Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education

The Board licenses and regulates 195 private postsecondary educational institutions operating vocational and degree programs. These private universities, colleges, career colleges, and vocational schools annually serve approximately 321,000 students. Formerly, students were only Arizona residents, however, with e-learning, Arizona schools now provide training to students across the nation and around the world. The Board acts on license applications, determines compliance, investigates complaints and violations, takes disciplinary action, confiscates and retains student educational records from closed institutions, provides students with access to their educational records, and administers the Student Tuition Recovery Fund, which provides financial restitution to students injured by private postsecondary institutional closures.

• To ensure legal operations, ethical practices and quality education in the private postsecondary sector.
   
• To ensure public access to reliable and valuable alternative higher educational opportunities and vocational training options.
   
• To assist those injured by private postsecondary educational institutions.
   
• To collect or secure monies sufficient to provide for student financial restitution.
   
• To provide equitable financial restitution, in a timely manner, to students financially injured as a result of a school closure.

To protect the health, safety and welfare of Arizona citizens by regulating private postsecondary educational institutions and providing services to their students.