Key Points: AI-assisted summary
- • Purdue University acquired the for-profit Kaplan University in 2017, rebranding it as Purdue Global.
- • Purdue Global has spent approximately $1 billion on marketing, leveraging the Purdue brand to attract students.
- • Some students and faculty have expressed confusion over the relationship between Purdue Global and Purdue's main campus.
- • A university senate committee and the Higher Learning Commission have raised concerns about marketing transparency and potential student confusion.
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN — In April 2017, Mitch Daniels told a room full of Purdue University trustees that their newest business partner was ironclad.
The Purdue president explained that Kaplan Higher Education, the company behind the for-profit, online Kaplan University that Purdue had just acquired, was trustworthy and strong.
A slideshow presentation describing the reasons behind the move said Kaplan’s academic quality was high, along with its financial position and reputation.
Kaplan is owned by the Graham Holdings Co., once called the Washington Post Co. while it owned the newspaper for 80 years. The slide called the conglomerate a “highly revered entity” with an “important place in American history.”
Since then, Purdue Global — the name Purdue gave its online school — has used its affiliation with the land-grant institution to woo prospective students.
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