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Notice of School Closure

Effective January 11, 2008, American Health Sciences University (AHSU) has closed and ceased operations.  AHSU has elected to resign its accreditation status with the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC), effective January 12, 2008.  The best option available to students actively enrolled in ASHU and the Certified Nutritionist or the Masters Program is to continue their course of studies through what is called a “Teach-Out Agreement”.  AHSU has entered into a Teach-Out Agreement with Huntington College of Health Sciences, an accredited institution recognized by DETC.  Under this agreement Huntington will accept AHSU students into its institution in order for ASHU students to continue their education, without additional cost for which the student has already contracted.  

You are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this opportunity to continue and complete your education, at no additional cost with Huntington beyond what you already agreed to under your original ASHU enrollment agreement for completion of the CN or Masters program.

For information and questions about the transfer process, please contact the following representatives with Huntington:  Eva Schmidt and Terry Curran at empickett@msn.com, and terrycurran@comcast.net, respectively.  Leave a name and phone number and they will put you in their queue for return calls.  You may also call Huntington’s Registrar, Cheryl Freeman, at 800-290-4226, who can assist you.  

In addition, the State of Colorado encourages you to contact it for information and your student options brought about by AHSU closure and this “Teach Out” Agreement with Huntington.  You can reach Jim Parker, Director of the Division of Private Occupational Schools, Colorado Department of Higher Education at:  303-866-2723, or jim.parker@cche.state.co.us.

Transcripts:  Students wishing to obtain a copy of their transcript may contact the Division of Private Occupational Schools, Colorado Department of Higher Education, 1380 Lawrence Street, Suite 1200, Denver, Colorado 80204, (303) 866-2723, Fax: (303) 866-4237.

Albert Hidel Wrote:This shows that even accredited schools can leave their students "orphaned" when they fold.  A degree from a defunct school--that can be verified only with some difficulty if at all--is hardly any better than a milled degree (many of which are easily "verified" by the vendor).  It's good the DETC has teach-out provisions in place, but the institutional instability reflected by these sudden departures suggests that accreditation by itself is not an accurate measure of a school's current or future economic viability.

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An Update about the New AmericanHealthScienceUniversity and the CN Certified Nutritionist Community

February 20, 2008

Greetings.

First off and officially we have received hundreds of requests for information about further licensing and continuing education since our move from Denver and the misinformation about AHSU closing its doors. We have not close our doors in fact opened them wider especially for the CN Certified Nutritionist community.

AHSU will continue to administer the CN Certified Nutritionist Private License Comprehensive Examination as we have since 1985, the necessary Externship for those sitting for that examination, the annual CN Certified Private Licensing program and the annual professional continuing education program required.  

The CN Certified Nutritionist federal trade mark established in 1983 is still valid and can legally be used only by those who maintain their CN Certified Nutritionist annual licensing and continuing education requirements. The licensing examination is separate from the courses and has always been independent of state licensing and national accreditation.

My choosing to terminate AHSU's membership from the national accrediting agency resulted in the state closing our Colorado offices "because we were not nationally accredited." The irony is that when we sought national accreditation in the 1980s we were told that we couldn't get accredited unless we were licensed in Colorado! Catch 22?

We were also forced to transfer our student body to Huntington College of Health Sciences so they could complete their courses from an accredited institution as they had contracted to do. For the most part the students transfer was done smoothly. Students we now enroll will do so with the understanding that we are not presently accredited as part of the enrollment contract. We are seeking accreditation that more clearly meets our needs and that we can afford.

I plan to continue our excellent academic tradition. In our 28 some years of involvement in teaching distance education courses nationally and internationally our academic record has been unblemished never having a serious complaint filed against us at the national or state level. There are few schools that could touch that record and I am proud of that.

Our decision to resign from the DETC (Distance Education and Training Council) had more to do with questioning the requirement that all schools of every size from the giants to the very small schools maintain the same standards was the cause of our resignation.

There is just no way that smaller organizations can maintain the same standards as large organizations especially when large organizations pretty much set the standards.

Our academic programs continue to include: the 6 course, CN Certified Nutritionist Program federally trademarked since 1983; the 12 course masters level program with its focus on Nutrition Science (one of the most rigorous masters program around we are told); 3 new masters level courses and 3 new intermediate NIS (Nutritional Information Specialist) courses developed in 2007 and our CBET  (Coding, Billing and Electronic Transfer) course being updated.