[2] Capella University was originally established as The Graduate School of America by Dr. Harold Abel and Stephen Shank in 1993.

[14] Capella began a partnership with Optum in August 2023 to launch an educational program for nursing.

[19] Undergraduate applicants who do not have any credits eligible for transfer must complete a university-approved examination to be considered for admission.

[30] In 2006, the United States Department of Education, Office of the Inspector General (OIG) began a compliance audit of Capella.

OIG focused on the university's policies and procedures concerning the return of Title IV funds as required by Federal Law for students who failed to give official notice that they were withdrawing from the school.

[32] Capella, in a response to the audit, says it recognizes some past shortcomings in its accounting practices and has made changes to ensure that such errors are not repeated.

[32] In 2012, Capella received criticism for its expenditures on marketing, profit, and CEO pay rather than instruction, and its use of aggressive recruiting practices.

[33] In 2018, a lawsuit was filed against Capella in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota alleging that the school "violated doctoral students' rights by creating a process intended to ensure that it would be difficult, if not impossible, for students to timely complete, or complete at all, their doctoral programs.

[36] Capella University was one of 153 institutions in student loan cancellation due to alleged fraud.

"[37][38] In April 2023, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the settlement and allowed to proceed the debt cancellation due to alleged fraud.