The following year, the university expanded from its main campus in Savannah, Georgia, to eleven other locations in the United States and began offering online courses.

[8] In 2015, EDMC, South University's former parent company, was found to have violated the False Claims Act on multiple occasions through its student recruitment practices and marketing strategies.

[9] U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton of the Western District of Pennsylvania stated that "[c]ompanies cannot enrich their corporate coffers at the expense of students seeking a quality education, or on the backs of taxpayers who are funding our critical financial aid programs ... Today's global settlement sends an unmistakable message to all for-profit education companies: the United States will aggressively ferret out fraud and protect innocent students and taxpayer dollars from this kind of egregious abuse.

"[10] In December 2016, South University was placed on probation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) due to financial concerns regarding its parent company at the time, EDMC.

[15] On October 17, 2017, the university's former parent company, Education Management Corporation, reported that it had sold its schools to the Los Angeles-based Dream Center Foundation, a non-profit organization.

[16][17][18][19] In 2019, South University fired a large majority of their workforce including the online support staff located in Chandler, Arizona, closing the site.

[22] The court-appointed receiver Studio Enterprise, giving the university until April 11, 2019, to negotiate to separate South and remaining Art Institute schools from the Dream Center Education IT Platform by September 11, 2019.

[26] In 2021 a class action lawsuit was filed against Education Principle Foundation and South University for making illegal robocalls.

[27] In 2022, South University was one of 153 institutions included in student loan cancellation due to alleged fraud.

"[28][29] In April 2023, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the settlement and allowed to proceed the debt cancellation due to alleged fraud.

[31][32][better source needed] In June 2024, South University was publicly placed on warning by its accrediting organization for failing to meet governance criteria.

[41] The South University College of Theology differs from traditional seminaries, because rather than focusing on the doctrine of one faith, it prepares its students (who come from different denominations and religious backgrounds) to minister in the Christian tradition to people of various faiths and, potentially, in various times of spiritual crisis.

These include the Delta Mu Delta International Honor Society in Business,[44] Sigma Theta Tau,[45] which recognizes outstanding academic achievement by nursing students, and Pi Gamma Mu,[46] which is the International Honor Society in Social Sciences.

[26] According to the US Department of Education's College Scorecard, South University is on Heightened Cash Monitoring 2 "requiring additional oversight because of financial or federal compliance issues.

Forty percent of South University's students earn more than a high school graduate after attending.