Businessweek

Bridgepoint Education, Inc. provides postsecondary education services. The company’s institutions deliver programs primarily online, as well as at their traditional campuses. Its institutions had 81,810 total students enrolled as of December 31, 2012. The company’s institutions provide an educational experience to their students. Its institutions have a curriculum development process and employ qualified faculty members with significant academic and practitioner credentials. Its institutions conduct ongoing faculty and student assessment processes and provide a range of student services. The company focuses on developing new technologies to improve the way students learn, through technologies, such as Waypoint Outcomes, Constellation, Thuze, and the development of its institutions' mobile learning platforms. Ashford University The company owns The Franciscan University of the Prairies, located in Clinton, Iowa, and renamed it Ashford University. The institution offers associate's, bachelor's and master's degree programs online, as well as bachelor's degree programs at its campus in Clinton, Iowa. Ashford University is comprised of four colleges: the College of Business and Professional Studies, the College of Education, the College of Health, Human Services and Sciences, and the College of Liberal Arts. Ashford University invests in enhancing and expanding the physical infrastructure of its campus. University of the Rockies The company owns the Colorado School of Professional Psychology, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and renamed it University of the Rockies. University of the Rockies is a graduate institution that offers master's and doctoral degree programs in the social and behavioral sciences. Classes at University of the Rockies are presented in a progressive online format, as well as at its campus in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Graduation As of December 31, 2012, approximately 50,300 students have graduated from the company’s institutions. Curricula and Scheduling As of December 31, 2012, the company’s institutions offered approximately 1,470 courses, 80 degree programs and 125 specializations. Specialization areas are comprised of a select number of courses within an existing program, which supplement that program's required courses. The company’s institutions offer programs and specialization areas through Ashford University's four colleges: the College of Business and Professional Studies; the College of Education; the College of Health, Human Services and Science; and the College of Liberal Arts; and through the University of the Rockies' two schools: the School of Organizational Leadership and the School of Professional Psychology. Its institutions' campus-based courses are typically 9 or 16 weeks and have 1 start per term, with 2 to 5 terms per year. Regulation Ashford University and the University of the Rockies are accredited institutions of higher education which are subject to extensive regulation by various agencies. These agencies include the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, the agency that accredits the company’s institutions, thereby providing an independent assessment of educational quality. The company is subject to regulation by the U.S. Department of Education due to its participation in federal student financial aid programs authorized by Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (Higher Education Act), which refer to as Title IV programs. History The company was incorporated in Delaware in 1999 under the name TeleUniversity, Inc. and changed its name to Bridgepoint Education, Inc. in 2004.