DeVry University () is a for-profit college based in the United States. The school was founded in 1931 by Herman A. DeVry as DeForest Training School and officially became DeVry University in 2002. As of 31 March 2018, DeVry reports an undergraduate enrollment of 17,936 and a graduate school enrollment of 7,299--a total of 25,235 students.
DeVry University has been involved in numerous investigations, lawsuits, and settlements, mostly over inflated claims about the employment rates and salaries of its graduates, but also over criticized education quality and loan practices.
The university is--like many other for-profit education institutions--a division of Adtalem Global Education, formerly known as DeVry Education Group, whose CEO is Lisa Wardell. Since February 2002, DeVry University has been regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. In December 2017, Adtalem announced that it would be selling DeVry University to Cogswell Education (a division of Palm Ventures); the details of the deal remain unclear. DeVry is currently listed as "discontinued operations" in Adtalem's balance sheet.
Video DeVry University
History
Early history
DeVry was founded in 1931 as the DeForest Training School in Chicago, Illinois. School founder Herman A. DeVry, who had previously invented a motion picture projector and produced educational and training films, named the school after his friend Lee de Forest. De Forest Training School originally taught projector and radio repair, but later expanded to include other electronic equipment such as televisions. The school was renamed DeVry Technical Institute in 1953 and gained accreditation to confer associate degrees in electronics in 1957.
Bell & Howell completed its acquisition of DeVry Technical Institute in 1967. A year later, the company acquired the Ohio Institute of Technology and DeVry was renamed DeVry Institute of Technology, which was accredited to confer bachelor's degrees in electronics in 1969.
Keller Graduate School of Management
Dennis Keller and Ronald Taylor met one another in the early 1970s when the two were teachers at DeVry. Keller and Taylor learned the economics of for-profit education while at DeVry and, in 1973, the two founded the Keller Graduate School of Management with $150,000 in loans from friends and family. The school was originally conceived as a day school that granted certificates. The Keller School later became an evening program offering MBAs, focused on working adults by 1976. The school was fully accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools in 1977, the first for-profit school to be accredited by the body.
DeVry first received full accreditation in 1981. The Keller Graduate School of Management acquired DeVry from Bell & Howell in 1987. The leveraged buyout was worth $147.4 million. The two schools were combined as DeVry Inc. with Keller acting as chairman and CEO and Taylor president and COO.
DeVry Education Group
DeVry Inc. successfully completed its initial public offering on 21 June 1991. In 1995, its stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
In 1996, DeVry acquired Becker CPA Review--a firm that prepared students for the Uniform Certified Public Accountant Examination--for an undisclosed amount of cash, the tentative purchase price of which was US$18,685,000 (equivalent to US$29,155,419 in 2017). In 2003, DeVry acquired Ross University, a medical and veterinary school based in the Caribbean, for a price variously reported at US$310 million (US$412 million in 2017) and US$329 million (US$438 million in 2017). DeVry moved into the nursing field in March 2005 with the acquisition of Deaconess College of Nursing, a St. Louis-based nursing college that conferred both associate's and bachelor's degrees in nursing, at a price variously reported at about US$5.3 million (US$6.64 million in 2017) and US$5.4 million (US$6.77 million in 2017). Deaconess College of Nursing was later renamed Chamberlain College of Nursing.
DeVry Inc. entered Brazil with its 2009 acquisition of Faculdade Nordeste (FANOR), Ruy Barbosa and ÁREA 1, which are universities located in the Northeast of Brazil.
In 2010, DeVry University had nearly 90 campus learning sites in 26 states. It also had more than 7,000 employees. The parent company had more than 12,000 employees. DeVry University's undergraduate enrollment reached 68,290 students by the summer of 2010.
In 2012, the university acquired Faculdade Boa Viagem and Faculdade do Vale do Ipojuca. DeVry acquired a sixth Brazilian university, Faculdade Differencial Integral, in 2013. DeVry Inc. was renamed DeVry Education Group later that year. DeVry Education Group changed its name to Adtalem Global Education in May 2017 and announced in December 2017 that they would hand off DeVry University and Keller Graduate School to Cogswell Education (a division of Palm Ventures) for no up-front cost, pending regulatory and accreditor approval. As of March 2018, the exact details of the agreement remain unclear.
Maps DeVry University
Locations and campus closures
DeVry University has approximately 52 locations across 18 states in the United States.
In April 2015, DeVry University announced the closing of 14 campuses around the United States by 2016 as part of a larger restructuring strategy. Students affected by the campus closings were eligible for discounted tuition to attend online or other campus locations for the remainder of their degree program.
In fiscal year 2018, DeVry closed eight additional campuses.
Academics
DeVry University's academic offerings are organized into five colleges: The College of Business & Management, which includes Keller Graduate School of Management; The College of Engineering & Information Sciences; The College of Health Sciences; The College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, which includes the School of Education; and The College of Media Arts & Technology. The colleges offer a range of associate's, bachelor's and master's degree programs. DeVry University also offers graduate certificates.
DeVry operates on a uniform academic calendar for both undergraduate and graduate degree programs. The university's academic calendar consists of six eight-week sessions. Most degree programs are offered at both the associate's and bachelor's level. In addition, the institution offers various certificate programs in specific subfields such as information technology.
The Keller Graduate School of Management offers the following master's degree programs:
- Business Administration (MBA)
- Accounting (MSAC)
- Accounting & Financial Management (MAFM)
- Human Resources Management (MHRM)
- Information Systems Management (MISM)
- Network & Communications Management (MNCM)
- Project Management (MPM)
- Public Administration (MPA)
Courses and programs are also offered online. DeVry has offered graduate classes online since 1998 and undergraduate classes since 2001.
DeVry is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Engineering technology programs are accredited on campus-by-campus.
Investigations, lawsuits, and settlements
1990s
In March 1995, DeVry's ability to grant U.S. degrees through its Calgary facilities was discussed during a session of the Alberta Legislative Assembly. Therein, Grant Mitchell--then the Leader of the Opposition for the Alberta Liberal Party--accused the Premier of Alberta, Ralph Klein, of maintaining a conflict of interest with DeVry through his relationship with John Ballheim, who was at the time an executive at DeVry serving as both the president of DeVry's Calgary campus and as a member of the Klein's special advisory council on postsecondary education. Klein denied any conflict of interest. In 1995, DeVry was also suspended from the Ontario Student Assistance Program after a large number of its students misreported their income. DeVry was reinstated after paying fines of CA$1.7 million (equivalent to CA$2.49 million in 2016) to Ontario and putting up a letter of credit totalling CA$2 million (CA$2.93 million in 2016).
In 1996, students of DeVry's Toronto campus filed a class-action suit of CA$400,000 (CA$577,728 in 2016) claiming poor educational quality and job preparation; the suit was dismissed on technical grounds.
2000s
In November 2000, Afshin Zarinebaf, Ali Mousavi, and another graduate of one of DeVry University's Chicago-area campuses filed a class-action lawsuit accusing DeVry of widespread deception, unlawful business practices, and false advertising and alleging that students were not being prepared for high-tech jobs. The lawsuit contributed to a 20 percent slide in the company's stock. The suit was not certified and the case was resolved for less than US$25,000 (US$30,348 in 2017) in June 2006.
In 2001, DeVry became the first for-profit school to obtain permission from the Alberta government to grant degrees, on recommendation by the Private Colleges Accreditation Board. This decision was opposed by the Alberta New Democrats (sitting in opposition), the University of Calgary Faculty Association, the Canadian Federation of Students, and the Canadian Association of University Teachers.
In January 2002, Royal Gardner, a graduate of one of DeVry University's Los Angeles-area campuses, filed a class-action complaint against DeVry Inc. and DeVry University, Inc. on behalf of students in the post-baccalaureate degree program in Information Technology. The suit alleged that the nature of the program was misrepresented by the advertising. The lawsuit was dismissed and refiled. During the first quarter of 2004, a new complaint was filed in the same court by Gavino Teanio with the same general allegations. This action was stayed pending the outcome of the Gardner lawsuit. The lawsuits were being settled in late 2006.
In April 2007, the states of New York, Illinois, and Missouri settled with three schools that were participating in questionable student-loan practices. DeVry, Career Education Corporation, and Washington University in St. Louis were involved with the settlement. DeVry agreed to refund US$88,122 (US$104,004 in 2017) it received in revenue sharing from Citibank to students.
In 2008, DeVry was accused of filing false claims and statements about recruitment pay and performance to the government of the United States.
2010s
In January 2013, a lawsuit was filed by a former manager at DeVry which alleged that the college bribed students for positive performance reviews and worked around federal regulations on for-profit colleges. In April 2013, the attorneys general of Illinois and Massachusetts issued subpoenas to DeVry to investigate for violations of federal law and filing false information about loans, grants, and guarantees. In July 2014, DeVry stated that the office of the New York Attorney General was investigating whether the company's marketing violated laws against false advertising.
In March 2016, the Veterans Administration reprimanded DeVry over allegations of deceptive marketing practices made by the Federal Trade Commission and suspended DeVry University from its "Principles of Excellence" status under the G.I. Bill. On 15 December 2016, the Federal Trade Commission settled a US$100 million suit against DeVry, which alleged that DeVry's advertisements deceived consumers about the likelihood that students would find jobs in their fields of study, and would earn more than those graduating with bachelor's degrees from other colleges or universities. Students who enrolled in a bachelor's or associate degree program at DeVry University between 1 January 2008 and 1 October 2015; paid at least US$5,000 with cash, loans, or military benefits; did not get debt or loan forgiveness as part of this settlement; and completed at least one class credit were eligible for a refund.
Separately, on 16 June 2016, two former DeVry students filed a demand for arbitration with the American Arbitration Association. DeVry responded by suing the students, claiming the dispute belongs in court and not in arbitration.
In May 2017, the Higher Learning Commission designated DeVry "under governmental investigation" as a result of a Massachusetts Attorney General investigation alleging "fraudulent or deceptive practices". In September 2017, the Higher Learning Commission removed this designation after DeVry negotiated a settlement.
In August 2018, the Associated Press reported that according to United States Department of Education documents, DeVry received more than 3,600 (over 15%) of the 24,000 federal fraud complaints lodged against for-profit colleges between 20 January 2017 and 30 April 2018. This is in conjunction with a "nearly 20 percent" decrease in enrollment in the last year.
Enrollment
As of 31 March 2018, DeVry reports an undergraduate enrollment of 17,936 and a graduate school enrollment of 7,299--a total of 25,235 students.
Alumni
In mid-2007, three DeVry University undergraduate students from the Game and Simulation Programming (GSP) baccalaureate program formed a video game company called Faramix Enterprises and developed a video game called CellZenith, which they released on 30 September 2008.
Notable DeVry University alumni include:
- Dave Bennett, software engineer and CTO
- Steve Cartwright, Class of 1977, video game designer
- David Crane, Class of 1975, founder and CTO of Appstar Games
- Wendell Gilliard, politician
- Adeline Gray, three-time world champion wrestler
- J. D. Mesnard, politician
- George Weah, President of Liberia and retired football player
- Sean Wiley, Pennsylvania state senator
Keller Graduate School of Management alumni:
- Catherine Afeku, Ghanaian politician and Cabinet Minister
- Gabriela Mosquera, New Jersey General Assemblywoman
Partnerships and political interests
In 2011, DeVry University partnered with the United States Olympic Committee to become an official education provider for the United States' Olympic teams. In April 2016, the USOC announced an extension of its partnership with DeVry through 2020. According to the USOC, more than 125 Team USA student athletes are enrolled in DeVry programs.
In April 2014, DeVry University was named the "official education provider" for NFL Pro Legends, a group supporting players, coaches and other professionals who worked for NFL teams.
Since January 2015, DeVry University has been the official education and career development partner of Minor League Baseball. DeVry University and its Keller Graduate School of Management will provide higher education opportunities at the undergraduate and graduate levels for players, their spouses, umpires and National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (NAPBL) employees and alumni through 2017.
The peak year for DeVry's lobbying in Congress was 2011, when it spent more than $720,000. The largest amount has gone to Thompson Coburn LLP. Democratic lobbyist Heather Podesta was a major lobbyist for DeVry University from 2010 to 2015.
As of April 2018, DeVry University's stock price has rebounded since the inauguration of Donald Trump. This has been attributed to deregulation by the U.S. Department of Education under Secretary Betsy DeVos, which contrasts with the more prosecutorial approach of the Obama administration.
References
External links
- Official website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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