University of Phoenix to lay off hundreds all around country soon
Apr 6, 2016, 10:04 AM
(Screenshot)
(Screenshot)
PHOENIX — The struggling University of Phoenix will lay off nearly 500 employees nationwide soon.
The Phoenix Business Journal reported 470 jobs were being cut. The Valley-based company was to release its second-quarter earnings Wednesday.
Parent company Apollo Group laid off several hundred last summer and 500 were let go in 2013. Falling enrollment pushed Apollo to sell itself to private investors in February.
University President Timothy Slottow’s letter to management noted the cuts were being made to eventually improve results for students.
The online for-profit school has run into problems in the past few years. There have been complaints from students that they were misled about cost and the value of their education in the job market.
Last year, Slottow wrote in post at online education news site Inside Higher Ed:
“To be sure, the institution has its complexities and challenges. But, like all schools, especially those that serve nontraditional students, we’re continuously in a mode of evaluating, assessing and working to improve student learning outcomes and the entire student experience.” …
The Federal Trade Commission launched an inquiry of unfair business practices in July 2015.
CNN Money reported in September that the university had the most former students in debt in the nation.
The Department of Defense barred the school from recruiting on military bases after finding that it did not get proper authorization do do so.
The ban was lifted in January, after the school met corrective measures.
