History
From 2005-2016, Oak Valley’s founding platform and business model was developed, fine-toned, and revised with the following distinctive features:
Single degree program - the Bachelor of Arts in Business
WASC Accreditation and the standards that inform and sustain the world’s strongest institutions
Foundation in the liberal arts tradition - undergraduate student success built on a foundation of small classes, in-person teaching, mentoring, holistic broad education on traditional subjects
Ensure students develop communication, critical thinking, and creative problem solving skills
Year-round programming enabling students to graduate in two years and eight months
Professors dedicated to teaching framed by Christian values
No student loans and the affordability to ensure that every student may complete their degree without financial hardships
Practical professional skills ensuring that every student is career-ready upon graduation
Support to help students discover how to align their passion and God-given talents to a career
Mentoring, internships, and career services to help students explore professional opportunities and options
An Idea
In 2005, Eric Blum was part of a small Bible study. In that study, the group explored the book of James. One of the themes found in James is the question, “What has your faith caused you to do?” Mr. Blum took stock of his situation and joked, “Not a lot.”
Over the next several months, Mr. Blum examined his professional, personal, and spiritual life. From that conviction, he was convinced that God would want him to leverage his professional experience and expertise and apply it to a meaningful cause.
At that time, Mr. Blum served as Director of Business, Engineering, and Technology at UC Riverside Extension. Mr. Blum considered the most plausible path was to shift from working at a public institution to work at a Christian college or university. So, he began exploring a career shift.
It was spring 2025, when Mr. Blum asked a senior student worker in his office, “What are your plans after graduation?” The student’s face turned white, and Mr. Blum asked, “What’s wrong?” The student went on to explain that she had changed majors a couple of times, and after six years, she still needed another year to graduate. Mr. Blum encouraged the student, “No problem, lots of students take an extra year to graduate.” She then went on to explain that she had accumulated $90,000 in student loans and could not afford the additional year. She finished by saying that she needed to move back home to Texas and figure out if/when she may be able to complete her degree in Texas.
In 2005, the student loan crisis was not widely discussed, so this was news to Mr. Blum. Over the next year, he would go on to talk to dozens of undergraduates about their school experience, anticipated graduation date, and their financial situation. He was surprised to hear from nearly all of them that they were not intending to graduate on time, they were in debt, and many of them faced an unknown reality of how (if ever) they would pay off their student loans. In one particular case, Mr. Blum talked with a English major who anticipated graduating with $150,000 in loans. She always wanted to be a teacher, but she had no idea how she would pay off her loans on a teacher’s salary. She said she intended to move home after graduation and work it out with her parents.
The Seed is Planted
Stirred by this realization, Mr. Blum halted his new career search. He rationalized that the Christian colleges and universities he intended to work for were no different than the universities he had established his career with.
He thought, “There must be a way to offer a high-quality personal Christian college experience that would not put students in debt.” But that was a dream…only. Mr. Blum had no experience with starting a college, and he did not have any connections with resources to figure it out.
Until, one day in early 2005, Mr. Blum’s learned that one of his connections, Derry Connolly, from UC San Diego, was launching New Catholic University in San Diego (now John Paul Catholic University). Eager to learn more, Mr. Blum visited Derry in San Diego, and spent months pouring over his business plan, program model, and all the documents he could find.
Mr. Blum was inspired. He had access to someone else’s plans and experience. At the same time, the challenges seemed insurmountable. Dr. Connolly had an endorsement from the Catholic church, and his business model was built on substantial donors and a path toward 1,000 students. Mr. Blum was not tied to a denomination, had no significant donor connections, and could not imagine building a traditional college or university platform with a large campus, hundreds of students, and a pipeline of mega-donors.
At this point, Mr. Blum caught the bug, but he struggled with his limitations. Could a small high-quality Christian college experience be sustained and flourish?
He was stuck. Then, in August 2005, Mr. Blum was on vacation in Arizona watching CNN when he saw a story about Deep Springs College. Deep Springs was a world class private nonprofit college with a rich history serving around 30 students a year through a singular program. Mr. Blum was inspired, again.
Over the next several months, Mr. Blum adapted New Catholic University’s business model to a single degree offering and a small school model leveraging what he could from Deep Springs.
In early 2006, Mr. Blum was ready to commit. He pulled together two couples, asking them to serve as Oak Valley’s founding Board of Trustees and submitted Articles of Incorporation and requested nonprofit status from the IRS. On March 6, 2006, Oak Valley College was incorporated.
Clarity
Oak Valley’s incorporation may best be described as a high-point followed by…nothing. With no denominational links, nor any significant donors, Mr. Blum was stuck. Over the next couple of years, he sent out fundraising letters and leveraged whatever volunteer support he could generate. A partnership with Oak Glen Christian Conference Center was formed to utilize their campus with no money required up front. A brochure and website was created and a launch plan was developed.
In fall 2007, recruitment began with the goal of recruiting 25-30 students for August 2008. The timing was awful. The Great Recession had begun, and the economy in the Inland Empire was particularly hard hit. In early 2008, the Conference Center was put up for sale and the partnership was dissolved.
Other partnerships were explored, but the reality was that the business model Mr. Blum had created before the Great Recession seemed unrealistic given the current economic climate. Mr. Blum spent the next few years, retooling the approach he was taking. Rather than trying to get students to come to a location, he created a new model based on bringing the college experience to students.
After several more years, the current Oak Valley business model emerged with even greater reduced costs to students.