UoP dumped by Intel

Intel cuts tuition aid for University of Phoenix classes

Dawn Gilbertson
The Arizona Republic
Dec. 5, 2006 12:00 AM

Intel Corp. employees can no longer attend the University of Phoenix and a host of other schools on the company's dime because of stricter standards for tuition reimbursement.

The giant chipmaker now will pay for classes only at business and engineering schools with blue-ribbon accreditation.

In Arizona, the three state universities and a couple of others make the cut, including Thunderbird, the Garvin School of International Management.
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The company, which has about 5 percent of its employees in school at one time, says it made the rare blanket move largely because it found that employees who didn't go to top-notch programs were losing out to those who did for promotions and new jobs.

Alan Fisher, Intel's manager of global extended education programs, said the change is in no way an indictment of for-profit schools like the University of Phoenix. He said that instead, it was a reflection on Intel's culture and highly educated workforce.

Still, the move is a blow to Phoenix-based Apollo Group, parent of University of Phoenix.

It relies heavily on tuition reimbursement for its revenue and has long counted Intel among its largest corporate customers.

Ayla Dickey, an Apollo spokeswoman, said the school hopes Intel reconsiders.

 

There will be more like this..Raytheon, for example, does not provide tuition reimbursement for UoP.

 

So, the North Central Association, one of the six regional accreditors, is not "blue-ribbon" accreditation? What then qualifies as "blue-ribbon" accreditation, if not one of the six regionals?

 

Re: Re: UoP dumped by Intel

ABET and AACSB.

 

Re: Re: UoP dumped by Intel

North Central - regrettably - appears to be going thru a period of weak leadership - and I say this fully knowing that my FT employment is accredited thru NCA.

With all due respect to the "rigor" of the NCA accreditors - UoP goes to great length to keep students in classes - to keep the money coming in. In addition to a remarkably detailed syllabus, PLUS a calendar that tells them what they have to do every day of class (in case they can't figure it out for themselves), I have to report weekly on any student who is not getting an "A". The course "template" for any class calls for a remarkable amount of spoon-feeding - so it looks remarkably like a high school where "everybody graduates".

It's no surprise to me that Intel is not impressed with the result of the UoP "product". It remainds of the saying that the "poor pay more".

 

Re: Re: Re: UoP dumped by Intel

Thank you for saying that. My main point, my good man, was to draw out the notion that if these guys really meant professional accreditation, they should have said professional accreditation, not "blue-chip" accreditation. If these clowns are going to be making pronouncements, they should learn to get their terminologies correct and say what they really mean.

 

Re: Re: Re: UoP dumped by Intel

Sooooooooo........that means the psychology degree I may get from Harvard is not as "worthy" as the one from Fielding because the former is not accredited by the APA and the later is? Interesting.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: UoP dumped by Intel

The Harvard name trumps everything.

I wouldn't read too much into this as far as UoP, the policy likely applies to every school that isn't AACSB or ABET accredited.

 

If you want to practice with your psychology degree, and your state requires an APA-accredited degree for licensure, then the answer is obviously "yes".

For proof, simply ask Harvard:

In fact, it appears that Harvard is pursuing APA accreditation, but it takes several years to obtain.

 

Intel is also cutting costs and UoP is quite pricey for what it was. Didn't make financial sense.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: UoP dumped by Intel

Apparently so.

 

Re: Re: Re: UoP dumped by Intel

A more plausible explanation is that Intel is trying to cut costs and has found a thinly veiled quality justification (correct or incorrect) for the change in policy. Clearly, requiring attendance in degree programs with programmatic accreditation will ration tuition reimbursement to the detriment of employees, especially those with diverse backgrounds.

Dave

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: UoP dumped by Intel

All well and good, but their thinly veiled justification does not support their probable real goal of cost-cutting, as schools with what they call "blue-ribbon" accreditation would be more likely to be able to engage in a strategy of prestige pricing.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: UoP dumped by Intel

Not plausible at all - open mouth, insert foot in mouth.

How about this...UoP (on average) does not turn out a quality product. Some UoP grads are going to be good - because they would be good anywhere. Being mediocre is OK if you work for the government - but not in a business where performance counts.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: UoP dumped by Intel

I agree to some extent. If those so called "blue-ribbon" schools, could handle all the additional students from for-profit schools, then, ultimately, the total amount of tuition reimbursement. However, those schools can't and won't deal with diverse students at various levels of preparation, so I think Intel's total tuition reimbursement costs will go down to the detriment of their employees. Overall, I can see this move hurting single mothers of minority backgrounds.

Dave

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: UoP dumped by Intel

Jim, please tell me how you know that UOP degree holders are mediocre. Your generalization is incorrect, in my view. It is an enormous organization that is generally self-correcting. To call degree holders mediocre is inaccurate and probably wrong. In fact, the organization purports (under the review of accreditors) to strive for quality and uniformity in its degree programs, so I wonder if what you say is true and if you could even know it's true.

Dave

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: UoP dumped by Intel

Actually, Dave, I did not use the word mediocre - you did.

I'll dumb it down for you - UoP is like a Gym personal trainer program. Some members are going to push themnselves - no matter what. Some members are going to show up and watch TV and eat snacks - because they really aren't going to be pushed to exercise. Everybody who shows up graduates - but the majority who did not push themselves will not be competitive with the few who did - or the grads from other programs who were MADE to push themselves.

As for being self-correcting - Intel does not share that view - and neither do I. UoP pays bupkis, hires inexperienced or non-experienced people (Rich Douglas for example) and has high turnover. These are not attributes of a quality program.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: UoP dumped by Intel

Actually, Jim, you did use the word mediocre to describe UOP graduates. Do you have an axe to grind with UOP?

Jim, honestly, you make these emotional declarations about UOP from time to time seemingly by fiat (and in ire), and you are rarely able to back up your analysis with evidence...

If you know something, please tell us.

Dave

 

Re: Re: Re: UoP dumped by Intel

Weekly reports on < A students? I find that hard to swallow if a University puts B+ students on their at-risk radar.

I've taught adjunct for 5-6 colleges and my similar guidelines were:

1) I had to write a long report if more than 80% of the class received A's to show that I wasn't just shoving people thru.

2) A current university I teach for, the at-risk level is below a C. It autogenerates a note to the student from the gradebook, and I follow up on it. A current class I am teaching right now has NO A's out of 17 fairly good students.

This thread speaks alot to the rigor of UOP.