University of Arizona President Robert Robbins walks back comments on resources for UAGC online students

Even as top officials at the University of Arizona vow not to repeat the mistakes of their online global school’s predecessor Ashford University, they are giving mixed messages about what students should expect when they enroll.

University of Arizona President Robert Robbins told The Arizona Republic that he “takes great pride” in providing University of Arizona Global Campus students “with an education that all of our students at the University of Arizona get, without all the tactics that Zovio was using,” referring to the fraudulent marketing practices perpetrated by Ashford and its former parent company.

"As I have talked to the 23,000 students,” Robbins continued, referring to the current student body of UAGC, “they are incredibly excited about the opportunity to come to one of the top 30 research universities in the county and be part of the Wildcat family ... . Access is a big part of our mission.”

But when pressed, Robbins acknowledged that UAGC students do not have access to the same courses, professors, student services, career services, degrees or curricula as University of Arizona students.

“That is the case currently,” Robbins confirmed later in the Feb. 16 interview with The Republic’s Editorial Board when questioned on what access UAGC students currently have.

Though Robbins said the goal of the UAGC acquisition “was always to bring it into the University of Arizona,” his message of unity is contradicted by a trove of public records surrounding the 2020 deal that appear to show the intention was for the entities to remain separate. On Friday, Robbins said officials from UAGC and UA Online are looking "to bring them more together" referring to the new online school and the university's pre-existing online offering.

The emails from the period before the deal was signed show high-level officials communicating the opposite.

“FWIW, I think we will get a S*storm from both faculties if they think we are going to merge them,” Liesl Folks, former UA provost and one architect of the merger, wrote in a May 31, 2020, email thread about a public relations strategy that might elicit the least resistance from UA’s faculty. 

“Agree. But it would not be a merger. They would remain completely separate institutions,” Brent White, a former UA administrator and another mastermind of the deal, emailed back. Robbins was included on part of the email thread.

On Friday, Robbins cited UA’s high retention rate — which is around 86%, according to recent publicly available statistics — as a metric to showcase how UA was “wildly successful” in recent years.

But when asked about how merging UAGC with UA would affect those numbers — UAGC has a retention rate of 30%, according to recent public statistics — he said doing so would cause metrics problems.

“That is an issue about having the retention and graduation rates of UAGC be lumped together,” he said.

UAGC makes change that will cost some students thousands

Meanwhile, UAGC leadership recently made a change in fee waivers for students that will mean an additional cost of about $3,000 more per year for hundreds of students. The change is effective in April.

For UAGC students who were depending on the waiving of these fees, the increased cost could end their educational pursuit with the online school.

“This could be a deal breaker for me,” said Josh Murdock, a 34-year-old administrative professional from Oregon who enrolled in UAGC last summer through their corporate full-tuition grant program. He was convinced to join the program by the assurance that 100% of his fees would be covered by UAGC and his employer.

Now, he said he wished he had paid more attention to the school’s history of backtracking on promises to students. In a March 2022 decision in California, a San Diego County Superior Court judge fined UAGC’s predecessor Ashford and parent company Zovio $22.3 million for using deceptive marketing tactics to recruit students, including promising students financial aid packages that did not pan out.

“We’re a single-income household and we've got a baby on the way. I cannot afford to take out additional student loans to cover these fees,” said Murdock, who also spoke to Arizona Public Media. Arizona Public Media first reported the change in fee waivers.

Despite the recent change, UAGC’s website continues to advertise the program as covering “100%” of education-related costs, including technology fees and course materials, though that goes away in about six weeks. A UA spokesperson acknowledged the inconsistency and called it an “oversight.”

A spokesperson for UAGC described the change as an effort to “make education costs more transparent and affordable” by reducing tuition rates in exchange for removing institutional grants and “adjusting” tuition benefits. This means students who weren’t receiving fee waivers could see their overall costs decline.

UAGC stressed it is committed to supporting students and has encouraged them to explore financial aid options to cover the unexpected costs.

But students who do could face another challenge: Finding their school in the federal aid program.

Despite UA leadership's persistent attempts to distance UAGC from the disreputable Ashford, when students apply for federal financial assistance, UAGC is not listed as a school. Students have to use Ashford’s name and identification number to apply for federal financial aid, according to a UAGC spokesperson.

Will new student costs help financial crisis?

UA denied that shifting these previously waived fees from UAGC onto students has anything to do with the cost-cutting measures the online school said it will implement to reduce its projected operating budget of $231 million. The school's operating costs were a contributing factor to UA’s larger financial crisis, according to an Arizona Board of Regents report from October 2023. But Robbins and John Arnold, executive director of the Arizona Board of Regents and UA’s interim CFO, now say this is not the case.

In January, UAGC leadership said they committed to cost-cutting measures as UA continues to navigate the current financial situation. “University of Arizona Global Campus is doing its part,” said Lisa Kemp, vice president of UAGC’s finances. She said UAGC has implemented a hiring freeze along UA to net additional funds.

As UAGC works to rein in expenses, Robbins continues to defend the acquisition as nothing but a financial boon for the university.

“UAGC is not part of this problem,” said Robbins, regarding UA’s latest estimate that the university has an ongoing $177 million structural deficit that will require broad cuts across the campus.

Despite the financial reckoning to come, UA's desire to keep spending apace with other universities seems to continue in some parts of the athletics program. On Monday, the school announced a new base salary of $5.25 million per for its men's basketball coach and the hiring of a new athletic director, who will earn an annual base salary of $1 million in her first year.

Hannah Dreyfus is an investigative reporter for The Arizona Republic. You can reach her at hannah.dreyfus@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @Hannah_Dreyfus. Helen Rummel covers higher education for The Arizona Republic. Reach her at hrummel@azcentral.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @helenrummel.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: UA President Robbins sends mixed messages on access for UAGC students