Walden University

History

Walden was established in 1970 by two New York teachers, Bernie and Rita Turner, who created a program for working adults / teachers to pursue doctoral degrees. In the summer of 1971, the first classes took place in Naples, Florida, focusing primarily on school administrators. These initial classes were to allow the students to form dissertation topics with their faculty partners before returning home to work at their respective schools while also working on their dissertations. In 1972, Walden conferred its first degrees: 46 PhDs and 24 Ed.D.s at its first commencement in Naples, Florida.

In 1979, the Minnesota Higher Education Coordinating Board licensed Walden to grant Ph.D.s and Ed.D.s in the state and in 1982 the school moved its headquarters to Minneapolis. In 1990, the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools accredited the University. In 1995, the school expanded its offering with the nation's first fully online master's program in education, offering a Master's in Educational Change and Technology Innovation.

Sylvan Learning Systems, Inc., purchased 41 percent of Walden University in 2001, gaining a controlling interest in 2002. In 2004, Sylvan Learning Systems became Laureate Education, Inc. Former President Bill Clinton, founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation and 42nd President of the United States, was until 2015, an Honorary Chancellor of Laureate International Universities. President Clinton was the keynote speaker at Walden University’s commencement on July 30, 2011. In 2015, Ernesto Zedillo, former president of Mexico and current director of the Yale University Center for the Study of Globalization, succeeded President Clinton as Laureate Education’s Presidential Counselor.

Jonathan Kaplan is the current President and CEO of Walden University. Previously, Kaplan served three years as economic policy adviser to then-President Bill Clinton. Kaplan received his Juris Doctor degree from Boston University School of Law, where he served as an editor of the Boston University Law Review. He later practiced law as an associate at Covington & Burling, a leading international law firm based in Washington, D.C. Laureate’s current Board Advisory Committee on Education also includes such notable individuals as Condoleezza Rice, the former U.S. Secretary of State during the George W. Bush administration.

Finances

Walden spent $1,574 per student on instruction in 2009, compared to $2,230 per student on marketing and $1,915 per student on profit. The amount Walden spent on instruction per student was the second lowest of the privately held companies the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) committee examined; the amount that the privately held companies spent ranged from $1,118 to $6,389 per student per year.

Walden University gets more than 75% of its funds from the U.S. government, including more than $750 million a year for graduate student loans. This is the largest amount for any college in the U.S.

Walden University is under heightened cash monitoring from the US Department of Education.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Cohort Default Rate (CDR) demonstrates an institution’s borrower’s ability to manage their debt against default. Walden’s CDR of 6.8% is below the national average of 11.8% for all U.S. institutions. The average annual federal student loan amounts of Walden graduate degree-level borrowers was not statistically different to the federal loan amounts of students at public and private non-profit institutions from 2011 through 2012. This is according to a recent study by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) analyzing Walden’s loan data and data from the 2011-2012 National Post-secondary Student Aid Survey

Walden students default on loans at lower than average rate, 1.7 to 3 percent from 2005 to 2008, a rate that was dramatically lower than the average not only for-profit universities (17.1-22.6 percent) but also for all U.S. colleges (8.4 to 12.3)

Unlike many of Walden's for-profit counterparts, a Senate committee concluded that, when compared to its online public and non-profit counterparts, Walden is competitively priced. A Master’s Degree in Education at Walden University costs $18,000 (2017 rate). The same online degree at University of Minnesota costs $31,235. An online Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree at Walden University costs $62,795 (2017 rate). The same degree at the University of Minnesota costs $56,240.

In 2013, Walden's parent, Laureate Education Inc., together GSV Capital, IFC, Learn Capital and Yuri Milner provided $43M in Series B funding to Coursera in an effort to expand free, high-quality online education.

On April 8, 2016, the Minnesota Office of Higher Education notified Walden University that its renewal application to participate in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (SARA) was rejected because Walden University did not have a US Department of Education financial composite score of 1.5 or higher.

Marketing

Walden University spends 41% more on marketing than it does on instruction and its students.

Accreditation

Walden University has been regionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, a regional accreditation agency, since 1990.

Professional accreditation

Some, but not all, of Walden's degree programs are individually accredited. Walden students are advised that is the student’s responsibility "to evaluate and understand the licensure requirements for the state or international location in which the student intends to work."

Accredited

Not accredited

Academic

Walden University consists of five colleges:

Commencment Speaker History

Political Controversies & Fact Check

Walden University and its parent company Laureate International Universities have been mentioned, sometimes unfavorably, in articles in the Financial Times, Washington Post, and Washington Times about Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and the Clinton Foundation.

Republican Advisor Daniel Runde, formerly head of Foundations Unit for the Department of Partnerships & Advisory Service Operations at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector arm of the World Bank Group, formally debunked many of the claims made regarding the Clinton Foundation, Laureate Education, and the IYF. The World Bank currently has invested $150 million in Laureate Education, Walden University's parent company. Fact checkers at the Washington Post concurred, citing the claims as conflated and inaccurate talking point. Fact checkers at PolitiFact.com also found the claims to be false. A story in the Sept 5, 2016 edition of the Washington Post also investigated Clinton's role with Laureate and found many of the hyperbolic political claims to be false.

On August 23, 2016, NBC News has an investigative report with interviews from Walden University student debtors "stuck with debts they can never hope to pay off in their lifetime." Some students said Walden recruiters misled them about the length of time it would take to finish their doctoral degrees. Other students who spoke to NBC News said they had an overwhelmingly positive experience at Walden. In addition, the report stated that according to third-party research, the average student loan amount for graduate students at Walden is comparable to the graduate students who attended non-profit universities.

As noted in the NBC News story cited above, addressing the validity of claims made by any one student can be challenging, due in part to the fact that nationwide, it is currently legal for students to borrow tens of thousands of dollars in excess of their base program and tuition costs. As is the case at many graduate institutions, students with the highest volumes of debt are often those who, for a myriad of reasons, have borrowed the maximum dollar amount available under law, amassing significant levels of additional debt by diverting excess Federal Aid to supplement personal living expenses. Typically, these funds are distributed directly to student borrowers.

Doctoral student retention and graduation rates at Walden remain on par with, and often exceed those of, other intuitions of higher learning. A 2016 article in the Atlantic examined low graduation rates among the nation’s doctoral students. According to their report, and research from the Chronicle of Higher Education, more than 56 percent of doctoral students at traditional colleges and universities nationwide leave their programs prior to receiving their doctoral degrees. An overwhelming number of those interviewed by the Atlantic complained about a lack of quality mentoring, support from faculty, and perceived obstacles to on-time completion—including disagreements with faculty over shifting course completion requirements. According to research published in The Guardian, at a number of traditional universities examined, more than three-quarters of doctoral students had not completed their degrees after seven years. The study also noted that older students often took longer than their younger counterparts, due in part to competing personal or career obligations.

In October 2016, NBC News reported that the Minnesota Office of Higher Education was investigating a spike in student complaints.

In December 2016, NBC News reported about a former US Marine who was suing Walden University and said that the school had wasted six years of her life.

Publications

Walden University sponsors several peer-reviewed and refereed academic journals.