VPP but not using DEP (Configurator 2)

I work for a higher ed and we have about 30 iPad Air 2's. We're trying to get away from using a JAMF MDM and do everything with AC2.

We have a VPP account with several apps. I can login to the VPP account from AC2 and select the apps I want to install on our iPads. But I run into a problem when trying to open the apps on the iPad that it can't verify it through our VPP account.

I noticed that AC2 wasn't putting our VPP account onto the iPads during the Prepare. To fix this I decided I would delete the organization and recreate it ensuring the VPP account was entered and entered correctly. HOWEVER, now when attempting to add the VPP account I receive the following error:

"(myvppaccount@ourhighered.edu)" cannot access the Device Enrollment Program. Please contact your organization's administrators.

We do not participate in DEP because we have several different departments that all buy Apple products and getting DEP setup will not work not to mention getting past our legal dept. It was an act of congress to get a VPP account.

All that aside, we've never had DEP and never run into a problem using AC2 to image and join our MDM. So why now is AC2 requiring a connection to DEP? How do I get past this, DEP is not an option.

Thank you!