Thread: AUA not accredited; doctors unable to practice here

AUA president defends school’s bona fides
March 9, 2011 Observer News
President and co-founder of American University of Antigua (AUA) College of Medicine **** ***** said his school has been unfairly caught, and possibly tarnished, in a state agency muddle and recent article.
In putting distance between the school and revelations from the Antigua & Barbuda National Accreditation Board (ABNAB) of its inertia, ***** said, categorically, that the institution is accredited by virtue of a charter it has with government.
“There is no question of that fact that our graduates go on to licensure,” ***** told OBSERVER yesterday.
“We’ve had over – we’re a relatively new school (so) the ballpark estimate is over 200 students who have been licensed in the United States and Canada,” ***** said.
Responding to a query, he said no local graduates have applied for licenses here.
He detailed the charter AUA has with government, in which it is recognised that the New York State Board is the authorised accrediting body that accredits AUA.
His statements echo those issued by the government last week in a press release, which said AUA “is operating with the full confidence and support of the government, and graduates of the College of Medicine continue to be eligible for licensure in Antigua & Barbuda.”
***** also noted that the Educational Commission on Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) has approved the arrangement by virtue of the fact AUA graduates have been licensed. (how come ECFMG approved a medical school that was not accredited
Late last week, a member of ABNAB said AUA was not accredited by the agency. It has been revealed, in the damage control, that Accreditation Board has been sluggish to the task and not even local institutions have been accredited. In the while, the AUA-government charter stands.
Government subsequently said the board is currently developing its criteria and registering institutions.
This has not been done yet though the Antigua & Barbuda Accreditation Act, 2006 was enacted in July 2006 and made operational in November 2008.
“There has to be a process put in place … all of that takes time, and we welcome that. We want to go through that process, but that has nothing to do with our accreditation now, today. It’s in a charter that has been approved by the Cabinet that has been recognised since we started,” ***** said.

I will give you a call

For-Profit Caribbean Medical Schools Use Federal Funds Loophole

Janet Lorin
December 3, 2013 — 12:01 AM EST
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Some medical students at American University of Antigua are simultaneously enrolled in online master's programs at two U.S. universities, where they can tap federal student loans. Source: American University of Antigua via Bloomberg

For-profit Caribbean medical schools that don’t have access to U.S. federal loans are finding a way around the rules: Encouraging some students to enroll simultaneously in online master’s programs at U.S. universities.
three dozen island medical schools ally with U.S. colleges, making available a financial-aid loophole that lets online students receive loans for living expenses. Some medical students are using funds from their Web-based programs to support themselves in the Caribbean.
The loans help students afford Caribbean schools, which accept thousands of U.S. applicants who fail to win a spot stateside. Since 2000, 24 medical schools opened in the region, according to a 2010 report in Academic Medicine, the journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges. Only four Caribbean schools qualify for federal loans. The partnerships also benefit the U.S. universities by boosting online revenue.
“This is a shenanigan on the part of both institutions to play the U.S. Department of Education,” said ***** Longanecker, president of the nonprofit Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education, who was an assistant secretary at the Education Department from 1993 to 1999. “This is clearly a conduit for federal assistance for unauthorized institutions.”
Through the graduate Stafford loan program, students attending U.S. schools, whether online or on campus, can take out as much as $20,500 a year for tuition, room, board, books and transportation. Federal PLUS loans let graduate students borrow up to the cost of attendance, minus other aid received.
Living Expenses
Urbana University in central Ohio began a partnership with American University of Antigua this year, said ***** Ormsbee, Urbana’s vice president of enrollment management. About 48 AUA students are registered in the healthcare management MBA and Urbana would like to increase the number to 300, he said.
Using loan funds to cover living expenses is an advantage for the Caribbean students, Ormsbee said.
“The federal government doesn’t seem to be concerned about that as long as they meet the requirements at a school like ours,” Ormsbee said.
Plymouth State University in New Hampshire, which formed an alliance with AUA in 2009, tells medical students also enrolled in its MBA program that they “are welcome to use the ‘living expense’ money to pay for housing and transportation while in Antigua or on rotations,” though it can’t be used for tuition at AUA, “as this violates federal student-loan regulations,” according to Plymouth’s website.
Maintaining Status
While the alliance ended in May, Plymouth, which has 7,300 students, still has AUA students enrolled, said Jennifer Pinckney, director of graduate business programs at Plymouth. AUA students make up about 350 of the 800 MBA candidates, and about 60 have completed the program since 2009, she said.
Students can maintain their status by taking one 10-week course at a time, and can take a term off. To receive continued aid, they must successfully complete “75 percent of all graduate credits attempted,” according to Plymouth’s website.
“We can make it work for individuals,” Pinckney said.
The intent of AUA’s partnership is to give its students a better shot at landing a residency in the U.S. and prepare them for the business side of practicing medicine, said Vikram Kaul, senior vice president and chief financial officer of the Americas unit of Manipal Global Education Services in Bangalore, India, which owns AUA.
‘Their Choice’
“We would never encourage someone to take on more debt for living expenses,” Kaul said in an interview. “I’m hoping that’s not the main reason” that students sign up for the MBA programs, he said. “We give them the facts and access to the schools. It’s their choice after that.”
Even if AUA is approved for U.S. student-loan access, it would maintain any partnerships already in place, Kaul said.
U.S. students who attend Caribbean medical schools that are approved for federal loans on average amass more debt than their counterparts back home.
Students at American University of the Caribbean in St. Maarten and Ross University School of Medicine in Dominica, owned by DeVry Education Group Inc., and St. George’s School of Medicine in Grenada, were disbursed about $470 million in U.S. government loans in the year ended June 2012. Saba University School of Medicine was approved for federal loan access in July.
The median federal loan debt of graduating students at St. George’s, Ross and AUC was at least $232,000 in the year ended June 2012, according to U.S. data. That compares with $170,000 for U.S. students, including their undergraduate debt, according to the association of American medical colleges in Washington.
Attrition, Completion
Attrition at U.S. schools averaged 3 percent for the class that began in 2008, while 80 percent graduated in four years, according to the AAMC. Attrition was 20 percent to 27 percent at for-profit DeVry’s two schools, while 52 percent of Ross students and 66 percent at AUC completed their program on time in 2012, according to DeVry.
The Education Department’s Office of Inspector General has sought changes for more than a decade to rules on living expense borrowing for online programs. In testimony to Congress in March, Inspector General Kathleen Tighe recommended a change in the cost-of-attendance calculation, limiting room and board allowance and other costs that online education students don’t incur as a result of their studies.
“With the explosion of online education in recent years and the number of full-time working individuals that take these courses, a COA budget that includes an allowance for room and board for online learners may not be in the best interest of American taxpayers and may allow students to borrow more than is needed,” Tighe said in 2010 testimony.
More Partnerships
The O and Bush administrations and Congress haven’t closed the loophole for fear of being perceived as opposing technological progress, said Barmak Nassirian, director of federal relations and policy analysis at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities.
Davenport University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has partnerships with several Caribbean schools, offering medical students tuition discounts if they enroll in Davenport’s online Health-Care MBA program.
Davenport has alliances with at least two other Caribbean schools besides MUA that don’t have access to federal U.S. loans -- St. Matthew’s University in the Cayman Islands and the University of Medicine and Health Sciences, or UMHS, on St. Kitts, according to the schools’ websites.
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Davenport started the agreements with the medical schools in 2005, the university said in an e-mailed statement.
“Information pertaining to those students who choose to obtain loans related to their DU education is a personal matter and it is not appropriate for us to comment,” according to the statement.
Walden University, a for-profit college based in Minneapolis, lists on its website associations with AUA, UMHS.
Daley, the medical student, said his Davenport MBA will come in handy in the future.
“Eventually I want to open up my own practice,” he said. “This is a win-win for me.”

Hey Nile, are you interested in practicing in Antigua? AUA is a US Modeled medical school and our graduates are eligible for residency and licensure throughout the United States and Canada. Also, with CAAM-HP accreditation AUA graduates are now also eligible to practice in Antigua. The article you posted is several years old and the information contained in it is no longer accurate.

Originally Posted by dhermon

Hey Nile, are you interested in practicing in Antigua? AUA is a US Modeled medical school and our graduates are eligible for residency and licensure throughout the United States and Canada. Also, with CAAM-HP accreditation AUA graduates are now also eligible to practice in Antigua. The article you posted is several years old and the information contained in it is no longer accurate.

Obviously he's interested in spending >$200K going to AUA and then practice in Antigua making <$10K/year

You guys realize it's a bot right?

Originally Posted by coolaid

...some of them were not in quotes...I did not want them to be 'deleted'.....

Coolaid, thank you very much for keeping the record of Mr. Tipton's lies. If you still arround please pm me. It's about time to expose the opportunists.

The New York State Education Department and the New York State Board of Medicine jointly grant approval to certain foreign medical schools that want to place students in New York-based clinical clerkships. Such approvals have been given to St. George's University School of Medicine on the island of Grenada, Ross University School of Medicine on Dominica, the American University of the Caribbean on St. Maarten, Netherlands Antilles (formerly in Montserrat), the Autonomous University of Guadalajara in Mexico, and AUA. Although the New York authorities have been careful to emphasize the limited purpose of their approval (that is, to permit the placement of students in clinical clerkships in designated New York hospitals), the schools tend to interpret the approval more broadly. For example, President and co-founder of American University of Antigua (AUA) College of Medicine **** ***** said his school has been unfairly caught, and possibly tarnished, in a state agency muddle and recent article.
In putting distance between the school and revelations from the Antigua & Barbuda National Accreditation Board (ABNAB) of its inertia, ***** said, categorically, that the institution is accredited by virtue of a charter it has with government.
“There is no question of that fact that our graduates go on to licensure,” ***** told OBSERVER yesterday.
“We’ve had over – we’re a relatively new school (so) the ballpark estimate is over 200 students who have been licensed in the United States and Canada,” ***** said.
Responding to a query, he said no local graduates have applied for licenses here.
He detailed the charter AUA has with government, in which it is recognised that the New York State Board is the authorised accrediting body that accredits AUA (March 9, 2011 Observer News)

"the New York State Board is the authorised accrediting body that accredits AUA "!!!!!!!????????