St. Paul banking employee Amee Gullickson tells the Star Tribune what she thought of her four-week business-ethics course in Capella University’s new FlexPath program, one of the first “competency-based” education programs in the country: “It was definitely a benefit, because I’m able to get through these classes faster. There’s not a lot of interaction, and Read more →
After seeing my coverage of how Minnesota colleges — such as the University of St. Thomas and Concordia University in St. Paul — use infographics to market themselves, a representative from Capella University sent me the one above. Sounds like they use several.
“2011 was a year marked by a challenging economic environment and increased competition for the high-quality learners Capella serves.” Capella Education Company CEO Kevin Gilligan on last year’s revenue drop and news that it had to lay off 63 non-faculty positions. The company owns Capella University. (Note: The previous version of this post had an Read more →
Minneapolis-based online education company Capella University has hired a new president. Scott Kinney replaces interim president Deborah Bushway. Bushway took over for Larry Isaak, who left the position last spring after only a few months on the job. Kinney, an executive at Thomson Reuters, takes over the top spot as for-profit colleges face greater scrutiny Read more →
Michael Offerman, president emeritus and chancellor of Capella University, will retire at the end of September, according to an announcement by Capella’s parent company. Offerman served as president of the Minneapolis-based online university from 2001 to 2007. He will remain president emeritus. Here are more details from the Capella press release:
“Historically, the education industry benefitted in a bad economy, because people went back to school. That helped in 2008 and 2009, but now many potential students are averse to taking on debt for school. And the fact that unemployment has been so high for so long is weighing on enrollments for the whole industry.” — Read more →
Two failed lawsuits against Capella University and one of its instructors have prompted a bill, discussed at yesterday’s House higher ed committee meeting, that would have the state Office of Higher Education scrutinize the practices and contractual arrangements that for-profit graduate schools in Minnesota have with their students. The bill is authored by a committee Read more →
Just got this from Bloomberg this morning: Capella Education Co., a for-profit online-education company based in Minneapolis, fell as much as 15 percent in Nasdaq Stock Market trading after forecasting a 35 percent decline in new enrollments for the current quarter. Capella also said it will fire 125 non-faculty employees, or 8 percent of its Read more →
Here’s the updated piece from Bloomberg. Capella University’s dive was a little larger than in the previous report: 19.71%. Strayer Education Inc. led declines among for-profit colleges, with its shares falling the most in almost 11 years, after the company said government scrutiny of education companies discouraged students from enrolling. The Arlington, Virginia-based company, which Read more →
Looks like the federal hearings into activities by for-profit colleges has reached Minnesota. Earlier this week the General Accounting Office released results of its investigation into fraud at for-profit schools. Minnesota was not one of the states the GAO targeted. Now, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions has asked Capella Education Company of Minneapolis, Read more →
Alex Friedrich
Tim Post