Ashford University

I chose to go to Ashford 1. because the school where I live does not offer the program I want and 2. Because I have a lot of friends who are still active duty or who are out and using their GI Bill. The idea of a 5 week class was appealing to me and the advisors were GREAT at giving information and making the enrollment process easy for me. First of all, after enrolling, I had to redo my VONAPP form twice due to FA losing my stuff or not understanding it. When I tried to contact them, it took days, until finally I called my admissions advisor. Which is also when I asked him when they are going to send my verification in to the VA so I can get payed. The day I enrolled, they told me they would send it in after the 3rd week. As the first 3 weeks was like a trial period...whatever. THEN, they told me they don't send anything to the VA until after the class is complete. So that's 5 weeks, then the 3 weeks it takes the VA to process it. I'm sorry but waiting 8 weeks to recieve the online BAH rate is just rediculous. And the fact that they lied to me just pisses me off. They are money hungry and yes, of course they "work with military." They love taking our money. Another note, the first class, PSY 202 is honestly a joke. I feel like higher education is great anyway you chose to do it. However, I am worth more. I know I deserve a great education, not just a piece of paper. And for all you Vets, you deserve more as well. A lot of state colleges have distance learning programs and they are well worth it. I think sometimes with active duty and veterans we get ahead of ourselves. We take the route commonly traveled by our military peers, but I really think we owe it to ourselves to do the research and go somewhere worth it.

I like the school and all and I also like that if I have questions or concerns help is just a push of a button away. I like the fact that we have books online because as soon as you highlight it automatically makes a study guide. I do not like the fact that the books are not mailed out to the students for those who attend online. I feel as though I can study more and get the most out of my education with books I have in front of me instead of online

To begin Ashford on the service has a very competitive and very good selection of higher education programs. That being said for my experience with them this is where it ends and begins to be a nightmare from the beginning. When you are considering attending here and request information they will call you up to 3 times a day and email you at least once a day until you attend, even if you say your not interested then the emails will still continue but not the phone calls. The phone calls come at all times of the morning, afternoon, and evening with no limits on how many times they try. Well I made the decision to go here, it took them months to transfer credits from the only other school I attended. They incorrectly processed my financial aid so I did not receive the proper amount resulting in me paying out of pocket immediately in order to continue my education. Their policy is that any school that made any entry into the clearinghouse for you regardless if you attended a class there ultimately or not they request records from. If they do not receive those records then you have to fill out a form and you are put on Academic Probation for your first few classes because of that, and this rule doesn't care if you transferred in 32 credits with a 4.0 GPA or not. My admissions counselor was a nightmare, she was very pushy, called and emailed me to the point of harassment and then could not answer the questions I had once they were asked of her. Getting in contact with your other counselors takes an act of a higher power or calling more times than the average person who works and attends school as. In my case when I did get in contact with my Academic Adviser she was about as rude as they come and a complete turn off from this school. When taking a bachelors degree you only do one class at a time which is a good thing and one of the few this place had. My instructor was a good instructor and graded and conducted her class with professionalism and the highest in quality. My biggest gripe with this school is that as one person put it they are "snakes in the grass". Whenever you have an issue with a class, instructor, academic policy, financial aid issue, etc. I can tell you very simply do not expect any response or contact from the school. When I decided to go back to my old school I never once received a courtesy call from any of my advisers to try to work out the issue I was having. Nope none of that they simply sent me an email and told me I owed them additional monies and it is expected to be paid in full before transcripts are released. As I so "politely" informed them that I already paid thousands out of pocket for their screw up and that it would be over my dead body before I paid them another dollar and that if they had professionals running the place there would be no need to have this conversation right now.......they have left me alone since then. So as I said please if your wanting to attend this school do your homework. While my experience with liars, incompetent advisers, bad policies, and lack of communication may not be your experience just please use caution and NEVER let this school handle anything of yours. Another word of caution and a BIG lie that students are fed is that you are unless you opt out of it is everyones refund is on a 30/70 rule. Instead of getting your refund entirely when it is due to you, they instead will give you roughly 30% of it when you are due for it and then the other 70% is put away for you in case you "need" something like a textbook for class. Which actually is a lie as your financial aid pays for both the class fee and the textbook needed. In reality if you read the fine print of the fine print of your enrollment application it states clearly that if you elected to let the school "manage" your funds then the interest that accrues on those monies they "manage" is kept by the school and not passed to the student. When I questioned both my financial aid and enrollment advisers about this I was lied too and told that was not true and I quoted them verbatim from the form itself as it was right in front of me. They told me that they would have to get back to me and then promptly hung up.

I am one class away from finishing my BA in Healthcare Administration from Ashford. I have had a wonderful experience! I attended a traditional school first and just struggled. When choosing Ashford, I was actually drawn to the fact that everyone was so interested in helping me with my success! My advisor responds to my emails almost immediately. She has been wonderful throughout my coursework. I have been so pleased that I decided to pursue my MBA there. It is an MBA with a concentration in Healthcare Administration. I worked full time throughout my coursework and am a mom of a 3 year old! Ashford made it possible for me to complete my degree and even go on to graduate school! I would recommend it to anyone!

I ENJOYED MY EXPERIENCE THOROUGHLY. MY INSTRUCTORS WERE GREAT AS WELL AS MY ADVISORS. I RECEIVED MY FINANCIAL AID ON TIME. ALL OF MY CREDITS WERE TRANSFERRED FROM PREVIOUS COLLEGES. I ADMIT I WAS VERY SKEPTICAL AT FIRST BUT I'M GLAD I CHOSE ASHFORD AND TRUST ME I RESEARCHED ALOT OF OTHER ONLINE SCHOOLS, THIS WAS THE PERFECT MATCH FOR ME. MY LAST DAY WILL BE MAY 28, 2012. I WILL TRULY MISS THE VIRTUAL CLASSROOM EXPERIENCE AND THE PEOPLE I MET ALONG THE WAY. BLESSINGS TO U ALL!!!

I have been with ashford for about five months now i have to say so far i have not ran into any of these issues and I'm currently a soldier so the military pays for my courses. My question to everyone on here is have anyone graduted with a BA in healthcare administration and if so was it hard actually finding a job with your degree from ashford because i'm getting out the military next year and my plans are to go into the healthcare field.

Let me say, I've gotten a AA and a BA online and it was great for my schedule, but this school is the pits and I'm in the Master's Program. You don't feel as if you've learned anything at the end of a class, and starting from the Academic Advisor to the Financial Aid Department their all in lack on knowledge. Trust me keep looking and find another online unversity to attend, but this is not it if you truly want to learn about your field of study. The Financial Aid Department SUCKS! you would think it's their own personal money their sending you in the mail, they just recently signed up for direct deposit and if you have a balance they can't explain why you have one. And word to the wise if you fill out your Petition for Graduation and not pay the fee up front it will end up as a balance under your finances in the Student Portal, but they won't tell you that. I instructors can be extremely rude at times, not all of them but you will have a few that has their head up their butts and act as though you're an idiot and should automatically know the answer if you're in the Master's Program. Then you have those instructors that only care about APA Format and not the actually content of your work. I can't find enough words to insult this school again I say............DON'T DO IT.....and if you do.....DON'T DO IT AT THIS UNIVERSITY!!!! Try AIU!!!!

Reading the prior post,I was getting a little upset and then it turned to what is really going on, I will say this and get this part out the way, their financial aid dept / and or financial advisor don't know anything and because they don't know anything they have a ill fated attitude. I had to ask the guy did he have a problem with? Then is whole attitude changed. They need better trained advisors. OK, with that said ASU is a great skill,and one dummy said he didn't do know work and finished,well we all no that a tale. You just heard a young lady say she had to do a lot of research papers. By doing the research paper you should be soaking up the info your writing about.The instructors engage in the proper manner, and far as the posts go that how you participate with the class, and when you post it needs to be clear you had nothing to do with plagiarism. The teacher does talk and within the class room and out,I have Ashford to be challenging and a good school. To the one guy who said you got done with cheating your way thru, one I don't know how and two it's very hard to do and your cheating yourself, when you get that new job and is told to do something you wont have a clue their taking about, first if you can make it through the interview, with out someone you know, I can't see you making in through. You have to really want this and travel time is an issue and you really want it then stop complaining and do it already or maybe this isn't the place for you.

I attempted to do a course online through Ashford University. It was VERY confusing regarding how I actually got credits, the reading of other's work was apparently how I was supposed to learn and obtain points and grades. I attempted one class and failed as I really didn't get the hang of what was expected of me. I attempted several times to email the lecturer, but the responses were generic and not at all helpful. I recvd a collections letter in the mail this week for a bill of $950!!! I have recvd no bill in the mail or anywhere else for that matter... FOR ONE CLASS!!!! This is extortion!!!!! Ashbury Uni, you can shove this money right where it hurts!!

I had excellent support from advisors, financial aid advisors and most instructors. This program is not for the people who are not self motivated. You have two assignments each week. A discussion on Thursday and paper on Monday. If you pace yourself for these you should be fine. The cost was reasonable as well. I do not know if the people who had problems were of the age group that needs constant encouragement and handholding but it was not that difficult to get through. I have heard the MBA is extremely difficult.

If you are a veteran beware of AShford University. They lure you in claiming to be veteran friendly and they are anything but that. I enrolled in the college and found them double billing and charging for things that every other college charges for within the tuition. They talk to if you lack any intelligence and lie openly about what services and discounts they provide for disabled veterans. My VA rep and me spoke with them on the phone about the discounts and services they would be able to provide for me since I wasn't able to use voc rehab since I was 100% diabled, they all but guaranteed me a discount that never showed up in writing and when I didn't recieve it and became ill and had to dis-enroll from the school they began sending these outrageous bills and threatening to ruin my credit. I am suffering for enrolling in this school and I warn in an Veteran beware of Ashford university there are all sorts if's ands to get their discounts.

Overall, I enjoyed my experience and it feels good to be 2 weeks away from being done. I'm taking my last class with Ashford and I have to say it was super easy! I didn't learn anything yet I have straight A's. After I figured out the system I realized that I don't even need the book to pass the class. For the last couple of classes I haven't even used the books required. All the questions are common sense. I just write my opinion an I get full credit. And for the essays 8-12 page essays, I just quickly write something up and I don't even go back and double check for grammar or spelling errors and I still get full credit. I'm not complaining because I"m getting my degree and it's regionally accredited. I didn't learn anything but in reality you forget everything you learn in school anyway because the real world is always different then what's written in textbooks. I do appreciate some classes that were fun & EASY. The only class I feel learned something was probably Critical Thinking. I do have to say the only bad experience I've had with Ashford is with their financial dept. They do take your money if you're not careful. I've declined loans and they "forget" or somehow "the cancelation" form hasn't been processed for some "odd" reason. They always apologize and are oblivious as to why the loan didn't get "canceled" I'm still fixing some loan issues that are showing up on my FedLoan but I had sent cancellation notices for to Ashford. Getting a hold of the Financial advisors is not easy. They always have to call you back. I admit they always do call back and they are helpful, but it's frustrating to keep having to call them to make sure my paperwork is being processed. Financially, they are oblivious MOST of the time and just apologize for their financial errors or unprocessed work and for "inconvenience". I don't need another apology I just need it to get taken care of. In my experience, what makes it difficult is that they are always changing financial advisors so every time I call it's a different person and I have to explain the whole thing all over about the paperwork that has still not been processed in MONTHS. When it comes to the classes being paid they are on top of it really quickly, but when it comes to loan cancellations... lets just say today is January and I'm still calling about loan cancellation forms I sent out in NOVEMBER.

Ashford is charging fees that other universities include in their tuition @ the same cost and in my cases lower cost. Ashford Finance Dept is unprofessional and "lacking knowledge". Their goal is to enroll you and take your money. If you need books - oh well!!!! That's what the huge technical fees is for e-courses which I had one class and the remaining classes required books that you had to pay for yourself. You are paying for champange and getting tap water. There are many better colleges out there!!!

I'm very impressed with the what Ashford University provides. I needed a program that was flexible enough for my schedule and still a decent value. I found it at Ashford. I also like that it is a traditional university in the sense that it has an almost 100 year history in Iowa, great sports teams...GO SAINTS!, and a respect in the mid-west.

I decided to take on line classes to finish my BA after completing my AA at a community college. It was winter, I was unemployed, and I had a 7 month old. It was an excellent decision! I warn anyone who is looking for financial aid checks or someone to hold your hand that this is not the school for you. If you are a self starter, someone who isn't afraid to look things up, or someone who enjoys learning on your own, this is a great school. The curriculum is pretty cut and dried - every week is the same, the expectations are set out for you and if you do not succeed, you have only yourself to blame. I have 6 classes left to complete my B.A. and I am so happy I made this decision.

Some reviews list a degree from Ashford as being a joke: My employer gives incentive raises for having a college education from an accredited institution. They could care less which one, they just want to see the transcript from an accredited school. My student advisor calls me every month to see how my classes are going. I have had one problem with an instructor at Ashford which was correctly immediately by the staff. I received several apologies for the mishap. I have completed a year with Ashford and plan on another 3 wonderful years in search of my bachelors. There is no one perfect school. They all have bad reviews posted. The school will give you what you put in it. Period.

Well when I first was getting information on Asford a couple years ago, the Academic Advisor was really rude. I had told him that I wanted to start in the Fall of 2008, but instead he went ahead and enrolled me to start my first class a couple weeks after I talked to him and he would not withdraw me from the class. That was a big turn off from the beginning. A couple months later another advisor called and asked why I was withdrawn and let her know the situation. She apologized emensly and was super nice and so I thought I would give the University another try. My new Academic Advisor was wonderful and always checked in on me to see how I was doing. Since then I have had multiple Academic and Financial Advisors. When I had a question for my current Financial Advisor, I would not recieve an emails back. With the instructors, it would take a couple days before getting a response from them. I don't feel like I have really learned anything with all the research papers that have to be accomplished. I am a senior and have a paper done every week (3-5 pages in week 1-4 then 8-10 page paper on the last week). If you love to do research and write papers, this is the right school for you. The only thing that I do like about the school is that it is a quick pace and can get done faster.

Ashford is the absolute worse. This school has "psychics" working for them. When i say "psychics" i mean fools that think they know what is going on with you and your family situation.Im a senior at ashford and basically my financial aid officer didn't do his job, and he was terminated leaving my file unexplained. They didn't allow for my grade to post even after they said they would for my payment arrangements to continue on. They told me to take 6months off and do someother things. then when i am finish i should come back....who tells someone that, then another person told me she didn't think i was "intelligent" enough to do what we had agreed upon for my senior year. This school has the worst counselors in the world...law suit is in place...

I graduated from this school last September and after reading many other reviews, I agree with several past students. this school is not worth the money. My advisers kept changing on me as well as financial advisers. When I had questions for some of my instructors, it would take several days to get a response. As far as what I learned, I feel like I learned nothing but how to cut and paste my papers and get a 100% even after it was 2 days late. Finally, the financial side was horrible! When I was close to graduating I looked at my account and noticed I had a balance due...I called the school only to be informed that the rated had gone up and they didn't get enough money from the govt to cover them so I had to pay, which I am but not before fighting it and even telling them I would take it to the dean but it did no good so I am making the monthly payments. When I looked at my statement a few months back I saw a late fee so I called the school asking about it...turns out that when you make payment arrangements for this outstanding bill and not pay the entire thing upfront, they charge a late fee. Oh and by the way, you can find MUCH cheaper books online that you can rent. Please look around, there are far better schools, oh yeah, even people that live in Iowa have never heard of this school when I ask..hmm makes u wonder????

I am just 18 days shy of completing my BA in Health Care Admin with Ashford. I have been with them since May of 2008 and I have had a wonderful experience. They accepted almost all of the credits from my previous AS program which allowed me to complete my BA more easily. I did find some classes very challenging, a lot of college papers, most professors are very detailed in their grading, but thats what makes me feel that I am getting a good solid degree that I absolutely earned! It also was costly, but being a full time mom, wife and worker, it was necessary.

I do not understand why there are so many negative comments about the school. Honestly, it sounds like most of the negative comments are from students who have done stayed long at Ashford. The lower level classes are easy, but as you move onto your major and upper division courses, these classes are not easy cake by any means. Of course the lower division classes are gonna be easy just like at any college, but when you start moving up on levels, it's gonna get more challenging and teachers expect more from you. I have only 3 upper division courses left for my degree and 7 general education classes till I graduate. I have always had great support from the staff members and constantly contacted and checked on to make sure I'm doing ok. Some teachers are easier than others, but this is true at any college. The only difference is that you don't have the option to choose an easy teacher all the time like at a traditional college where you do your own schedule and pick your own teachers. If anyone is saying that the curriculum at Ashford is easy it's because they have not even taken a class in the upper division yet. In a typical 5 week upper division course, I have a 3-5 page paper due for three weeks, then a 8-10 page final research paper due in the last week, quizzes for week 2, 3, and 4, and to top it off a two discussion boards each week that requires research and critical thinking. All these papers, quizzes, and discussion boards takes up about 3 days straight worth of work. I miss my lower division courses because I started out with like one paper for the entire 5 weeks and no quizzes. As you move up the papers increased to two to four papers due within 5 weeks and 3 to 4 quizzes. I've taken classes at online and on campus courses through traditional colleges, University of Phoenix, and Ashford so I can say that Ashford is as hard as any traditinoal on campus course. If the classes are so easy to get an A it's because it's a beginners class, but it gets tougher as you move up because you will find that you will need to dedicate a lot more time than before. Sometimes I wish I can just attend an on-campus class because I wouldn't have to do so much work just to meet attendance. I don't have the luxury of cancelled classes or missing class and still pass the class like at a traditional on-campus college. Certain teachers are so easy while others are so tough on grading so to say it's just a diploma mill college is so inaccurate for this college. If only Ashford was that easy and I can get a degree in my sleep cause then I would not be stressing so much right now in my current class.

WARNING! Ashford University, RUN FORREST RUN! If you are a plagiarism scholar, then Ashford University is the school for you. If you lack integrity, honesty and fail to follow rules and policies then Ashford Univer. is the school for you. If you support bigotry, discrimination and racism through their advisors, and you don't want to asks questions, then Ashford University is the school for you. If you don't want to learn anything, or you/staff can't comprehend any of the books they recommend, or you support lazy instructors (not teachers) that don't return phone calls, then Ashford University is the school for you. Ashford U policy is: It's OK to plagarized anyone's work or not learn anything, because we want your MONEY, HONEY! WARNING! 1. You better not asks any questions or they will 'blacklist' you and throw their ridiculous 'student code of conduct' fake book at you. They will also tell you we are there for the monies, we don't care if you haven't learned anything from us or the instructors. 2. Don't forget, their Advisors are allowed to misinform, demean, twist your words and disrespect you. Ashford Univ. advisors have rights, NOT Principles. 3. Try contacting the CEO and President of the School, you will get NO WHERE. She cares nothing about any of the students, ONLY 'Where's the MONEY, MONEY, MONEY.' 4. There is NO support or respect for students at all. So those students who are currently attending Ashford Univ. will complete with a degree of "knowing nothing", a "total Degree of Ignorance" and brag about a Grade Point Average of 4.0. with alot of student loans. 5. Ashford U courses are NOT transferrable to any unique college. So have fun! and PAY to Learn Nothing yall!

At this point of my life, I just want a degree. Any degree will do. Ashford should adopt that as their slogan: "Any degree will do." Even a degree from a 4th-rate school like Ashford is better than nothing; not by much, but better than nothing. I feel I'm not learning anything. The classes are so watered down, a moron can get a degree here. I just hope the degree is worth the paper it's printed on when I do graduate. However, I strongly suspect that most employers are going to know that I went to a crap school and got a crap education. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Yes, they are the rudest people in all of Albany New York. Besides that, the school lack in integrity, discipline and honesty. Their instructors 'are unfamiliar with the subjects they teach,' thereby, marking the right answer wrong. They will accept your tranferrable credits that's the only great thing about the school. They also have a problem allocating left over monies that belong to you. For some reason they believe the credit balance owed to you, belongs to them. So fight for your money and stand-up for yourself. These 'backward hillbillies' will take advantage of you if you let them. They will also charge fees for living "on-campus" although you are taking classes 'online' go figure!

I am currently enrolled in the Master's in Healthcare Administration Program. I have a Bachelor's from a large, public university in Oklahoma. I'm also a CPA. My experiences with Ashford have been very good and I find the coursework to be challenging. I guess it's up to the individual. I know I will have to work hard to earn my grades and, eventually, my degree.

They took 99 of my credits and in 18 months I graduated. They let me CLEP out of two classes that saved time and money--As a career changer (finance to health care) I am thrilled that I did this so fast and really learned something. They set me right up on the FAFSA and the money was there. If you don't get money it is becuase you make too much but there are always loans. I am getting my masters next.

This school and program really worked for me. As a career changer, I gained a wealth of knowledge about the Healthcare field from a management prosepctive. There will be classes and instructors that you don't like, but you would be hard pressed to find a school where that isn't the case. Other than the price, the deciding factor for me was the regional accreditation which is hugely important for anyone considering graduate school. The bottom line is you only get out of it what you put into it. I will not be persuing my graduate degree from Ashford only because the program is not CAHME accreditated (no online programs are), which is important at the graduate level.

First I'll start by saying Ashford advisors are a joke! The classes are OK, so far. The financial advisor is rude, will not return emails, answer phone, or give call backs. By the way her name is Erin Murphy, if you eroll request someone else or you will be unsatisfied. The enrollment advisor, calls you almost daily, sends emails like a spammer, and lies. I was looking for a degree in Natural Health. This college doesn't even offer it. The enrollment advisor told me, since they are "cheapest", I should possibly get my general education done then transfer. Well a load of crap in itself, they enroll me in classes that are, well, a 5th grader can get straight A's in. Then a "Film" class, stating that is an English class. I requested that I not take it and get something else.. She was then rude saying it was mandatory for a degree... Since then, she stopped the email spamming, won't answer her phone, etc. Finally I got through to her. She had the nerve to say, she seen me calling but was on the phone with other students. OK, so that verifies they have caller ID. The 3 days I tried calling practically every hour on the hour, she was on the other line? I doubt it.. I believe her and the enrollment advisor was laughing at me for obviously making a fool of myself calling so much. The classes are not that challenging! If you want an easy 3.5-4.0 this would be the school. Make sure you have extra funds for tylenol, you will need it. All I have to say, if you have another option, PLEASE TAKE IT!

They told my stepdaughter (with a D- Average in High School) that she could get her B.A. in health care administration and could be a CEO of a Hospital in just 4 years. That is total Bull S__T. The advisors there need to be a little more careful in advising ANYONE that they could achieve this lofty goal in so little a time frame, especially with someone who has no education in the first place to achieve ANYTHING like this.

My review ratings are in the middle of the road mearly because I am a new student here at AU. My advisor--Jennifer G. is awesome. She has been helpful and I do hope I am making a wise choice with AU. This is totally different than anything I have ever done before, JG expressed an example to me saying its the same material that you would learn in a brick and mortar classroom, only in the privacy of your own home. True that. I'm still in my pj's drinking coffee! Thank you Jennifer G. (made you smile!)

I enrolled in July 2008 with the help of an amazing enrollment advisor Jerell Lieberknecht who has helped me in areas that were not his own. My classes are easy enough,but the Financial AId process is a nightmare! The FA advisor I had never returned my calls, or emails. the customer service hotline did not know anything. They changed the process after I got my first disbursement, and now its the 7/14 rule, which is really not what it says it is because it takes them longer than seven or forteen weeks to get the refund to you, and had I known this when I first started I may have attended another school. I am still hanging in there until I can do better. I was so happy with Ashford when I first started that I got a lot of people to enroll and now we are just waiting on a better opportunity before we withdraw because we all have the same useless advisor who we have all complained about numerous times, and still no change.

I am in my ninth course at Ashford and I am thoroughly enjoying myself. I really think it is horrible that people say such mean things about this wonderful school. I must agree that the first course (EXP 105) was easy, and there were some students taking the course that did not speak fluent English. The second course (PSY 202) was a bit harder and I was able to gradually see the attendance dropping as the curriculum became more advanced. Now, being in my ninth course, I can honestly say that I miss those first few easy courses. Right now I'm taking Literature, and I've had just about all I can take on Shakespere and Hamlet! The book for this course is titled, Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama - I'm not joking when I tell you that this book has 2,235 pages (more pages than the Bible). This has been my biggest text book so far and the hardest course yet. My next course is PHI 107 and I'm looking forward to it because I love philosophy (not literature!). I believe that anyone who actually stays at Ashford for more than the first couple of courses, will feel they have invested in a quality education. As for those who have called Ashford a "diploma mill," you have to make it through the first two courses before your exposed to the advanced stages of your college education. The first two are basically a warm-up to prepare you for what's to come. I was a little worried initially, but I'm extremely happy now (I love a good challenge). The most exciting thing about Ashford is that I have the option of flying to Clinton, Iowa to walk across Ashford's graduation stage with the rest of my class. I couldn't be more elated, GO SAINTS!