NCU Not Financially Responsible Say Feds

[Yancy Derringer]

Northcentral University is among those listed by the Dept of Ed as failing their financial responsibility test. The scale is minus 1.0 to 3.0, with 1.5 needed to pass. NCU's most recent (2009-2010) reported score was 0.2 (that's not a typo, that's two-tenths!) A score below 1.0 requires posting a letter of credit.

October 12, 2011
Degree-Granting Institutions With Low Financial-Responsibility Scores in 2009-10

All private colleges that award federal student aid must participate in the Department of Education's financial-responsibility test, which is based on information from their audited financial statements. The department develops a composite score on a scale of 3.0 to minus-1.0, based on financial ratios that measure factors such as net worth, operating losses, and the relationship of assets to liabilities. Institutions with scores of 1.5 to 3 pass.

In addition to being subject to extra monitoring, those with scores below 1.0 are required to post a letter of credit with the department equal to 10 percent of the federal student aid that goes to their students annually.

The figures shown are for the 180 institutions that received a score below 1.5, as well as the scores that they received in past years, when available. The figures below are for institutional fiscal years ending between July 1 and June 30, and institutions without a score provided for the selected time periods are indicated as "n/a."
. . .
Northcentral University Prescott Valley Ariz. Private for-profit 0.2
. . .

Also appearing on the list is Trident University International, the former TUI/Tuoro.

Some relatively big RA names also on the list are Pace University, Illinois Institute of Technology, the Art Institute of Pittsburgh (part of the EDMC family that includes Argosy and South), and the Chicago School of Professional Psychology ("the nation's oldest and largest graduate school devoted exclusively to psychology and related behavioral science").

[Winston Smith]

Northcentral University is among those listed by the Dept of Ed as failing their financial responsibility test. The scale is minus 1.0 to 3.0, with 1.5 needed to pass. NCU's most recent (2009-2010) reported score was 0.2 (that's not a typo, that's two-tenths!) A score below 1.0 requires posting a letter of credit.

The most recent reported score for Northcentral (2010-2011) is zero. Yup, they actually went backwards from the miserable 0.2 they posted earlier.

What a dump. How 'bout it, do you feel lucky? Assuming you don't get screwed over and manage to get that far, will they even be in business when it's time for you to graduate?

Some other losers on that list include Trident University International (minus 1.0) and notorious Donald Hecht's Newbridge College (1.3).

[Yancy Derringer]

Northcentral University is still a risky bet, say the feds.  The latest (updated 4/2/2015) list of schools on so-called "heightened cash monitoring" includes NCU (again), as well as some of the other usual suspects, such as Trident.

Northcentral University also made the 2012-2013 "not financially responsible" list (again), with another miserable 0.2 score.  As noted previously, anything under 1.0 is considered "not financially responsible."

Northcentral sucks on many levels, but why would you trust your education to a place with a risk of failure so extreme that even the feds can see it?  Considering that the accreditation agencies walk hand in glove with the feds, an agency of the US government telling you that a school is not financially responsible would seem to be the fundamental IQ test for college success.