University of Phoenix Closing 155 Campuses

[GarrAarghHrumph]

U of Phoenix, a for-profit chain of universities, is closing 155 of their colleges in the US. This is over half of their facilities:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/ed...s&emc=rss&_r=0

Enrollment at U of P and at the other for-profit schools like Devry has been shrinking due to bad publicity based on both poor result outcomes and high default rates on student loans. In addition, more traditional unis have been getting into the online market, so students have more choices.

U of P has been doing other things behind the scenes, such as increasing class sizes and letting faculty go, which are not discussed in that article.

[mikey]

Good. I took a few Phoenix graduate-level classes through work a few years ago and they are hard to recommend. Like anything, you get out of it what you put in to it, but the quality of instruction and fellow students (torture for group projects) was so variable (and usually poor) that it made it hard to justify the effort. Good riddance.

[PRlady]

ITA. Their graduation record is poor and their marketing expenditures, judging by how many expensive TV ads I've seen from them, sky-high. I'm not a big fan of mixing profit motive with education and I don't think the for-profits offer anything that community colleges do not.

[Prancer]

I don't think the for-profits offer anything that community colleges do not.

Bachelors, Masters, and Ph.Ds.

Wow. The woman who lives across the street from me worked for Kaplan for many years, so I knew they were in a lot of trouble a while back, but UofP seemed to be pretty stable until just recently. That's a huge cutback.

[milanessa]

I'm talking a bit out of my hat here since I don't know much about it but I wonder if it's related to GI Bill payments. I don't usually read the articles in the AF Times about this subject but have noticed an increase in concern about for profit universities and more congressional inquiries. Apparently they get a lot of taxpayer money and it's being scrutinized closely. Here's one news report.

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul...leges-20120716

[GarrAarghHrumph]

I'm talking a bit out of my hat here since I don't know much about it but I wonder if it's related to GI Bill payments. I don't usually read the articles in the AF Times about this subject but have noticed an increase in concern about for profit universities and more congressional inquiries. Apparently they get a lot of taxpayer money and it's being scrutinized closely. Here's one news report.

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jul...leges-20120716

I don't doubt it. As a related example, California is no longer allowing Cal Grants to be used for U of Phoenix, and other universities which do not meet graduation rate and student loan default standards:
http://www.mercurynews.com/education...e-state-grants

This has cut for-profit uni enrollment in CA significantly, starting this fall.

Speaking to some people who teach or have taught at for-profit unis, they say that enrollment at all of them is down drastically, nationwide.

Despite what U of Phoenix says, faculty will be let go. They'll do it via attrition - they won't lay people off. They'll simply not offer them classes to teach.

[overedge]

I don't think U of P has that many permanent faculty members anyway, so I think you're right - the non permanent faculty will just not be offered classes.