Rio Salado College: Not for Sale

Jan 23, Chronicle

It seems that an offer by a private investor to buy Rio Salado College will go nowhere.

Michael K. Clifford had sent a letter to Arizona’s Maricopa County Community College District, of which Rio Salado is a part, offering $5,000 per student or $400-million, whichever amount was greater, to purchase the two-year institution. Mr. Clifford, a born-again Christian, has an interest in online and evangelical colleges, having led investors to buy Grand Canyon University, a Christian institution, in 2004.

Inside Higher Ed, a higher-education news service, published an article today about the offer, suggesting that officials at the college were seriously discussing whether to accept Mr. Clifford’s offer. In fact, officials at the college say, they received the letter only late last week and hardly had time to consider it.

But a message sent this evening to faculty and staff members at Maricopa Community College put the matter to rest. “I feel the need to set the record straight,” wrote Rufus Glasper, chancellor of the Maricopa system. “Rio Salado College is not for sale.”

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photo: Rio Salado College website