“The FTC has made allegations about a campaign that ended in 2014 that have not been considered by litigation and do not constitute findings of fact by the FTC or a court,” a university spokesperson said. The school began the campaign as its enrolment was declining. The University of Phoenix was once the largest online university in the country with more than 460,000 students in 2010. However, increasing competition has led to a sharp decline in enrolment; The school now has about 97,000 students nationwide and was sold to Apollo Global Management, a private equity firm, in 2017. A lawsuit filed in 2003 by two former university recruiters alleged that the school illegally received hundreds of millions of dollars in financial aid by paying its admissions advisors based on the number of students enrolled, in violation of the Higher Education Act. [49] The university`s parent company settled the settlement by paying the government $67.5 million plus $11 million in legal fees. without admitting wrongdoing. [112] [113] The University of Phoenix is one of the largest for-profit providers of online higher education in the United States. It has approximately 75,000 students and received approximately $930 million in federal student financial assistance funding in fiscal year 2020-2021. At its peak in 2010, the university had about 470,000 students. In reality, the companies did not have special hiring programs or curricular ties to the school, according to the F.T.C.
A senior vice president at the school complained in an email that the Adobe software company`s use in advertising was “smoke and mirrors” because the channel does business with the company but has no academic relationship with it. By the end of the 20th century, the University of Phoenix was considered an innovator in higher education for working adults. [9] The University of Phoenix was founded in 1976 by John Sperling and John D. Murphy[10] in Phoenix,[11] where the first class consisted of eight students. [12] In 1980, UoPX expanded to San Jose, California, and in 1989, the university launched its online program. [13] The university paid several state fines and settled whistleblower lawsuits regarding its admissions practices and educational programs. [110] In 2000, the federal government fined the university $6 million for taking lessons from study group meetings. In 2002, the Ministry of Education relaxed course requirements. [49] [111] In October 2015, the U.S. Department of Defense suspended the school`s ability to recruit from U.S.
military bases and receive federal funding to train members of the U.S. military. In describing the suspension, the Washington Post noted that “the decision comes amid allegations that the university sponsored recruitment events that violate an order preventing for-profit colleges from gaining preferential access to the military.” [123] Some federal legislators, including Senators John McCain, Jeff Flake and Lamar Alexander protested[124] the suspension, which was lifted in January 2016. [125] In addition to traditional educational programs, the school offers continuing education courses for teachers and practitioners, business training courses, and specialized courses for military personnel. [47] Students spend 20 to 24 hours with a teacher during each class. The university requires students to collaborate on learning team projects where the class is divided into teams of four to five students. Each learning team is assigned a team forum where team members discuss the project and submit their agreed parts of the learning team`s task for compilation by the designated learning team leader. [48] According to College Navigator, the student-faculty ratio in the Arizona segment is 70:1. [133] College Navigator reports 127 full-time and 5,353 part-time lecturers in its Arizona segment; Full-time faculty make up 2% of the total faculty. [134] In the California segment, there are 4 full-time and 1,304 part-time faculties; Full-time faculty represent less than 1% of faculty. [135] African Americans make up 19.3 percent of university faculty members and 4.9 percent are Latinos.[136] Women make up 56 percent of faculty. [136] In August 2010, an investigation by ABC News identified a University of Phoenix recruiter looking for new students from Y-Haven, a homeless shelter in Cleveland, Ohio.
When asked for comment, a university spokesperson responded that the recruiter had been terminated and that “such activities are strictly prohibited by our Code of Conduct and Ethics and that employees who violate this policy may be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment.” In a separate phone conversation with an undercover ABC News producer, another University of Phoenix recruiter falsely claimed that the university`s Bachelor of Science in Education would be enough to qualify the producer to teach in Texas or New York. The recruiter also advised the producer to apply for the largest loans possible under government financial assistance programs. [103] College graduates include four-time NBA champion Shaquille O`Neal (2005), [144] three-time WNBA MVP Lisa Leslie,[145] Michael Russell (2012). [146] and Larry Fitzgerald, NFL professional football player (wide receiver) for the Arizona Cardinal (2016). Fitzgerald graduated with a bachelor`s degree shortly before his 33rd birthday. He studied communication with a minor in marketing. (He began his studies at the University of Pittsburgh in 2002.) He was a spokesman for the University of Phoenix[147] and he recounts how he promised his mother, Carol, that one day he would graduate from university. She died while he was still enrolled in Pittsburgh. [148] “Because Mr. Burnett believes that this request may take some time and is not intended to distract from the university`s mission to provide career-relevant higher education for working adults, he has resigned as president and member of the university`s board of trustees, effective June 1, 2022.
said Mr. Smiley. In 1994, University of Phoenix executives decided to go public with its parent company, the Apollo Group. Enrolment in UoPX exceeded 100,000 students in 1999. [14] [15] According to Senator Tom Harkin, who chaired the for-profit college hearings, “I think what really transformed this company was when they started going to Wall Street.” [16] In 2008, UoPX was the largest recipient of study grants, receiving nearly $2.48 billion. [17] In fiscal year 2008-2009, the University of Phoenix student body received more money from the Pell grant ($656.9 million) than any other university. [18] In 2010, the University of Phoenix had more than 470,000 students enrolled with a turnover of $4.95 billion. [19] A 2010 report found that the online completion rate of the UoPX was only 5%.
The same report noted that “for students pursuing an associate`s degree, the 60 percent three-year graduation rate at for-profit colleges is significantly higher than the 22 percent rate at public community colleges” and that “it is unreasonable to expect non-traditional students to complete their studies within an arbitrary and predetermined time frame, Especially when we know that these students will take longer. to complete their degree because they have families and professional commitments. In the early 2010s, Apollo Group, the former parent company of the University of Phoenix, spent between $376 million and $655 million annually on advertising and marketing, including the University of Phoenix brand. Much of the advertising was Internet advertising. [72] In 2010, the university paid $154.5 million for the 20-year naming rights to the University of Phoenix stadium in Glendale, Arizona, a municipal sports arena home to the NFL`s Arizona Cardinals. The Corporation terminated its naming rights agreement on April 11, 2017, citing the Corporation`s economic difficulties. [73] On September 4, 2018, the naming rights to the stadium were acquired by State Farm. [74] However, the cardinals continue to designate the university as the team`s official educational partner.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) began investigating the university in 2015 over an advertising campaign it ran from 2012 to 2014, a campaign called “Let`s Get to Work.” [32] On December 10, 2019, the University of Phoenix agreed to pay a severance package of $191 million related to allegations that it recruited students through misleading advertising. [32] NPR reported that this amount includes $50 million in cash, as well as a $141 million cancellation for student debt, although the cancellations “will not affect student borrowers` obligations for federal or personal loans.” [126] The institution did not admit any wrongdoing in the settlement, which at the time was the FTC`s largest settlement against a for-profit school. [32] Burnett was president of Alta College, but left in 2011. He then headed Northcentral University, a private university in California, before accepting the position at the University of Phoenix. It is the largest recipient of federal GI Bill tuition[6] and the largest for-profit recipient of Pell grants. [7] The university has paid hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and regulations for its student recruitment practices and educational programs, particularly misleading advertising aimed at prospective students. [8] Colorado`s attorney general settled a lawsuit with Alta Colleges in 2012, which the state called “fraudulent business practices” involving students in error and misleading advertising.