EMPIRE COLLEGE

Empire College is a private for-profit college in Santa Rosa, California, founded in 1961 by Henry Trione. It offers business and law degrees and is accredited by the Committee of Bar Examiners of the State Bar of California as a branch campus of Monterey College of Law. The college was first located in the Bank of America building on Old Courthouse Square; when the bank moved out, Trione purchased the building and gilded the top of its clock tower. In 2011, the U.S. Education Department reported that graduates of Empire College's business school were defaulting on student loans at more than twice the national average. In 2012, the college was listed on the President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction, and was recognized as a top finalist in subsequent years. It was formerly accredited by the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS) until that body's accrediting status was denied by the U.S. Secretary of Education in 2016. By 2019, its student loan default rate had dropped below the national average. In February 2020, Empire College announced plans to close its School of Business over the following 18 months due to declining enrollment worsened by wildfires.