Is the University of Phoenix a Rip Off?
Written by Matthew C. Keegan // 01/17/2008 // College News // 9 Comments
With more than 400,000 actively enrolled students, the State University of New York is the nation’s largest university system, beating out California State University by a few thousand students. Each school has multiple campuses and both schools’ reach extends to students far afield thanks to the internet.
There is one university whose student base is primarily online, although they do offer some campus courses. That would be the University of Phoenix, a for-profit school founded in 1976 with approximately 250,000 actively enrolled students. Not without controversy, U of P as some call the school, has been criticized for offering a substandard education by some and is considered over-priced by others.
SayCampusLife tracks a variety of on-campus and distance learning options and we’re eager to hear what you have to say about this school and what they have to offer. In the meantime, if you are considering enrolling, maybe taking a look at some of the claims will cause you to examine the issue first. I’m not telling you to avoid U of P, but if there are some questions about their program, then you need to uncover those answers for yourself.
Claim: The University of Phoenix is a for-profit school.
Fact: This is a true statement. Owned by the Apollo Group, the company also owns Western International University, the Institute for Professional Development, and the College for Financial Planning.
Claim: The school is not accredited.
Fact: Actually, the school is accredited by the Higher Learning Association and the North Central Association. Various programs, including Nursing, have received specific accreditation as well.
Claim: The university’s faculty is not qualified to teach.
Fact: As the school must comply with accreditation requirements, faculty must also be qualified accordingly. The school does recruit openly for new staff and there are more than 8000 faculty members according to the school. Just for kicks, I filled out a form on the U of P site to apply for teaching but was immediately rejected because I do not have a Master’s degree. Of course, having a Master’s degree doesn’t mean you have the skills to teach.
Claim: The school charges an exorbitant amount of money for tuition and fees.
Fact: Specific figures are not posted online, but I have heard that costs for the university are high. U of P accepts Stafford loans and students can finance their education through private student loans, military assistance, through your employer’s tuition reimbursement plan, and cash payments. The school does have a Grants program and students can apply for a scholarship which could be used to cover some of their expenses.
Claim: Phoenix grads earn less money than grads receiving comparable degrees from other universities.
Fact: I haven’t seen a survey detailing as much, so I question this sort of allegation. There are websites which allege various things about U of P, but substantiating these claims is something different. I will say this: will a degree from Phoenix be as well received as a degree from a known, local university? I suppose only your employer can tell you that!
I soft pedaled this article simply to encourage people to respond with their comments no matter whether they are good, bad or ugly. Keep it civil and your comment will be approved, otherwise don’t bother — we’re not in the habit of promoting unsubstantiated allegations!
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9 Comments on "Is the University of Phoenix a Rip Off?"
I am attending UoP online. I had to retake both of my algebra classes, each time they did say that I had to take out another loan to pay for the old class and the new one. My question is what happened to the aid that I had applied for? Lets say that i received part of the aid, but there were still the other half, so if I failed the class why couldn’t that money be put toward the class. My question is what happened to the money, and do I have to repay that money back although I never received it.Would someone please respond with an answer.
My response to Karmans..
I attend UoP and I look at my loans and it looks as though I have more than enough and then thousands of dollars disappear and there is no reason ,nor is this any account to where this money is going. I thought this left over money would come to me but it doesn’t . I would like to know why I now owe 92.00 ( out of pocket) when there should have been about 3000.00 unaccounted for.Each time the money comes in, the facilitators start giving me bad grades too or give me 0s when they could have given me a little credit for my work.take a look at your account history and it doesn’y show where the money goes ,but it shows a reciept of the money that came in.
Hi I am also an online student of UOP and frankly I don’t understand what this is actually about. I have been attending UOP for a year now and I don’t have any complaints. Since I have been there they have treated me very fair I believe. I have received any left over money that I get through my loans after paying for classes. I admit I have recently failed my last two classes because of my final assignments being turned in past twelve.Uugh!!
So that meant I had to repay for those classes which also meant that I wouldn’t get much of anything in my next disbursement. My counselors really pushed for me and got one of my classes credited which left me with only one to pay for. Now if that’s getting over… It was my fault that I had to retake these courses and I didn’t really understand why I had to go through taking them over but I did understand that the rules applied for everyone they could have taken my whole disbursement but they didn’t. Yay!! UOP
I attended UoP for a year taking Pharmacy tech course, but the only thing I have gotten is language arts. $8,000. for nthis crap. It was so confusing in the beginning due to being told i had to do the workshops and my two classes. i got lost due to no one explained what I was suppose to be doing. Anyway, long story short, I do believe this school is a rip off. I submitted a wrong assignment, due to just having throat surgery, got a score of 8 OMG relized my mistake inform the instructor he said submit it I understand these things happen. He never changed my grade which caused my to receive .2 below what I need as a final grade. 1.8 and I needed a 2.0, where is the justice?
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