Bristol University (California)

Bristol University
Former names	Kensington College
Type	Private university
Active	1991–2017
Accreditation	ACICS
Location	Anaheim, California; 33°47′44″N 117°52′58″W / 33.795556°N 117.882647°W
Nickname	Bears
Sporting affiliations	USCAA
Website	website (archive)

Bristol University was a private university in Anaheim, California. It was established in 1991 as Kensington College. It became a university in 2011 and was renamed Bristol University. It closed in 2017 after several years of financial challenges.

History

Bristol was founded in Santa Ana as Kensington College in 1991.^[1] In 2009, the school initiated an MBA program.^[2] In 2011, the school moved to Anaheim and was renamed Bristol University. The first graduating class of Bristol was in 2014.^[3]

In November of 2014 Bristol University was sued by its recruitment firm. In April of 2017, Bristol University lost its lawsuit as a result of two of its representatives, Gene A. Raltz and Lourdes Cruz, admitting to lying under penalties of perjury, leaving Bristol University with a guilty verdict and ordered to pay a significant sum which lead them to file for bankruptcy in 2017.[1]

In April 2015, the US Department of Education placed Bristol on a program called Heightened Cash Monitoring, which delays cash payments to universities because they were out of compliance with distance learning regulations.^[4] In September 2015, the Department of Education informed Bristol they were no longer eligible to participate in federal financial aid programs, because the school disclosed a material change in ownership twenty five days late.^[5]

The Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools denied the institution accreditation on December 22, 2015.^[6] As this prevented the school from accepting new students, Bristol filed a suit in federal court and was granted relief, reinstating their accreditation in 2016.^[7]^[8] Bristol's position that the accrediting agency engaged in negligence by failing to follow the proper procedures in removing their accreditation.^[9] However, the judgment was later overruled ^[10] Bristol filed for bankruptcy in 2017, closing its doors the same year.^[11]

Tuition

The school reported the average cost to earn a bachelor's degree from 2014 to 2017 was approximately $47,400, and took an average of 31 months to complete.^[12]

Athletics

The school at one time supported sixteen sports teams, competing in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association as the Bears.^[13] Despite the school's small size, both the men's and women's basketball teams played several games against much larger NCAA Division I teams, including 5 games in the 2015 season alone.^[14] Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, tennis, track^[15] and volleyball. Women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, tennis, track and volleyball.^[16]