06-14-2026, 08:12 AM
(This post was last modified: 06-28-2026, 09:54 AM by Jonathan Whatley.)
At their meeting of June 1 2026 (posted to YouTube June 4; discussion of these items starts at 1:12:32), the Indiana Board for Proprietary Education, by unanimous votes and with no contention, approved applications from the American College of Education (ACE) to offer three new fully online degree programs. Approval still is needed from ACE’s institutional accreditor. The programs are:
ACE has not increased tuition since 2016 – “and that’s the continued plan as long as it’s possible,” an ACE administrator told the Board. Currently its tuition at the doctoral and EdS level is $306 per credit plus a $59 per credit technology and library fee = $365 per semester credit. Additionally, 6 courses are dissertation courses and each adds a $200 dissertation fee = $1200 total in dissertation fees. There’s a $150 degree conferral fee. There’s a $100 application fee (but search and you may find a way to get that one waived or credited).
Total program cost, assuming no transfers or waivers, for an existing EdD is $24 810, for an EdS is $12 660. We can derive that a 55-credit DBA around $20 795 is possible.
ACE does not participate in Title IV US federal student aid or student loans and does not intend to. ACE’s position is that they can keep tuition low by avoiding the costs other schools incur to comply with Title IV regulations. Students find the money from other sources including employer reimbursement and out of pocket.
ACE is institutionally accredited with legacy “Regional Accreditation” from the Higher Learning Commission. ACE does not currently hold a specialized accreditation in business. ACE offers fully online programs especially in education but increasingly in business, nursing, and health fields. It’s a privately-held for-profit, but its relatively low-price business model and reputation for reasonable coursework and efficient dissertation mechanics have helped it avoid much of the criticism of for-profit higher-ed in general.
- Doctor of Business Administration (DBA): 55 semester credits, no concentration or Focus of Study, but three courses are electives.
- Doctor of Education in STEM Education: 66 semester credits, equal to existing ACE EdDs. In existing ACE EdDs students take six courses either as a Field of Study in a supporting subject such as Higher Education or Public Health Education, or a General Track using a mix of electives, or those six courses are fulfilled by internal transfer for ACE alumni or waived in a de facto external transfer for eligible Completion Pathway students.
- Education Specialist in STEM Education: 34 semester credits, equal to existing ACE EdSes.
ACE has not increased tuition since 2016 – “and that’s the continued plan as long as it’s possible,” an ACE administrator told the Board. Currently its tuition at the doctoral and EdS level is $306 per credit plus a $59 per credit technology and library fee = $365 per semester credit. Additionally, 6 courses are dissertation courses and each adds a $200 dissertation fee = $1200 total in dissertation fees. There’s a $150 degree conferral fee. There’s a $100 application fee (but search and you may find a way to get that one waived or credited).
Total program cost, assuming no transfers or waivers, for an existing EdD is $24 810, for an EdS is $12 660. We can derive that a 55-credit DBA around $20 795 is possible.
ACE does not participate in Title IV US federal student aid or student loans and does not intend to. ACE’s position is that they can keep tuition low by avoiding the costs other schools incur to comply with Title IV regulations. Students find the money from other sources including employer reimbursement and out of pocket.
ACE is institutionally accredited with legacy “Regional Accreditation” from the Higher Learning Commission. ACE does not currently hold a specialized accreditation in business. ACE offers fully online programs especially in education but increasingly in business, nursing, and health fields. It’s a privately-held for-profit, but its relatively low-price business model and reputation for reasonable coursework and efficient dissertation mechanics have helped it avoid much of the criticism of for-profit higher-ed in general.
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