In Response to the U.S. Secretary of Education's National Call to Action

Our Mission and Commitment

For nearly sixty years, ECPI University has been intentionally designed from the ground up to serve working adults, active-duty military personnel, veterans, and other career-focused students seeking a direct pathway to meaningful careers.

Our educational model reflects that purpose. ECPI's year-round academic calendar, structured pathways to completion, highly engaged instructional model, applied learning, student support services, employer relationships, and concentration in workforce-focused programs have developed around the needs of the students we serve.

ECPI is a teaching-focused university. Our mission is centered on providing rigorous, applied education that develops the knowledge, skills, and professional competencies relevant to the careers our students pursue.

In response to the U.S. Secretary of Education's National Call to Action, ECPI University affirms the following longstanding institutional commitments and describes how they are reflected in our current policies, practices, and educational model.

Our Commitment to Transparency

ECPI University believes transparency is fundamental to informed student choice, accountability, and public confidence in higher education.

Students and families deserve accurate and understandable information regarding admissions, academic requirements, educational costs, financial aid, program expectations, and the educational opportunities available to them.

We also believe meaningful transparency should enable students to make informed, comparative decisions.

Simply publishing information institution by institution is of limited value if definitions, methodologies, and measures differ. Meaningful comparison requires accurate information reported using common definitions and consistent methodologies.

ECPI therefore supports nationally consistent, program-level transparency across all institutions participating in the federal student aid programs. Students should have access to comparable information regarding educational cost, time to completion, borrowing, completion, employment outcomes, and graduate earnings using reliable and consistently applied measures.

The emerging federal STATS framework represents an important step toward that objective. As STATS is implemented and program-level comparative information becomes available, we believe it should receive substantial consumer focus and visibility so students and families can readily find, understand, and use the information when evaluating educational options. The value of this information will come not simply from its publication, but from allowing prospective students to compare similar programs across institutions using consistent federal data. We look forward to the increased availability and consumer-focused publication of this information anticipated in the coming year.

Transparency should be accurate, meaningful, comparable, and applied consistently across higher education.

Our Commitment to Accountability

ECPI University has long embraced accountability as an essential responsibility of institutions participating in the federal student aid programs.

Students, families, employers, taxpayers, regulators, and accreditors have a legitimate interest in whether institutions are fulfilling their educational missions and providing programs that offer students reasonable educational and economic value.

That principle has long influenced ECPI University's academic program decisions. The University has historically concentrated its program offerings in career fields where we believe education can provide a meaningful return on the investment of time and resources made by the students and communities we serve. Workforce demand, career opportunity, program cost, and the needs of the markets in which we operate are important considerations in evaluating our academic offerings.

We therefore support the fundamental "do no harm" principle reflected in the new federal higher education accountability requirements: students should not be encouraged to make significant investments in educational programs that do not provide a reasonable opportunity for economic benefit.

We also recognize the limitations inherent in any standardized federal measure. Individual students enter higher education with different financial circumstances, career objectives, geographic considerations, and reasons for pursuing education. No single earnings measure can fully determine the value that a particular educational opportunity may provide to every individual student.

Nevertheless, Congress has established a common outcome-based standard for determining whether programs remain eligible for federal student aid. ECPI University accepts that accountability framework and will evaluate and, where necessary, adjust its academic offerings to meet applicable requirements while continuing to focus on programs that provide meaningful educational and career value to the students and communities we serve.

We support accountability based upon reliable information, consistently applied standards, and meaningful measures of educational quality, student success, and workforce relevance. We particularly support program-level measures that allow students to compare similar educational opportunities across institutions.

The STATS framework provides an important opportunity to complement these accountability requirements with consistent, program-level information across institutions and sectors. Making that information highly visible and accessible to consumers will allow students to make better-informed comparisons among programs before they enroll.

Accountability and transparency are most useful when they provide students with information they can actually use to evaluate their educational choices.

Our Commitment to Educational Value and Affordability

Educational value involves more than tuition.

Students invest money, time, effort, and significant personal commitment in earning a college degree. For working adults, military service members, veterans, and students supporting families, time can be among their most valuable resources.

ECPI University's educational model is intentionally structured to respect both the financial investment and the investment of time students make in their education.

Our programs provide defined pathways to completion. Students progress through structured curricula on a year-round academic calendar, with instruction offered approximately 50 weeks each year. This structure provides students with a clear expected sequence and timeframe for completing their programs, subject to individual academic progress and applicable program requirements.

The year-round calendar allows students to maintain academic momentum rather than experiencing the extended interruptions associated with traditional academic calendars. Students who remain on schedule can complete their academic programs on an accelerated timetable without reducing established academic requirements.

For ECPI, time to completion is an important component of educational value. Efficient completion can reduce the period during which students must balance college with employment, military service, family responsibilities, and other demands while providing an earlier opportunity to pursue the career for which they have prepared.

An Educational Model Built Around the Students We Serve

ECPI University was not adapted from a traditional residential university model. It was intentionally designed around working adults, active-duty military personnel, veterans, and career-focused students.

That distinction is reflected throughout the institution.

Structure and Momentum

ECPI students attend throughout the year. Academic programs follow structured curricula and defined course sequences intended to maintain continuous progress toward completion.

For students balancing significant responsibilities outside the classroom, maintaining momentum matters. Our educational structure is intended to minimize unnecessary interruptions and provide a clear path through the academic program.

Exceptional Student Engagement

ECPI's instructional model emphasizes sustained interaction between students and faculty.

Extended instructional periods—including five-hour class periods in many courses—provide time not simply for lecture, but for instruction, discussion, demonstration, laboratory work, practice, collaborative problem-solving, and immediate faculty feedback.

This highly engaged model is particularly well suited to applied education. Students do not simply study concepts; throughout their programs they have opportunities to apply knowledge through laboratories, simulations, clinical experiences, projects, and other practical learning activities appropriate to their fields.

Military and veteran students have frequently told us that this applied, immersive approach is familiar to the way they learned during military service: learn the material, practice it, demonstrate it, and apply it.

Career-Focused Programs

ECPI concentrates its academic offerings in fields connected to workforce needs, including nursing and health sciences, computer and information science, cybersecurity, engineering technology, business, and other career-focused disciplines.

Curriculum, facilities, instructional technology, faculty expertise, and employer relationships are aligned around the requirements of these fields.

Our purpose is straightforward: provide rigorous, applied education relevant to the professional fields our students have chosen to pursue.

Serving Military Members and Veterans

Serving America's military community has long been an important part of ECPI University's identity.

Military service members and veterans represent a significant portion of the students we serve, and our educational structure—year-round instruction, defined academic pathways, applied learning, and career-focused programs—is particularly compatible with students transitioning between military service, education, and civilian employment.

ECPI also participates in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' VetSuccess on Campus program, providing students access to dedicated on-site VA support for navigating veterans' educational and related benefits and services.

The University's services to military-affiliated students have also been repeatedly recognized through Military Times' independent Best for Vets: Colleges assessment, including recognition among career and technical institutions.

Responding to the National Call to Action

1. Transparent, Merit-Based Admissions

ECPI University maintains published admissions requirements designed around academic readiness and the requirements of individual programs.

The University's admissions process considers factors including academic potential, readiness, personal motivation, and educational goals. Admission requirements, program prerequisites, and applicable academic standards are published through the University Catalog and related institutional materials.

ECPI maintains nondiscrimination policies and applies its admissions requirements consistent with applicable law.

Our admissions model reflects our mission: provide qualified and motivated students access to career-focused education and a structured educational environment in which they have the opportunity to progress toward completion.

2. Free Inquiry, Respectful Learning, and Campus Operations

ECPI University supports academic freedom, respectful discussion, and the exchange of ideas within a professional educational environment.

The University's existing student conduct standards address disruptive conduct, intimidation, harassment, threats, and other behavior that interferes with teaching, learning, or University operations.

Our campuses are focused environments in which students come to learn, develop professional skills, and prepare for careers. Professionalism, respect for others, and the ability to work constructively with people of different backgrounds and perspectives are expectations of both the educational environment and the workplaces our graduates enter.

3. Intellectual Pluralism, Curriculum, and Faculty

ECPI's curriculum is driven principally by academic requirements, professional standards, employer needs, and the competencies appropriate to the fields we teach.

Faculty are selected based upon academic qualifications, relevant professional experience, teaching capability, and the requirements of the disciplines and programs in which they teach.

ECPI supports academic freedom and the consideration of relevant perspectives within its academic programs. Our focus remains on maintaining academically sound, professionally relevant instruction that prepares students to think critically, solve problems, communicate effectively, and demonstrate the competencies expected within their chosen fields.

As a teaching- and workforce-focused university rather than a research-intensive institution, ECPI's principal academic enterprise is instruction and student learning.

4. Affordability, Pricing Transparency, and Measurable Student Outcomes

ECPI practices cost discipline in its operations and supports clear information about educational costs and financial aid so students can understand the financial commitment associated with their programs. 

We also believe affordability should be evaluated in the context of total educational value. Tuition is important, but so are time to completion, borrowing, completion, workforce relevance, and outcomes that position graduates to repay student loans and enter or advance in their careers. 

ECPI's year-round calendar and structured program pathways provide students the opportunity to complete their education on an accelerated timetable while maintaining established academic requirements.

We support accurate, consistent, program-level reporting of costs and student outcomes across all institutions so prospective students can make informed, comparative decisions about educational value. The STATS framework offers an important mechanism for making that comparison increasingly practical by providing common program-level information across institutions.

5. Academic Rigor, Assessment, and Artificial Intelligence

ECPI University maintains established academic standards, grading requirements, academic progress standards, academic integrity policies, and program-specific requirements designed to ensure that students demonstrate required knowledge and competencies.

Applied assessment is central to many ECPI programs. Depending upon the discipline, students may demonstrate learning through laboratory work, clinical experiences, simulations, projects, technical exercises, examinations, and other forms of assessment appropriate to their programs.

Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing both education and the professions for which ECPI prepares students. The University has established a dedicated AI team working with faculty and academic leadership to develop AI-assisted learning experiences across a growing portion of the curriculum.

Our approach recognizes that graduates increasingly need to understand how emerging technologies are used within their professions. At the same time, AI-assisted instruction must operate within established expectations for academic integrity, faculty oversight, and demonstrated student learning.

ECPI's objective is not to use artificial intelligence as a substitute for learning, but to incorporate emerging technology into an applied educational environment while maintaining rigorous expectations for what students know and can do.

6. Institutional Integrity and Security

ECPI University is primarily a teaching and workforce-focused institution rather than a research-intensive university. Accordingly, many of the research-security issues addressed in the Secretary's National Call to Action do not apply to ECPI in the same manner that they apply to institutions conducting significant federally sponsored research.

ECPI nevertheless maintains policies and practices intended to protect institutional information, technology systems, academic operations, and the integrity of the educational environment and complies with applicable requirements governing its operations.

7. Serving America's Students and Workforce

Preparing people for America's workforce has been central to ECPI University's mission for nearly sixty years. We prioritize students nationwide and the workforce needs of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and the country as a whole. 

Our programs are concentrated in fields where skilled professionals contribute directly to healthcare, technology, cybersecurity, engineering, business, and other important sectors of the economy.

Our commitment to military service members and veterans is part of that same mission. These students bring significant experience, discipline, and technical capabilities to the classroom and subsequently to the civilian workforce.

ECPI's contribution is therefore grounded in what the University has always done: provide working adults, military service members, veterans, and career-focused students with structured, applied educational opportunities connected to professional fields and workforce needs.

Continuing Commitment

ECPI University welcomes meaningful accountability and transparency across American higher education.

We support the continued implementation of the STATS framework and other efforts that provide accurate, consistent, program-level information allowing students and families to make informed, comparative decisions about cost, time to completion, borrowing, completion, earnings, and educational value.

We remain committed to the educational model that has defined ECPI for nearly sixty years: structured pathways to completion, year-round education, highly engaged and applied instruction, workforce-focused programs, and extensive support for working adults, military service members, and veterans.

These are not new commitments adopted in response to a federal request. They reflect the longstanding mission, structure, and practices of ECPI University.