U of Phoenix hasn't changed for the better (yet, 5 Years Later)

This was a little confusing. The Apollo Group had owned University of Phoenix for decades, and they sold it to Apollo Global Management in 2017. LOL.

 

They’re cleaning books.

 

Not quite. Apollo Global Management is a real giant, founded in 1990. They buy and sell everything on earth. A billion dollars is small potatoes. Good info here on their mega-dealing since Day One. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Global_Management

Apollo Education Group just has a similar name - Apollo, the Greek Sun God. Lots of businesses with that name. And Apollo Ed. Group was snapped up by Apollo Global Management. Two fish in a pond. One smaller one bigger - similar names. One gobbled up the other. Hope he was tasty.

 

Apollo Education Group - founded by John Sperling (a professor) in 1973.
Apollo Global Management - founded by Leon Black, Josh Harris and Marc Rowan in 1990.

 

They should sell it to ASU to make Arizona State University Global Campus, just like Ashford University was sold to the University of Arizona.

 

Why? There's already an ASUOnline.

 

TEKMAN is really particular about university names

 

So can remove the infamous "University of Phoenix" from its name for better marketing. Didn't Ashford do that?

 

Easy. Infamous name? Just re-brand under another name and keep on keepin' on ... How many schools have we seen do that?

 

They should pick something bold and unique like American InterContinental University. I'm almost positive there are no schools using such a ridiculous name.

 

lol

 

The name fits to be in Central America...where two continents meet.

 

Yep. Right near the Instituto Nacional in Panama City, where Gen. Manuel Noriega went to High School. Infamous dude. Ugly, too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Noriega

 

Very nice observation

FYI "Here’s my prediction: people will get these certs, and it will help them professionally, yes, and then an awful lot of them will go on and earn degrees anyway." - very true for many of us.

 

I think the University of Phoenix name is fine, named after a major city/metroplex; however, its reputation is horrible. Most respectable colleges/universities after major cities/metroplex.

University of Chicago
Boston College
Boston University
University of Miami
University of Richmond
Seattle University
University of Dallas
University of Memphis
University of Denver
University of Houston
University of San Diego
New York University

 

In one way it is deserved, in many others it is not.

UoP earned a bad reputation due to its sales practices. Its sales function not only takes up a lot of the budget, it had/has a reputation for the hard sell, for pressing people to acquire student debt, for admitting people who really didn't have the acumen, motivation, and/or time to pursue a degree. This was well-earned.

But, as the largest university in the country at one point, it also became the archetype for any criticism anyone wanted to toss. It was a diploma mill, people would say. Or they'd call it an "online university" even though (at that time) more than half of its students were in the classroom. It because the McDonalds of higher ed, one operation representing the entire industry. (McDonalds is the archetype for the fast food industry. Anything they can be criticized for is also being done by other members of that industry. But it's McDonalds who gets mentioned by name. I bet the people at Burger King just love that.) People who didn't have a clue about what they were saying would toss around "University of Phoenix" to represent just about anything critical they had to say, even if (a) it was true and/or (b) lots of other schools (who remained under the radar) deserved the same criticism.

I haven't taught for UoP since 2006, so I can't speak for today's recruiting, academic support, or academic quality. And I'm not defending them overall, either then or now. I'm just saying that a lot of unfair, ignorant criticism is and was heaped on them. It also tended to obscure the very real and necessary criticisms of their recruiting operations. And that the students who did degrees there earned those degrees.