University of Arizona acquires for-profit Ashford University

The University of Arizona says it is acquiring the assets of for-profit Ashford University in an effort to create a new online university.

The Arizona Daily Star reports Ashford, an online school with 35,000 students, will operate under the umbrella of the University of Arizona Global Campus, a nonprofit, fully online entity. The Global Campus is made up of 150 sites worldwide.

University of Arizona administrators say the move will help the school serve more underrepresented and nontraditional students as well as provide additional career paths.

“We are really good at the 18- to 22-year-old business,” says Jeff Goldberg, now-retired dean emeritus of the College of Engineering and special adviser to the president. “We’re also very good in graduate education, but there’s a much broader mission in education for the state of Arizona and the United States that we think we should be involved in as well.”

Goldberg says Ashford has an “interesting student mix;" 90% of its student population is over 25 years old, a quarter of students are active-duty or retired service members, more than 35% are Black, and 56% are Pell Grant recipients.

[FROM 2016: Commencement marks the end of Ashford University's only physical campus]

President Robert Robbins said the University of Arizona's push toward expanded online education follows that of Arizona State University, which provides online instruction to tens of thousands each year.

Ashford runs year-round with five-week courses starting each week. Students can choose from more than 60 programs.

University of Arizona administrators believe there’s potential for student enrollment to increase; Ashford served 85,000 students at its peak.