Please help me understand Rasmussen College

A number of years ago (maybe 5) a Branch, I hesitate to call it a campus because of it’s physical location, of Rasmussen College appeared a few miles from my house.

Nice new and modern looking building with a decent sized sign stating “Rasmussen College” that is clearly visible from a major expressway. The building, which appears to only house the college, basically butts up to the highway. The physical street location is a bit odd for a college, kind of a “light Industrial” area. Not too far from residential sub divisions, but definitely in a mixed use area.

They have some billboard advertising here and there, but not an overwhelming amount. We get a flier or 2 in the mail from Rasmussen every so often, but not overly frequent. I think a TV commercial has aired for the campus a few times, but not very frequent either.

A quick google search tells us that the for profit Rasmussen is based out of Minnesota and has a history that dates back 100 plus years. Regionally Accredition, but the bottom of their home page makes reference to the Illinois board of higher education. I would’ve guessed their RA status would be in Minnesota. This is a bit strange to me. Can anyone explain the Illinois RA reference in the website?

A brief glance at their website and you quickly understand that they are a “career focused college”. You know the type that offer niche medical staff training programs and other technical programs built around current job market needs. The sense I get from schools like this, RA For-profit Career Colleges, they are an option for students on the fringe. If a student can’t get into, for example, the 4 year state school’s nursing program (because of a low high school GPA, or the program is highly competitive with a limited number of spots) and/or the local community college requires too many remedial courses that won’t count towards the degree and the admissions department isn’t overly supportive, a career college might be a good option. There is a local chamberlain college of nursing that exists ( in my opinion) because the nursing programs at all the not for profit RA schools in the area are very selective, they happily take all the students that got rejected everywhere else. I think it is great that Chamberlin can fill this need.

My questions , why don’t we hear more about Rasmussen? Why doesn’t Rasmussen come up more when we have the UoP or DeVry conversation? Is Rasmussen the example of a for profit who is doing right? Is Rasmussen a solid school?

 

The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) which accredits Rasmussen is an independent corporation and one of six regional institutional accreditors in the United States.
Their accreditation is not only in Minnesota but also in Illinois and other states in NC region.
HLC accredits degree-granting post-secondary educational institutions in the North Central region, which includes the following 19 states:

• Arizona
• Arkansas
• Colorado
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Iowa
• Kansas

• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• Nebraska
• New Mexico
• North Dakota
• Ohio

• Oklahoma
• South Dakota
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin
• Wyoming

Universities and colleges in addition to accreditation are subject to laws and regulations in each state where they operate.
States license, approve or certify colleges, some have separate boards that certify private colleges, and grant them the authority to operate in the state and award degrees.
The accreditation is about recognition and quality of the institution. In some states, college cant operates without the approval of the state, licensing, certification etc.
In some states, only properly accredited colleges can operate.

 

Not unusual – even public and private non-profits have opened locations in corporate centers to bait – um, enroll – folks who work for nearby corporations. And I agree - calling such a location a "campus" is a joke.

I don’t see Rasmussen as occupying the totality of corporate buildings. Generally, one company has purchased the right to have their name plastered on a building and, quite often, you’ll see corporate buildings with different company names on each side. (I can think of a few U. Phoenix locations where this is the case.) Merely because Rasmussen may have the naming rights to a building does not, by any means, indicate that they are the sole tenant in that building. And, as a general rule, schools that have satellite campuses don’t occupy a whole building, merely one or two suites or floors.

I wouldn’t call them for information. Their advertising may be low keyed, but once they have your contact information you’re likely to be inundated with sales pitches.

Simple – they are licensed in both states. Very often, states require that “foreign” (out-of-state) schools become registered or licensed in order to grant degrees to students in that state. They are likely licensed in the other states in which they operate, but Illinois may have disclosure requirements that result in how they're listed.

That’s subjective. My own take, FWIW, is that all profit-making colleges are intrinsically evil, yea, even the spawn of Satan. All of them. Each and every one. Some are worse than others, but I would avoid every profit-making school.

Wikipedia indicates that Rasmussen has over a 62% early withdrawal rate. The article that Wiki cites is well worth reading, not only for their Rasmussen comments but as a general guide:

https://www.minnpost.com/education/2013/11/profit-colleges-prospective-students-need-approach-them-eyes-wide-open/

And, the second part of the series:

https://www.minnpost.com/education/2013/11/oversight-profit-colleges-rigorous-enough/

So, is Rasmussen an offender? IMO, yes. But they’re a lot smaller than U. Phoenix or DeVry, so you’re likely to hear more about the bigger players.

Is Rasmussen the example of a for-profit that is doing right? There’s no such thing. Again, just sayin’.

Finally for the inevitable objector who will counter that even some non-profits are just as evil (SNHU is often brought up as an example), I agree. But the incidence rate of offenders is exponentially higher for the for-profits.

Therefore, as always, if you are the product of a for-profit school, I laugh at you. So there.

 

Thank for the feedback !

I’ve got to hand it to Rasmussen’s marketing and branding efforts. In contrast to the cheesy marketing campaigns run by Everest here locally (TV ads, so terrible), I can see how those who don’t dig as deep as the members of this forum would confuse not for profit RAs and For profit career colleges.

I’m not necessarily in the camp of “all for profit institutions are evil”. I had a decent experience at DeVry’s On campus Keller Graduate School of Management (KGSM). I took 3 or so evening classes with KGSM and have to say that the quality was there. I was able to transfer 3 of the courses into my not for profit Private school RA MBA program. So I can’t think too poorly of the for profits.

 

We do have a few threads about Rasmussen. For example

https://www.degreeinfo.com/index.php?threads/rasmussen-college.46960/

 

I received a tongue lashing for building off an older thread not long ago. I don’t want to be considered a problem member of this forum after all these years, so I only start new threads now.

Thanks for the links!

 

There's another kind?

 

https://degrees.rasmussen.edu/masters

Rasmussen is now offering a variety of degrees for $9,900 including an MBA, Master of Human Resource Management, Master of Healthcare Administration, Master of Public Health (MPH) and Master of Science in Nursing

 

It looks like that whole chunk of the site is a walled garden, to funnel you to giving them your info but they do provide more info here: https://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/business/master-business-administration/

And you're right, it is 12 courses at 4 credit hours each, 48 credit hours. $155 x 48 = $7,440 plus the $2,460 in fees to get you to the ~$9,900.