Walden University

The city of Minneapolis, Minnesota serves as the home of Walden University, a private online institution that operates for profit. It is possible to earn a Bachelor of Science degree, a Master of Science degree, a Master of Business Administration degree, a Master of Public Administration degree, a Master of Public Health degree, an Education Specialist degree, a Doctor of Education degree, a Doctor of Business Administration degree, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree.

Adtalem Global Education is the owner of the institution. Adtalem Global Education bought the university in August of 2021.

Bernie and Rita Turner, both of whom were educators in the state of New York, laid the groundwork in 1970 for what would become Walden University by developing a curriculum that would enable working people and educators to earn doctorate degrees. The initial sessions were held in Naples, Florida, during the summer of 1971. These were mainly geared for school administrators and took place throughout that time. Before going back to work at their different institutions to complete their dissertations, students were given the opportunity during the first sessions to develop potential dissertation themes with the assistance of their faculty partners. In 1972, Walden University had its inaugural commencement in Naples, Florida, when it awarded its first degrees. That year, 46 PhDs and 24 EdDs were handed out.

The United States federal government provides more than 75% of the funding for Walden University. This includes more than $750 million annually for graduate student loans, which is the highest amount provided to any institution in the United States. Since 2016, the United States Department of Education has implemented a process known as "heightened cash monitoring" at Walden University.

The Minnesota Office of Higher Education (MOHE) informed Walden University on April 8, 2016, that its renewal application to participate in the State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (SARA) was rejected. The reason for the rejection was that Walden University did not have an institutional federal financial composite score that was computed by the United States Department of Education (DOE). MOHE looked at the financial composite score of Walden's parent company, Laureate, which was generated based on the business's activities across the world. This score did not exceed 1.5, thus it was used in place of DOE's calculation of an institution-level score for the financial composite.