UA Global Campus' grad rates set to improve but criticism continues

This would bring projected retention up to 55% and the projected graduation rate up to 20-25%. 

Although low compared to performances by traditional brick-and-mortar universities such as the University of Arizona, UAGC's rates are comparable or better than those at its peer online-only schools, UA officials say.

The University of Arizona and UAGC aren't comparable institutions, said UA spokesperson Mitch Zak, since UAGC serves a nontraditional student population of varying educational backgrounds. Zak said 90% of UAGC students had attended college before but hadn't finished their degrees for different reasons, and that 80% worked full-time jobs while studying and 5% worked part-time jobs.

“The majority of UAGC students are working adults and military service members with varying priorities and responsibilities, which results in their taking fewer courses per year than traditional U of A students,” Zak said. “… It is inappropriate to draw direct comparisons between the U of A and UAGC. We are very much focused on ensuring UAGC’s students succeed, but our definition of success is not comparing them to a traditional 4-year pathway.”

UA continues to face public criticism of UAGC, however, including a scathing article recently written by UA professor Nolan Cabrera for the national publication Inside Higher Ed.

“It's never a good idea to lower your academic standards," Cabrera told the Arizona Daily Star after the article was published in December. "We’re supposed to be serving underrepresented, first-generation, low-income peoples. And yeah, our diversity numbers go up as a result of the acquisition,” he said, referring to one mission behind UA's acquisition of UAGC.

“What that means, though, is that you’re offering a substandard education when only one in five people actually graduates with a degree," said Cabrera, a UA professor of education policy studies and practice.

Cabrera’s article was blasted by the UAGC faculty council, which said in a written statement that it had “no merit” and was “a collection of baseless assumptions, completely overlooking the true mission of UAGC, its faculty and the diverse students we proudly serve.”

Supporters of UAGC laud what they say is its foundational goal of transforming online education for adult learners, offering meaningful and relevant education as well as career placement assistance.

In the most recent update on the online institution, officials reported that UAGC's rate of retention for students who started their courses in 2023 was 41%. The target for 2025 is a 45% first-year retention rate.

“For Arizona Online and for UAGC, we have set three very specific goals of retention, completion and value propositions for our online students that we’re (focused) hard on for the next year or two, until we get these numbers up to where they need to be,” said Gary Packard, interim senior vice provost for online initiatives, while presenting UAGC numbers to the University of Arizona Faculty Senate in December. “So, that’s our primary emphasis.”

UAGC awarded 7,928 degrees in academic year 2024 and expects to hand out 9,000 degrees in academic year 2025, Packard said.

That would mean a 4% increase in retention and a 13.5% increase in completion compared with last year.

UAGC students graduate at a rate of 15-20%, according to a UA-commissioned Ernst & Young report released in June 2024. Zak said that figure hasn't changed. 

However, he said UAGC's nontraditional academic calendar offers "continuous enrollment" and so it is difficult to figure out a fixed number of the student population in order to to determine the graduation rate.

Zak said UAGC's retention and completion goals were set in the context of its peer groups, as defined by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges – Senior College and University Commission, which include the University of Phoenix, National University and United States University. UAGC's retention rate for students who began their courses in 2022 was in the top 50% among its peers, Zak said.

Enrollment and diversity

UAGC currently has 23,000 active students who are enrolled in courses, Zak said.

The Ernst & Young report showed UAGC’s enrollment steadily declined over the years, decreasing by 18,000 students since 2021. UAGC's current student population was 28,000 less than FY23's numbers in the E&Y report.

In terms of the diversity breakdown of the UAGC student population, 27% of students identify as Black or African American, 61% as female and 21% as Hispanics of any race.

The University of Arizona bought the online school, formerly the private, highly controversial Ashford University, for $1 in 2020. Ashford University was sued by the California attorney general and the U.S. Education Department, which accused its operators of defrauding students and engaging in unlawful business practices.

Zak said none of the former conduct was carried on when the institution was acquired by UA and UAGC was formed.

Critics, however, including a Grand Canyon Institute report in June 2024, continue to point to reputation issues. The report contended UAGC overspent on advertising, underspent on faculty pay and was still not doing well in enrollment and retention rates.

According to the report, UAGC's six-year completion rate for first-year students was about one-fourth of the rate for on-campus students; and student enrollment had dropped by 14% since the UA's takeover.

The report also said UAGC brought in students largely through paid advertisement leads, bringing its marketing costs up to $5,000 for each undergraduate student who enrolled. But UAGC paid its faculty members less than $2,000 for every course they taught, it said.

GCI Research Director Dave Wells called UAGC's model "problematic".

Zak countered, "UAGC has focused on being a leader in online higher education for non-traditional students. As a result of this commitment and the work of its faculty and staff toward continuous improvement, UAGC has excelled in serving its working-adult student population, demonstrating increased retention and completion rates on par or exceeding peer online universities and earning praise from accreditors and government agencies."

Faculty salaries, ad costs

In the UA's fiscal 2025 operating budget for unrestricted funds, which came out in September 2024, UAGC's total budget was $233 million, excluding depreciation costs of $12.7 million.

Out of that total, more than $150 million is for employment costs for UAGC faculty and staff — $114 million for salaries and wages, $33 million for benefits and over $1 million in funding for human resources.

Among Cabrera's accusations, he wrote in the Inside Higher Ed article that UAGC's model is based almost entirely off of poorly paid adjunct faculty with no benefits, reiterating the GCI report's findings. He said it is a strategic way of keeping the cost of instruction low.

Adjunct professors, usually hired on a contractual basis, sometimes have the academic credentials but they don’t have the professional protections or freedoms of professors, according to Cabrera. 

Zak said UAGC currently employs 115 "lead (full-time) faculty" and 1,900 "associate faculty members," most of whom were industry leaders who have the necessary academic credentials and experience working in their relevant sectors. 

He didn't use the term "adjunct professors" while describing faculty at UAGC and said there is a difference between UAGC associate faculty and traditional adjunct professors.

"UAGC's 'quality at scale' faculty model is fundamentally different from the adjunct faculty model," said Zak. "It features a lead-associate structure where full-time lead faculty design and improve courses and assessments, while also teaching courses and supervising part-time associate faculty."

UAGC provides "high-quality online courses at scale, centered on robust measurement of student learning, centralized course development, and extensive supervision and support of associate faculty by the full-time faculty," said Zak. 

"This 'quality at scale' model trades individual instructor flexibility for rigorous systems of testing and tuning approaches to online teaching. Therefore, it is not appropriate to compare this model to that of the U of A and traditional institutions," he continued. "(In) UAGC, lead full-time faculty develop and iteratively improve all courses and then supervise associate faculty whose focus is supporting student learning by sharing their expertise, feedback, and student coaching."

Associate faculty at UAGC usually get paid according to the specific courses they're teaching, said Zak, explaining they are paid between $1,001 and $3,346 per course while working about 15 hours per week.

According to past reports by Inside Higher Ed, faculty members at online universities could make between less than $2,000 and more than $7,000.

Cabrera's article further criticized UAGC for spending on advertising and recruitment while continuing, he contended, to pay its faculty poorly.

In FY25's budget, $42 million is set aside for UAGC advertising, although Zak said the projection is to spend $36.7 million. UAGC spent $37.7 million in FY24 on advertising.

"Digital and online paid advertising is the largest component of the UAGC marketing budget," said Zak. "Non-advertising expenses include such things as website and online resources, and external and internal communications expenses, including personnel costs for those functions."

Contribution to UA reserves

Packard also told the UA Faculty Senate in December that UAGC was on track to meet its $3 million contribution to the university's cash reserves, or days' worth of cash on hand, at the end of this fiscal year. 

“Now that we proposed a budget this year, it would bring $3 million of positive cash to the cash balance of the University of Arizona, and after the first quarter, I am happy to say that we are on track for that,” Packard said. “So, we will cut as we need to, to stay on that target throughout the year.”

In the past, UAGC's contribution to the UA's cash on hand days dramatically dropped. In fiscal 2023, UAGC contributed $47 million, but in fiscal 2024, $3.9 million.

Cash on hand has been an issue during the UA's continuing budget deficit, which is $63 million and projected to be eliminated by the end of fiscal 2025, UA President Suresh Garimella told the Arizona Board of Regents in November. 

The university is expected to have 76 days’ worth by the end of this fiscal year, but the minimum set by its oversight board, the Arizona Board of Regents, is 143 days. A day’s worth of readily available cash is generally defined as the amount needed to cover operating expenses for a day.