After buying the for-profit Kaplan University last year for $1, Purdue University has received full approval from the Higher Learning Commission to convert the school into a new college called Purdue Global, according to a Purdue press release.
Kaplan will continue to operate Purdue Global’s courses. The roughly 30,000 students currently enrolled at Kaplan won’t see any change to their programs, and Purdue will continue buying support services from portions of Kaplan that remain a for-profit company, Inside Higher Education reported. In 2015, Kaplan agreed to pay out around $1.3 million in tuition refunds to 289 students in a settlement with the Department of Justice, in response to allegations that the group hired unqualified teachers. Separate from those allegations, Purdue faculty passed a University Senate resolution last spring contesting the deal.
Having now received the Higher Learning Commission’s green light, Purdue Global is set to launch in April, with a main campus in Indianapolis, Indiana, though its services will almost entirely be offered online.
