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A California appeals court largely upheld a lower court’s 2022 finding that the former Ashford University and its parent company gave students misleading information about its programs and outcomes—with the only change being lowering its penalty from about $22 million to about $21 million.

The Court of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District, Division One, ruled Tuesday that Ashford—which has since morphed into the University of Arizona Global Campus—did not warrant having its penalties reduced significantly, as its officials had argued.

The court knocked about $900,000 off the original amount Ashford owed, citing some violations that occurred outside the statute of limitations, but it rejected arguments that the penalty was excessive given the harm and the financial position of the university and its parent company at the time, Zovio. UAGC purchased Zovio, which had an agreement to provide online program management services to the university in 2022, after its assets had shrunk.