Bridgepoint Education

Bridgepoint Education
Public
Traded as NYSE: BPI
Industry Higher Education
Founded 2004[1]
Headquarters San Diego, CA, US
Key people
 Andrew Clark, CEO[2]
Revenue Decrease US$638.7 million (2014)[1]
Decrease US$14.3 million (2014)[1]
Decrease US$9.7 million (2014)[1]
Total assets Decrease US$558.1 million (2014)[1]
Total equity Increase US$365.9 million (2014)[1]
Number of employees
 4,460 Faculty
3,200 non-faculty staff [1]
Subsidiaries Ashford University
University of the Rockies
Website www.bridgepointeducation.com

Bridgepoint Education, Inc. ("BPI") is a publicly held, for-profit education services company based in San Diego, California.[2] It owns two accredited universities, Ashford University online and University of the Rockies.

Bridgepoint Education also owns Waypoint Outcomes, which provides learning and assessment software to educational institutions across the United States. The software combines rubric grading scales with technology to help educators teach writing, critical thinking, and cognitive skills.[3]

Company

Bridgepoint Educations' CEO is Andrew Clark.[2] It employs 4,460 faculty and 3,200 non-faculty staff.[1]

Financials

Bridgepoint Education trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BPI.[2] For the year ending December 31, 2015, Bridgepoint Education announced a net loss of $70,454,000. [4]

Regional economic impact

In 2012, national economic consulting firm The London Group was retained by the San Diego Regional Economic Corporation to conduct an economic impact and activity analysis of Bridgepoint Education within the San Diego region where BPI is headquartered.[5] The report determined that Bridgepoint Education helped produce, through its operations, $489 million in areas such as travel and capital expenditures, supplies, advertising, and charitable contributions. That helped create 4,505 outside jobs in addition to Bridgepoint's 3,900 local employees. Its operations indirectly brought the region an additional $590 million through increased spending by the contractors and services it hired.[6] According to the analysis, Bridgepoint Education's projected 10-year cumulative impact will bring approximately $10.8 billion in business output to the region.[5]

The London Group was also retained by the Clinton Regional Development Corporation and the Clinton Chamber of Commerce to conduct an economic analysis of Bridgepoint's Ashford University within the state of Iowa. The report stated that, in 2009, Ashford University had an estimated economic impact of $40.9 million in business output, 782 jobs, $12.6 million in employee earnings, and $18.6 million in total value added to the state's GDP.[7]

Social responsibility

Bridgepoint Education directs its philanthropic efforts toward three aims: education, youth, and the military. Charitable organizations and programs Bridgepoint Education has partnered with include After-School All-Stars,[8] Big Brothers Big Sisters of San Diego,[9] Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater San Diego,[10] Computers 2 SD Kids,[11] the Homefront Heroes Scholarship Program,[12] the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank,[13] Junior Achievement,[14] Make-A-Wish Foundation,[15] A Salute to Teachers,[16] the San Diego Office of Education,[17] the Teacher Appreciation Scholarship Program,[18] United Way of San Diego,[19] and Warrior Foundation-Freedom Station.[20]

The Bridgepoint Heroes program brings Bridgepoint employees together for large-scale volunteer efforts. Past Bridgepoint Heroes initiatives included cleaning Chollas Lake Park, cleaning Balboa Park, cleaning the San Diego River Garden, revitalizing the Mary Fay Pendleton School on Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton, and restoring Ruffin Canyon.[21]

History

Bridgepoint Education was first incorporated in Delaware in May 1999 under the name TeleUniversity, Inc.[1] Under the leadership of CEO and President Andrew Clark (and with an investment from private equity firm Warburg Pincus[22]), the company changed its name to Bridgepoint Education, Inc. in February 2004.[1]

Bridgepoint Education purchased The Franciscan University of the Prairies in 2005 and changed its name to Ashford University. In September 2007, Bridgepoint obtained the Colorado School of Professional Psychology, changing its name to University of the Rockies.[23]

In 2008, Bridgepoint Education was named the fastest-growing private education company in the United States, as well as the fastest-growing private company in San Diego by Inc. Magazine.[24]

The following year, the company went public. On April 15, 2009, Bridgepoint Education began trading on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BPI.[22]

In 2010, Bridgepoint Education became the title sponsor of the Holiday Bowl postseason college football game.[25] Bridgepoint Education served as the Holiday Bowl title sponsor for three consecutive years.

In 2013, Bridgepoint Education's Ashford University announced an alliance with business publisher Forbes Media. Under the terms of the alliance, Ashford's College of Business and Professional Studies was renamed the Forbes School of Business at Ashford University.[26]

On December 22, 2015, an agreement was made that Clinton Catalyst, LLC would buy the Ashford University campus properties for $1.6 million, according to the Clinton Herald. For the next 12 months afterward, Ashford University planned to lease the campus from Clinton Catalyst, LLC to make sure that the spring semester classes can continue, according to the Herald's report.[27]

In recent years, Bridgepoint Education has faced and settled several lawsuits. It is currently under investigation in New York, North Carolina, California, and Massachusetts. A U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General probe is ongoing. On December 3, 2014, a lawsuit was filed in Arizona federal court charging that Bridgepoint Education is violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by robocalling sales prospects.[28] Bridgepoint Education enrollment has dropped from a peak of 78,000 to 55,823 in the last quarter of 2014.[1] BPI stock has also dropped more than 60% in value since its peak in 2011 [29] after allegations of consumer fraud emerged.[30]

Lawsuits, investigations, and controversies

Bridgepoint faces numerous lawsuits and is under investigation in New York, North Carolina, California, and Massachusetts. A US Department of Education Office of Inspector General probe is ongoing.[28] On December 3, 2014 a lawsuit was filed in Arizona federal court charging that Bridgepoint Education is violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by robocalling sales prospects.[28]

In 2008, the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit services division performed a compliance audit of Ashford University for the period March 10, 2005, through June 30, 2009. The OIG audit reached the following conclusions:

Audit focus[31] Audit result[32]
Compensation policies and practices relating to enrollment advisers Rewarded recruiters based on their success in securing enrollments
Calculation, timeliness, and disbursement accuracy of Title IV program funds Improperly retained at least $1.1-million during the 2006-7 period and disbursed aid before students were eligible to receive the money
Student Authorizations to retain credit balances Kept credit balances without the proper authorization
Maintenance of supporting documentation for a student's leave of absence Took too long to return money awarded to students who withdrew or went on leave of absence

The stock of Bridgepoint Education fell the most in almost five months when the misuse of federal student aid was first publicly disclosed in 2009.[31] When the official results were released in 2011, Senator Tom Harkin said this audit "reveals the same troubling pattern of for-profit colleges' taking advantage of students and taxpayers." The Department of Education has not yet responded to the findings.[32]

2011 Senate hearings

On March 10, 2011, Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) chaired a hearing of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that examined a "case study" of Bridgepoint Education, Inc., which has experienced near-exponential profit growth in the last few years despite low graduation rates.[33][34] Bridgepoint owns two universities that it purchased when both were near bankruptcy, Ashford University in Iowa and the University of the Rockies in Colorado. When it purchased Ashford University in 2005, Bridgepoint grew from less than 300 students to more than 78,000 students at its peak, 99% of which were online.[35]

Senator Harkin took issue with the fact that despite such growth, student success was lacking. According to information provided by Senator Harkin, 63% of students enrolled at Ashford University during the 2008–2009 school year withdrew before completion of their programs. Senator Harkin noted that Bridgepoint recorded $216 million in profits in 2010—of which 86.5% of its revenues came from federal funds. In reference to these figures, Senator Harkin was on record as saying, "In the world of for-profit higher education, spectacular business success is possible despite an equally spectacular record of student failure. Bridgepoint is a private company, but it is almost entirely dependent upon public funds ... I think this is a scam, an absolute scam."[35]

Kathleen Tighe, Inspector General with the U.S. Department of Education, testified at the hearing that in an audit of Ashford, she discovered the university was improperly distributing federal financial aid to students. "Seventy-five percent of the improper disbursements to students in our sample were made to students who never became eligible," Tighe said.[35] For the 2006–2007 award year during which the audit was performed, it is estimated Bridgepoint had not returned $1.1 million in improperly obtained student aid to the federal government.[36] Tighe said on a recent report she had seen that Bridgepoint was "sitting on" $130 million in total credit balances.[33]

Bridgepoint chose not to send executives to the HELP committee hearing while engaged in negotiations with Office of Federal Student Aid (FSA).[37] Rather, Bridgepoint published a summary of responses called "Bridgepoint Education Transparency.

Additional lawsuits

In 2014, Bridgepoint Education settled a lawsuit with the State of Iowa for $7.25 million, denying any "wrongdoing but agreed to not use any 'unconscionable or coercive tactics' to encourage students to enroll." [38]

Controversies

The December 22, 2015 agreement with Clinton Catalyst, LLC by Bridgepoint Education to sell the Ashford University campus properties has generated controversy in the Higher Education Community.[39] Critics question Bridgepoint's original commitment to the on-ground college, especially since it no longer needed a physical presence in the Midwest to keep its accreditation, and to accuse Bridgepoint of having broken promises to maintain the Clinton, Iowa campus. Bridgepoint officials had previously stated that they were committed to retaining the Clinton, Iowa campus, and had essentially tripled its Iowa enrollment from 2005 to 2011 through investments in facilities (about $40 million), scholarships, and other financial aid of about $10 million a year (subsidized with revenues from online students), as well as expansion of academic and athletics programs. Bridgepoint now says the company can't continue to subsidize the campus operation.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Clark, Andrew; Devine, Daniel (10 March 2015), ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2014 (PDF), Bridgepoint Education, Inc., pp. 12–50, retrieved 13 April 2015
  2. 1 2 3 4 "bridgepoint education inc (BPI:New York)". Bloomberg Business. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  3. ↑ "Waypoint Outcomes Achieves Certification for Learning Tools Interoperability v1.1". MarketWatch. 13 August 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  4. ↑ http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/bpi/financials?query=income-statement
  5. 1 2 "San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. Releases Bridgepoint Economic Impact Analysis" (PDF) (Press release). San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation. 18 June 2012. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  6. ↑ Horn, Jonathan (18 June 2012). "EDC report: Bridgepoint had $1B impact in S.D. county". San Diego Union-Tribune. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  7. ↑ London, Gary; Moeder, Nathan (August 1, 2010), Iowa Economic Impact Study (PDF), The London Group, p. 7, retrieved 13 April 2015
  8. ↑ "Keeping At-Risk San Diego Kids in School? It's Science". 18 April 2014. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  9. ↑ "Bridgepoint Education Committed To San Diego". 12 September 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  10. ↑ "Corporate Partner Testimonials". Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  11. ↑ "Chamber Computer Challenge". 19 February 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  12. ↑ "Ashford University Online Gives Scholarship to Military Spouses at Holiday Bowl". 30 January 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  13. ↑ Glazer, Joyce (16 September 2013). "Good News about San Diego non-profits and businesses doing good for your community". San Diego Magazine. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  14. ↑ Sorensen, Emily (26 November 2014). "It's all business at Pomerado Elementary". Pomerado News. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  15. ↑ "Make-A-Wish Foundation of San Diego Holds 'Walk for Wishes,' Raising Funds for Wish Granting". San Diego Magazine. 26 February 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  16. ↑ "Padres Honor Local Teaching Profession With 9th Annual Teacher Appreciation Nigh". Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  17. ↑ "Junior Achievement of San Diego and Imperial Counties, Inc. 2009 Annual Report" (PDF). Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  18. ↑ "Online degree provider awards teaching scholarships". 11 May 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  19. ↑ "Top 25 Campaign Partners". Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  20. ↑ "Warrior Foundation Freedom Station Sponsors". Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  21. ↑ "Hardcore Bridgepoint Heroes brave rain to clean up Mission Beach". San Diego Coastkeeper. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  22. 1 2 "Portfolio, Bridgepoint Education". Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  23. ↑ (PDF) http://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/for_profit_report/PartII/Bridgepoint.pdf. Retrieved 13 April 2015. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  24. ↑ "Inc. 5000 The Fasted Growing Private Companies in America". Inc. 5000 List. Retrieved November 7, 2010.
  25. ↑ Schrotenboer, Brent (April 27, 2010). "Bridgepoint takes over as Holiday Bowl sponsor". SignonSanDiego.com. Retrieved March 1, 2011.
  26. ↑ "Ashford University and Forbes Media Form Alliance and Name the Forbes School of Business" (Press release). Forbes.com. 5 November 2013. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  27. ↑ Editor, Scott Levine Associate. "Real estate company purchases Ashford properties". Clinton Herald. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
  28. 1 2 3 Bauder, Don (11 December 2014). "Lawsuits attack Bridgepoint's automatic dialing pitches". San Diego Reader. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  29. ↑ "BPI Interactive Stock Chart". Yahoo! Finance. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  30. ↑ Kelderman, Eric (6 November 2011). "Online Programs Face New Demands From Accreditors". The Chronicle of Higher Education.
  31. 1 2 "Bridgepoint Education Plunges as U.S. Audit Looms". Bloomberg. September 4, 2009. Retrieved September 4, 2009.
  32. 1 2 Field, Kelly (January 24, 2011). "Audit Finds Ashford U. Kept Student-Aid Money It Should Have Returned to Government". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved January 25, 2011.
  33. 1 2 "US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions". March 10, 2011. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
  34. ↑ Lewin, Tamar (March 10, 2011). "Hearing Sees Financial Success and Education Failures of For-Profit College". New York Times. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
  35. 1 2 3 Steiger, Kay (March 11, 2011). "Sen. Harkin Says For-Profit Education Company Bridgepoint Is a 'Scam'". Campus Progress. Archived from the original on December 1, 2012. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
  36. ↑ "Statement of Kathleen S. Tighe" (PDF). Retrieved March 23, 2011.
  37. ↑ "Why Bridgepoint Education Declined to Attend the HELP Committee Hearing". bpitransparency.com. Archived from the original on August 12, 2011. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
  38. ↑ http://chronicle.com/article/BridgepointAshford-U/146675/
  39. ↑ "Ashford U's closure and what it says about for-profit higher ed". www.insidehighered.com. Retrieved 2016-06-03.

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