Positive evolutionary trajectory

Chula Vista's United States University, which remains on its accreditor's probation until next year, has received a positive report from a team that visited the campus in May. The for-profit university, which specializes in nursing education, had been owned by entities controlled by Michael Clifford, the Rancho Santa Fe entrepreneur who says he is getting out of the for-profit university business, as reported by the Reader on October 3.

An ownership change is considered a structural change, so the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, U.S.U.'s accreditor, sent a structural change group to visit the university. Its report reveals some financial figures previously kept secret.

Linden Educational Partners, headed by Oksana Maylsheva, invested more than $17 million in the school from 2012 through this year. The institution will lose $2 million this year, but expects to make $1.7 million next year and $3.4 million in 2016, with revenue rising to $14.3 million in 2016. Current enrollment of 412 students is higher than 367 a year ago and is expected to grow in coming years.

U.S.U. will target military personnel and international students in its marketing. "The entire level of professionalism by the board is on a positive evolutionary trajectory," says the report.