ECPI University operates on a year-round accelerated schedule. Academic terms generally last five weeks, with full-time students ordinarily taking two courses during each term. Under this schedule, the university states that an associate degree may be completed in approximately 18 months and a bachelor's degree in approximately two and a half years, although actual completion times vary by program, course load, and transfer credits.^[23]

The university offers classroom, online, evening, and weekend instruction. Its programs emphasize applied and career-oriented education in fields including nursing, health professions, computer and information sciences, engineering technology, business, criminal justice, and culinary arts.^[24]

The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education classifies ECPI University as a special-focus institution in applied and career studies. Based on data used in the 2025 Carnegie classifications, approximately 49 percent of its undergraduate credentials were awarded in health professions, 27 percent in computer and information sciences, and 10 percent in engineering-related technologies. Approximately 49 percent of undergraduates received Pell Grants.^[25]

Carnegie classified the university as having “higher access” and “medium earnings” relative to comparable institutions. The classification reported median earnings of $43,157 eight years after enrollment, an average annual net price of $23,111, and median federal student debt of $20,000. These outcome figures cover students who received federal financial aid and are not limited to graduates.^[25]

ECPI reported an institutional graduation-rate measure of 54 percent for the 2024–25 reporting year and a first-year retention rate of 65.6 percent. These institutional measures use definitions that differ from the federal graduation-rate cohort published through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System.^[26]

In 2012, ECPI was one of the companies examined by the United States Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions during its investigation of the for-profit higher-education sector. The committee's report examined student withdrawal, federal financial-aid dependence, recruiting, tuition, and student-loan defaults at the institutions included in the investigation.^[31]

The report found that students attending ECPI's physical campuses withdrew at a lower rate than students attending many of the other for-profit institutions examined. It reported a higher withdrawal rate in ECPI's smaller online division and noted increases in measures of student-loan default during the period reviewed.^[31]

In 2014, the Office for Civil Rights of the United States Department of Education investigated a complaint alleging that ECPI's Medical Careers Institute had failed to provide a student with requested academic adjustments and auxiliary aids. The office identified concerns involving the institution's nondiscrimination statement, disability-accommodation policies, and implementation of those policies.^[32]

The institution entered into a resolution agreement requiring it to revise its nondiscrimination statement and procedures for requesting accommodations, designate responsible personnel, train employees, document accommodation decisions, and provide compliance information to the Office for Civil Rights.^[33] The agreement resolved the investigation without a final determination that the institution had violated federal law.

In 2023, the Career Colleges and Schools of Texas (CCST), a trade association representing private career schools, sued the United States Department of Education to block portions of its 2022 borrower-defense and closed-school-discharge regulations. CCST was the named plaintiff. In support of the association's request for an injunction, CCST submitted evidence concerning ECPI University and Lincoln Educational Services.^[34]

ECPI president Mark Dreyfus testified that the regulations had increased the university's staff-training and recordkeeping obligations and could require ECPI to employ additional compliance personnel. He also testified about their effects on decisions involving a proposed campus expansion and the consolidation of locations in Richmond, Virginia.^[34] Scott Shaw, president and chief executive officer of Lincoln Educational Services, submitted a declaration describing anticipated advertising-review, training, recordkeeping, staffing, and compliance expenses at Lincoln Tech schools.^[34]

The district court initially denied CCST's request for a preliminary injunction, finding that the association had not demonstrated a likelihood of irreparable harm. In April 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed that decision and ordered the challenged borrower-defense and closed-school-discharge provisions postponed pending further proceedings.^[35]

The Fifth Circuit's nationwide order halted provisions that would have changed the standards and procedures for discharging federal student loans when borrowers alleged misconduct by their institutions or when an institution closed. CCST argued that the regulations exceeded the Department of Education's statutory authority and subjected schools to improper administrative proceedings and financial liability.^[36][35]