Welcome to PA
TIMES Online's newest column, The Learning Corner.
The column's author is ASPA member Dovie Dawson
(see About the Author box). Columns will be
published once monthly and focus on the benefits
of online education within the higher education
realm, beginning with this three-part series on
how one of the fastest growing online educators
became a case study for the U.S.
Senate.
Dovie D. Dawson
For-profit
institutions are a hot topic within the walls of
the White House. This
is due to the dramatic
increase of enrollment in distant or commonly
known as online educational programs across the
nation. However, most
for-profit institutions
rely heavily upon federal funding which supports
their student base. Senator Tom Harkin (Harkin) of
Iowa, a Democrat and
chairman of the Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP),
became interested in a fast growing for-profit
institution right in his
very own
backyard–Ashford University, subsidiary of
Bridgepoint
Education, Inc. (BPI). This topic
will be covered in three parts:
investigation/hearing, response of BPI and
societal implications.
