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The president of the University of Arizona informed the campus in an email last week that the public university would acquire and operate University of Arizona Global Campus, the nonprofit online university that it helped form in 2020 by buying the former for-profit Ashford University.
The plan announced by President Robert C. Robbins comes at a time when the University of Arizona Global Campus is facing scrutiny from its accreditor and enrollment woes, and its corporate partner in operating the online institution, Zovio, is adjudicating a lawsuit in California.
In addition, the Arizona Daily Star reported Saturday (subscription required) that the U.S. Education Department had informed the University of Arizona Global Campus in November “that because it underwent a change in ownership, it and the [University of Arizona] Foundation would have to either immediately provide the Education Department a financial audit or a 25 percent letter of credit valued at $103 million to continue to be eligible to receive” federal financial aid funds.
Robbins’s email to the campus did not mention any of the scrutiny on Global Campus, saying that acquiring the online institution would “ensure comprehensive, quality educational experiences and affordable opportunities for current and future UAGC students, many of whom are nontraditional.
“In the months ahead,” Robbins added, “planning teams—including members of the faculty and staff as well as students—will be established at UArizona to delve into the great many questions that need to be addressed as part of this process, respectful of our commitment to shared governance. UAGC will launch a similar process with its constituents in parallel.”
