Traci Lee

Traci Lee

About me

I currently serve as the Vice President of Business Solutions for Bridgepoint Education. In my present role, I provide guidance to the company's ground based and online colleges to optimize their operations while staying within regulatory guidelines.

I have over 22 years of experience in the education industry. My experience encompasses virtually all aspects of the education business, including admissions, financial aid, academics, career services, and management of multi-campus operations. I’ve held senior level management positions at Career Education Corporation, MedVance Institute and the University of Phoenix (Apollo Group) as well as providing consulting services to a multitude of colleges and universities during my tenure with Campus Management Corporation.

My focus has been on campus start ups, regulatory compliance, process improvement, and operational oversight of multiple campus colleges, including international campuses. I recognize the challenges of working in a highly regulated environment that has grown more complex as companies have expanded operations, either organically or through acquisition, to include multiple regulatory bodies and governing oversight entities.

I hold a B.S. degree in Business from Arizona State University and an M.A. degree in Organizational Management from the University of Phoenix. I have completed the Apollo Group's Executive Development Program and the Career College Association's (now APSCU) Leadership Institute.

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I would love to hear from others on current practices. I can tell you that I have seen some schools use a "review" process before anything is published and then a "spot check" of current ads during a visit. Does anyone else have any practices in place that you can share and whether or not you think they are effective in managing compliance with the mass volume of printed materials?
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John - I would like to see this story too. Can you attach it on this forum?
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Excellent points, Cheryl. I think many schools underutilize the strength of the employers as a support to our industry. I applaud your institution's focus on students and graduates as they can be our biggest advocates.
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Lori - Certainly it's nice to have a dedicated team from a resource perspective. However, I don't think it's bad to structure it the way you indicated. My main concern would be the risk of "higher priorities" causing you delays in actually getting to conduct the audits. The other factor to consider is the size of your organization. It's not unusual for companies to have a shared resource structure until they hit a certain size at which point a dedicated team seems warranted. The audits themselves could be very successfully utilizing resources that really "know" the ins and outs. It's… >>>

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Lori - Thanks for sharing your experience of having an internal audit directly help in identifying areas which could be addressed prior to an external accreditation visit. This demonstrates a great positive outcome and I am impressed that you are now implementing an annual review at each campus. At one company I worked for, audit teams included members of the internal audit department plus we implemented a "guest auditor" program whereby we invited campus based employees (usually no more than one for any given audit) to be part of the team. We would train them on how to conduct some… >>>

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Excellent points, Kathleen. The dialogue and ongoing communication helps to keep the momentum on the resolution. I like the idea of providing an easy means of response with an electronic document. Not only are self audits meaningless without follow up but, they can create risk for entities who identify problems but, do not resolve them.
Excellent points, Kathleen. It does seem that there are many mis-conceptions about FERPA. Some institutions implement policies that are more restrictive than FERPA to err on the side of caution. That sometimes leads employees to believe that the institutional policy IS the FERPA guideline. This particular MaxKnowledge course is an overview to compliance but, we intend to add additional courses that dig into each functional area. One of those courses should include some depth with regard to FERPA regulations.
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Janie - I agree with the areas you identified for inclusion. I am also a strong advocate of designating a person as the responsible party to execute each item on the plan. Richard gave a very complete list at the beginning of this discussion thread that is worth reviewing and incorporating into plans. I also will be posting some sample templates for this course soon for reference to all of you in the course that will include a plan template. I am hoping to get responses when those are posted as I would like to continue to update or add… >>>

I was pleased to see that both Janie and Richard mention information security. Richard is on target with the exposure schools have to copyright laws in particular with the volume of students and faculty accessing various software and publications. The zero tolerance environment he mentioned is key to sending the message of compliance. As for records, I agree with Janie on the need to shred. As an auditor, I like to do a simple test - look for the shredder(s). Are they accessible? I have seen some schools actually have a personal size shredder in offices which print a lot… >>>

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Lori - Great comments - be sure to check out the article I attached in repsonse to Richard's next posting. Your comment about students not surviving in a traditional college is validated by some rather depressing statistics. Those students frequently end up in our sector - where they get the additional support and attention - as a "second chance" student. I am proud to be a part of an industry that not only offers a second chance but, also provides the means and support needed to increase their odds of graduating and securing a job!

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