Not to be confused with Phoenix College.
Motto | We Rise |
---|---|
Type | Private for-profit university |
Established | 1976; 48 years ago |
Founders | John Sperling John D. Murphy |
Parent institution | Apollo Global Management and Vistria Group |
Accreditation | HLC |
President | Chris Lynne |
Academic staff | 2,727 (2022) |
Total staff | 4,578 (2022) |
Students | 76,000 (2022) |
Undergraduates | 60,700 (2022) |
Postgraduates | 13,100 (2022) |
Doctoral students | 2,200 (2022) |
Location | Phoenix, Arizona, United States (Headquarters) |
Campus | Online, 1 campus under direct control |
Website | phoenix.edu |
University of Phoenix(UoPX) is a private for-profit university headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1976, the university confers certificates and degrees at the certificate, associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels. The Higher Learning Commission institutionally accredits it. and has an open-enrollment admissions policy for many undergraduate programs. Apollo Global Management and Vistria Group own the school.
University of Phoenix History
University of Phoenix was founded in 1976 by John Sperling and John D. Murphy.[7][8] In 1980, it expanded to San Jose, California, and launched its online program in 1989.[9] Much of UoPX’s revenue came from employers who were subsidizing the higher education of their managers. Academic labor underwent a process of unbundling, in which “various components of the traditional faculty role (e.g., curriculum design) are divided among different entities, while others (e.g., research) are eliminated”.[10]
In 1994, UoPX leaders made the parent company, Apollo Group, public. Its enrollment exceeded 100,000 students by 1999.[11][12] Senator Tom Harkin, who chaired hearings on for-profit colleges, said, “I think what turned this company is when they started going to Wall Street.”[13] The sentiment was echoed by Murphy in his book Mission Forsaken: The University of Phoenix Affair with Wall Street. In 2004, Murphy thought that “the University of Phoenix abandoned its founding mission of solely serving working adult learners to admit virtually anyone with a high school diploma or GED.” In terms of revenue, UoPX began to rely less on corporate assistance and more on government funding.[14] In 2007, The New York Times reported that the school’s graduation rate had plummeted and that educational quality had eroded.[15]
In 2000, the federal government fined the university $6 million for including study-group meetings as instructional hours. In 2002, the Department of Education relaxed requirements on instructional hours.[16][17]
A 2003 lawsuit filed by two former university recruiters alleged that the school improperly obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in financial aid by paying its admission counselors based on the number of students they enrolled, a violation of the Higher Education Act.[16] The university’s parent company settled by paying the government $67.5 million, plus $11 million in legal fees, without admitting any wrongdoing.
Enrollment decline, transition to online courses (2010s)
In 2010, UoPX claimed a peak enrollment of more than 470,000 students with a revenue of $4.95 billion.[35] A 2010 report found that its online graduation rate at the time was only five percent.[36] Later in the year, the university paid $154.5 million for 20-year naming rights for advertising purposes of the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The company terminated the naming rights deal on April 11, 2017,[37] and on September 4, 2018, the stadium’s naming rights were acquired by State Farm.[38]
State Farm Stadium, formerly the University of Phoenix Stadium, is a sports stadium in Glendale, Arizona that the corporation paid for naming rights from 2006 to 2018.
In August 2010, an ABC News investigation identified a UoPX recruiter who sought new students from Y-Haven, a homeless shelter in Cleveland, Ohio. Another University of Phoenix recruiter falsely claimed that the university’s Bachelor of Science in Education degree would be sufficient to qualify the producer[clarification needed] to teach in Texas or New York.[39]
In a December 2010 Bloomberg article, former UoPX senior vice president Robert W. Tucker noted that “at critical junctures, [co-founder] John [Sperling] chose growth over academic integrity, which ultimately diminished a powerful educational model”.[40] At its peak, UoPX operated more than 500 campuses and learning sites.[41] The university began to focus on opening new resource centers for online students to provide spaces for alumni to network and current students to seek assistance from professors and peers.[42]
Ownership by Apollo Global Management (2016–present)
In February 2016, Apollo Group announced its sale to a private investment group comprising Apollo Global Management, the Vistria Group, and the Najafi Companies, for $1 billion. Former U.S. Department of Education deputy secretary Anthony W. Miller, partner and chief operating officer of Vistria, became chairman.[74] The sale was approved by both the Department of Education and the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). In December 2016, the U.S. Department of Education approved the sale of Apollo Education Group to Apollo Global Management. The company provided a letter of credit for up to $385 million.[79] In February 2017, after the takeover by Apollo Global Management, UoPX laid off 170 full-time faculty members.[80] According to the 2019 academic report, degree enrollment was 87,400.
In March 2020, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) announced that they had suspended certification for G.I. Bill funds for new students at UoPX, citing a history of deceptive recruiting practices.[82][83] The VA withdrew its threat of sanctions in July 2020.[84] The same year, UoPX received $6.5 million in CARES Act funding[85] and $7.4 million in the second round of COVID-19 relief funds.[86] In 2020, UoPX began experimenting with micro-campuses, giving the centers a “WeWork vibe”.[87]
In 2021, Bloomberg reported that Apollo’s higher education investment had gained about 50 percent in value: from its $634 million initial investment to $956 million. UoPX also received $3.4 million in aid through the American Rescue Plan.
In 2021, UoPX continued to close campuses, including Atlanta and Salt Lake City.[90] The Phoenix, Arizona campus was the only location accepting new in-person students.[2] UoPX would later announce that only one campus would remain open in 2025.[91]