campus in

Mankato, Minnesota Mankato ( ) is a city in Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties in the state of Minnesota. The population was 44,488 according to the 2020 census, making it the 21st-largest city in Minnesota, and the 5th-largest outside of the Minnea ...

. More campuses were opened in Eagan, Minnesota (1989), St. Cloud, Minnesota (1997), Rockford, Illinois (2006), Lake Elmo, Minnesota;

Eden Prairie, Minnesota Eden Prairie is a city southwest of downtown Minneapolis in Hennepin County and the List of cities in Minnesota, 16th-largest city in the U.S. state, State of Minnesota, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it has a ...

; Blaine, Minnesota (2010),

Topeka, Kansas Topeka ( ; Kansa: ; iow, Dópikˀe, script=Latn or ) is the capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat ...

(2013),

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(2013) and

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea l ...

(2007),

Mokena Mokena is a village in Will County, Illinois, United States. The population was 19,887 at the 2020 census. The Census Bureau's 2019 estimate found that the population had increased to 20,159. Etymology Mokena is a name apparently derived from a ...

Tinley Park, Illinois Tinley Park (formerly Bremen) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, with a small portion in Will County. The village is a suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 55,971. It is one of the fastest growing suburb ...

(2010) and

Wausau, Wisconsin Wausau ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States. The Wisconsin River divides the city into east and west. The city's suburbs include Schofield, Weston, Mosinee, Maine, Rib Mountain, Kronenwetter, ...

(2010). In 2001, Rasmussen College was accredited by the

Higher Learning Commission The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is an institutional accreditor in the United States. It has historically accredited post-secondary education institutions in the central United States: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa ...

. Rasmussen opened an online campus in 2002. The school acquired Aakers College in North Dakota and Webster College in Florida and merged the schools into Rasmussen's operations. Presently, the school has more than 100,000 graduates. In 2010, Rasmussen College announced a partnership with Market Motive Inc and announced programs in

Internet marketing The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

. Rasmussen was sold to Renovus Capital in 2018. Rasmussen College became Rasmussen University in October, 2020.

Academics

The school offers more than 70 programs and is organized into seven schools: Health Sciences, Design, Business, Justice Studies, Education, Nursing, and Technology.

Accreditation

Rasmussen University is accredited by the

(HLC), the regional accreditor serving Minnesota.

Student outcomes

According to a 2012 US Senate HELP investigation on for-profit colleges led by

Tom Harkin Thomas Richard Harkin (born November 19, 1939) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as a United States senator from Iowa from 1985 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously was the U.S. representative for Iow ...

, 63.2 percent of Rasmussen students withdrew, many after only five months of study. The College Scorecard, reports that Rasmussen University has graduation rates ranging from 21 to 31 percent, typical salary after attending of $32,600 and a student loan repayment rate of 35 percent.

References

External links

*
Rasmussen Student Portal
{{Coord, 44.859467, -93.335980, type:edu_globe:earth_region:US-MN, display=title For-profit universities and colleges in the United States Educational institutions established in 1900 1900 establishments in Minnesota