IU was founded by Carl Barney and owned and operated by the Center for Excellence in Higher Education (CEHE).

In 1978, the school began to offer education at a distance and operated as California College for Health Sciences.

In 2020, Carl Barney was fined $3 million by the State of Colorado for defrauding students at CEHE schools.

[6] Following the judgement, the U.S. Department of Education suspended CEHE President Eric Juhlin from "participating in contracts or other programs of the federal government."

[12] Independence University participated in the Yellow Ribbon Program,[13] a provision of the Post-9/11 GI Bill that allowed approved institutions of higher learning and the Department of Veterans Affairs to partially or fully fund tuition and fee expenses that exceeded the established thresholds under the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

According to the College Navigator it had a graduation rate of 12 percent for students pursuing a bachelors degree.

Median salary after attending was $28,800, ranging from $18,298 (Design and Applied Arts AA) to $66,240 (Allied Health, BS).