University of Phoenix Has Lost Half Its Students

The University of Phoenix's parent company, Apollo Education Group (APOL), announced more losses Wednesday. Its revenues and enrollment both sank roughly 14% in its latest quarter compared to a year ago.

Apollo CEO Greg Cappelli tried to strike an optimistic tone, but investors gave the stock an "F" for falling. The stock tanked almost 30% Wednesday.


University of Phoenix has lost half its students. Stock plunges 28% - Mar. 25, 2015

 

Agreed.

University of Phoenix's current woes, if anything, is an indicator of trying to scale beyond the limits of a for-profit institution.

UofP has many alumni (satisfied and otherwise). They became the de facto DL school simply because of their marketing. Their commercials were constantly playing in the early 2000s. And that was before anyone was really trying to seize market share in that space.

But spreading campuses around the country and pounding the name into our heads didn't make it a more desirable school. If anything the marketing kind of made UofP's name nearly synonymous with the idea that "online degree = joke" in the minds of many.

Now, an "online degree" is hard to laugh at, as far as delivery method, since so many reputable schools are offering online degrees. You could be a graduate of PennState, Drexel, NYU, Columbia, Stanford and I'm pretty sure I just saw an online Masters at Johns Hopkins as well.

But that doesn't stop people from making fun of the for-profit schools who really forced the market's hand in online offerings. Just the other day a professor friend of mine joked "Where did she get her Ph.D.? Capella? Buahahahaha!"

The for-profit schools face a reputation issue which I think is largely unfounded. You can't assail their accreditation. You can't always assail their tuition (which is sometimes comparable). The only observable thing separating American InterContinental University from say, Thomas Edison State College, is its ownership.

Lack of rankings certainly plays into it, but I don't think that is the real issue. I think some people really just need a reason to hate certain schools. They need a reason to feel that their degree is superior to another degree. When you graduate from a small, un-ranked college that nobody heard of you might feel like you need a reason to despise a university that was founded within the last 15 years that seems to have name recognition.

I've attended both for-profit and not-for-profit schools. Any shortcomings in either cannot fairly be attributed to the school's corporate structure. I think the whole thing comes down to snootiness, honestly.

 

I would also guess that part of what has happened is that students/prospective students are realizing that there a lot of other schools in the DL world. Once upon a time all the advertising by Phoenix made it sound like they were virtually alone in that game. Now it's become clear to many people that there are many, many alternatives and a lot of those are more affordable.

 

My local alumni non-profit state university has the following graduate tuition rates:
$347.00 per credit in-resident
$845.00 per credit online

It's all about the money, regardless of the for-profit status (or the non-profit status).

Keiser University changed to a non-profit status from a for-profit status. Conversely, even with the status-change, Keiser University continues to accept the same amount of federal student loans, grant monies, etc. Revenue sources remain the same and nothing has changed financially, except for the technical status.

 

I agree. I think UofP tried to scale aggressively in order to grab market share. The problem is that education doesn't follow the same formula as a Starbucks. People won't necessarily flock to you just because you have a campus nearby.

I also can't imagine UofP imagined that so many state and elite schools would have adopted DL so quickly. I mean, I remember when UofP ads first started showing frequently. I checked it out. But then I noticed that PennState World Campus was up.

Why would I go UofP versus PennState? Now the choices are staggering. I don't pass up UofP or DeVry because they are bad, per se, but because there are just so many better (or at least not as stigmatized) options out there.

 

I did the same Steve ... re yesterday's WSJ article.

 

I will say, however, that for-profit schools do kind of miss the boat when it comes to alumni engagement.

I can send the University of Scranton a check for $25 each year and feel a little bit of Royals pride.

I can't really cut a check to CTU. Well, I could, but they can't really accept it as a donation and it wouldn't be tax deductible even if they did.

One possible answer would be for these schools to kick off a not-for-profit alumni association. Maybe even make it a source of scholarships (though, I don't know if that crosses any legal boundaries since money would be moving from a non-profit to a for-profit). I think it would help rally the alumni base and could potentially help pay for school.

If snootiness and the belief that for-profit = evil then maybe socially conscious capitalism and mutual support can show some of our country's better qualities.

 

I have seen lot of IT folks shift to Western Governors University for their degrees; especially those with many years in experiences.

What happened to their RED SHOCKS recuiting campain? Didn't it work well?

 

For $65K, you get a B.A. and a pair of socks. Where else can you get a deal like that?

 

Yeah, but they're reallyreally flashy sox

 

I'm glad. There are so many less expensive, not for profit alternatives these days.

Phoenix has something like a 15% graduation rate. I think that there have been brick and mortar schools that have been shut down for less than that.

 

Kismet, yes. Those are some cute socks!

 

I've worn my red UoP socks a few times... not because they're UoP, but because they're red and went well with what I was wearing that day.

-Matt

 

I laughed when I read the CNN article a few days ago. I definitely had a sense of schadenfreude combined with an admittedly snooty attitude of, "I told y'all so."

But then, to me, the phrase online university is an oxymoron.

 

UOP Red Sox? I thought the Red Sox were from Beantown.

 

Actually, I think that the US is less snobbish about academia than other countries. We have more average and mediocre colleges with a variety of standards.

What I think makes many people upset it profiting from certain things. God and Religion are one. People are another. Education is a third.

The track record of graduates and the ridiculously high price is yet another cause for alarm. Also, they people who are falling for this - UOP and other colleges like it, tend to be less sophisticated and thus, more vulnerable.

 

I can't say how snobbish we are in relation to other countries. I can say that we are pretty damn snobby.

Consider, for a moment, the fact that a good many people think that "Ivy League" is a descriptor for every elite university. I've heard people erroneously refer to Stanford, Duke, Johns Hopkins and University of Chicago as being "Ivy League." Granted, that's a direct example of people's ignorance as well, but I think it also shows just how desperate we are to create many levels of the academic hierarchy to help bolster our snootery.

A magazine created a classification of "Public Ivy" and people run with it. No longer will a person have to sully their resume with a mere state school. No, they went to a Public Ivy. Clearly it is separate and distinct from those lesser public schools.

College rankings are a peculiar thing. We have tons of average, unknown colleges and universities boasting their regional rankings. I had a candidate come in for an interview telling me had a degree from a top business program. It was from a small, Catholic liberal arts college in rural Pennsylvania. I checked the rankings. It is ranked 25th in "Northeastern small liberal arts colleges." That hardly qualifies the school as having a "Top Business Program." But people need to feel like their school has more prestige than it does. This candidate, and many like him, need to feel like their program isn't just "good" or "adquate" but that it is exceptional. That, if you were to objectively compare it to Harvard or U Chicago it would be on the same scale.

It wouldn't. And that's OK. Harvard and U Chicago prepare people for a very different type of work than small liberal arts colleges. But people don't see it that way. They want their degree to give them status.

To a certain extent, we're all guilty of it. If CTU offered latin diplomas I would probably order one and put it in a big ostentatious frame. I think that huge latin diplomas are awesome. Though, I would probably be a too self-conscious to actually put it in my office.