Argosy University Folds; APA Pledges to Support Doctoral Students Caught Up

Officials at the American Psychological Association said they will do what they can to support students at the 10 doctoral programs at Argosy campuses across the country following the closing of that university in March.

“With the mandated closing of Argosy University, the American Psychological Association has pledged to do everything it can as an accreditor to facilitate the transition of psychology doctoral students into other APA-accredited programs at the institutions standing ready to receive them,” noted the press release by K. Mills on March 10.

Sources stated that Argosy has been struggling financially for some time. On February 27 the Washington Post reported, “Court documents attribute the missing money to the financial unraveling of Dream Center Education Holdings, a nonprofit group that acquired Argosy, South University and Art Institute campuses in 2016. The Los Angeles company struggled to turn the for-profit colleges into thriving nonprofit schools, and spent months trying to close and sell campuses to meet financial obligations. When it fell short, Dream Center in January entered into receivership, a form of bankruptcy.”

The court-appointed receiver sent a letter to the Education Department showing cash flow where Argosy used $4.2 million of financial aid funds to pay staff, $2.1 million to pay vendors, and $1.7 to fund operations, according to the Post.

Dr. Margaret Smith, now with the Chicago School at Xavier, said, “I previously taught for 10 years at the Illinois School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University Chicago and have been concerned since students reached out to me when the receivership occurred. It’s been a highly traumatic experience for the doctoral students enrolled in the program, as well as faculty who’ve been there prior to it ever being Argosy, when they were a free standing program.”

According to the APA press release, “The American Psychological Association has been working with programs, institutions and the Department of Education in an effort to ensure that psychology doctoral students affected by Argosy’s alleged misdeeds are able to complete their degrees,” said APA President Rosie Phillips Davis, PhD. “Our No. 1 concern is that these students and their teachers are not further penalized by the rapid demise and closing of the Argosy campuses. Some of these students were months away from graduating and entering the workforce to provide mental health care and other vital contributions to society. The top priority for the Department of Education and institutions around the country must be to ensure that the futures and the investments by these students are not jeopardized.”

Responding to calls and emails from affected students, faculty, and other concerned parties. APA established a Psychology Student Action Center (psychstudentactioncenter@a pa.org and 202-336-6014) to direct members of the Argosy community to appropriate resources and created a webpage with referral information and FAQs.

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