Rasmussen College

Rasmussen College
Motto	Doctrina. Concretio. Successio.
Established	1900
Type	Private, for-profit
President	Kristi A. Waite
Students	15000
Location	Multiple campuses, Minnesota, North Dakota, Florida, Wisconsin and Illinois, USA
Colors	Green and gold
Mascot	"Rassy Rasmussen" the moose
Affiliations	Rasmussen College, Inc.
Website	Rasmussen College

Rasmussen College is a 110-year old for-profit private college offering Bachelor's and Associate's degrees at multiple campuses in Minnesota including Blaine, Brooklyn Park, Eagan, Bloomington, Lake Elmo, Mankato, Moorhead and St. Cloud; four campuses in Illinois, including Rockford, Aurora, Mokena/Tinley Park and Romeoville; two campuses in North Dakota, including Bismarck and Fargo; five campuses in Florida, including Fort Myers, Ocala, Tampa/Brandon and Pasco; three campuses in Wisconsin, including Green Bay, Wausau and Appleton; and an Online Division.

Rasmussen College was founded in 1900 by Walter Rasmussen.

Rasmussen College offers on campus and online classes and awards Bachelor of Science (BS), Associate of Applied Science (AAS), and Associate of Science (AS) degrees. Students may earn diplomas and certificates in a variety of career-focused areas as well.

History

Green Bay, Wisconsin campus

The school was founded in 1900 as the Rasmussen School of Business by Walter Rasmussen in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Rasmussen believed that the need for skilled professionals by the local business community was not being met. This belief led to the development of the school’s vision, which was:

1. To prepare young men and women for responsible positions in all lines of business.
2. To help pupils win their way to a noble manhood or womanhood.

The first classes were held in September 1900. With the advent of women's suffrage in 1920 through the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, the school’s female enrollment numbers began to increase. In 1945 Walter Rasmussen retired and sold his interest in the school to Walter Nemitz. Nemitz instituted a number of curriculum changes, requiring that students learn how to use calculating machines, adding machines, and duplicating machines. Additionally, he mandated that the schools' facilities be updated, which included installing fluorescent lighting in all buildings and purchasing 100 typewriters for students to use.

By 1950, the school had graduated over 22,400 students. In 1961, Wilbur Nemitz and Robert Nemitz, both sons of Walter Nemitz, took ownership of the school. In 1974, Rasmussen College acquired the St. Cloud Business College, and in 1979 it acquired the Northern Technical School of Business. In 1983, the school opened a campus in Mankato, MN. The opening of this campus would mark a shift from acquiring schools as a means of expansion, to growth through internal expansion. Additional campuses were subsequently opened in Eagan, MN (1989), St. Cloud, MN (1997), Rockford, IL (2006), Lake Elmo, MN, Eden Prairie, MN and Green Bay, WI (all 2007), Mokena-Tinley Park,Illinois (2010)and Wausau, Wisconsin (2010). The school also opened an online campus in 2002. Additionally, the school acquired Aakers College in North Dakota and Webster College in Florida and begin to merge the schools into Rasmussen's operations. Presently, the school has over 100,000 graduates. The North Dakota campus graduated its first 4-year degree students in December 2007.

In April 2011, Rasmussen College's Eden Prairie Campus will move to a 300,000-square-foot (28,000 m²) location in Bloomington to avoid disruptions caused by the $125 million Hwy. 169/I-494 interchange project.

In the summer of 2010, Rasmussen College and other for-profit colleges came under scrutiny because they "may not provide adequate training for specific jobs, and high tuition costs may put students into debt for years."

Academics

The school offers more than 60 programs and partners with Deltak Edu to provide Master's level programs.

The school organizes programs into six schools, including: Allied Health, Business, Justice Studies, Education, Nursing, and Technology and Design. In October 2010, Rasmussen College announced a partnership with Market Motive Inc and announced programs in Internet marketing.

Accreditation

Rasmussen College has been awarded Regional Accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), a Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA).

External links

• Rasmussen College - Official Site