Santee Resident Graduates in Ashford University's First San Diego Commencement Ceremony

Ashford University’s fall 2014 online graduates come from 50 states and 10 countries, earning college degrees in a 24/7 higher learning culture unbound by geography and time zones.

Thousands of online students who earned their degrees together will meet face-to-face for the first time, don time-honored caps and gowns, and march to “Pomp and Circumstance” in the university’s first local commencement ceremonies being held on October 5 at the San Diego Convention Center. Although the university has a brick-and-mortar campus in Clinton, Iowa, more than 99 percent of its 61,000-plus worldwide students attend classes online.

More than 450 graduates in Ashford’s fall 2014 graduating class live in the San Diego area, including 27-year-old Santee resident Alyssa Bergeron. Ashford’s online education model provided Bergeron, a Navy wife and young mother of two children under the age of 6, with the flexibility to earn a bachelor’s degree in cognitive studies.

In July 2014, Bergeron faced tragedy when she lost her mother unexpectedly. Determined to succeed and set an example for her two sons, Bergeron kept going and calls her experience at Ashford “incredibly gratifying.”

“I am honored to have achieved my goal, and in doing so, showing my boys the rewards found in education,” she said.

At graduation, Bergeron is excited for her children to watch her walk across the stage to receive her degree. She will be moving to Japan with her husband after graduation, and plans to pursue a master’s degree in education.

Ashford’s fall graduating class is comprised of 9,239 graduates. Collectively, Ashford graduates earned 749 associates degrees, 6,250 bachelor’s degrees and 2,240 master’s degrees.