My Norwich University Experience : Apollo Group

Education IPO

WheelCipher — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:00:00 GMT

Anyone who has done research on any of the many schools that provide distance education will have an understanding that market demand is a partial driver of success or failure. There are online schools out there such as University of Phoenix, Kaplan University, and a few others who are “for-profit” institutions. That said, one can also buy stock in some of the publicly-held corporations that own these institutions. The Apollo Group owns University of Phoenix, for instance.

I have always thought that as distance learning evolves, we would see more institutions offering stock in order to raise capital. That happened again this week with Grand Canyon Education, Inc.

The problem is that the shares took a dive after the market opened. I have a few thoughts on this whole idea of education institutions (or corporations) raising money through an IPO.

-    In a market like we have now, someone should have put a stop to the whole process. This is a really bad time for stocks and a worse time to offer an IPO. It was not a smart idea for a short term effort to raise money.

-    The distance education market is still in the early stages of what promises to be a long-term win. But that doesn’t shield it from the cyclical behavior that plagues other industries.

I believe that the “hype” that has surrounded distance education over the past couple of years is currently in a depression. Based on the economy as a whole, people are afraid to spend money on an education right now. A lot of jobs are being lost every day and a degree means almost nothing in an economy that is bleeding.   It will be difficult for a lot of people to get a job no matter what education level they have.

I think that if a person were buy stock in education, it would probably be a long term win. In addition to waiting for the economy to rebound, there has to be some reinvention in the online education market. It has become almost bland from an investor standpoint. Perhaps Grand Canyon or Apollo will notice that and make some moves in the next year or two to separate themselves from the rest of the pack.

Time will tell.

With almost six consecutive years dedicated to distance education, Scott has the experience to answer any questions you may have about the topic. Please feel free to contact Scott about anything having to do with online education.

You can also check out his photo blog or his LinkedIn profile.

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Fan Mail from Diane

WheelCipher — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 12:00:00 GMT

A family member just started classes with Kaplan University. I've found many negative comments about Kaplan on the internet. Your website sounds like you are truly a "fan" of this type of learning. Do you feel that you got a good education from Kaplan? Did you have any financial aid or billing problems with them? What does "regionally accredited" mean? Is this the same as an accredited brick & mortar university? These are all concerns found on other websites. Any feedback you can provide is appreciated.

Thanks for the inquiry! As far as finding negative comments on the Internet about Kaplan, the only thing I can say is that you will find opinions about everything on the Internet. You should consider it for what it is. They are “opinions”. They are not usually reflective of the overall experience. When a company has as many “customers” as Kaplan does, you will always be able to find negative things about the products.

As an example, search the Internet and tell me how easy it is to find negative comments about Dell, General Motors, Hewlett Packard, Comcast, Time Warner, Samsung, or any other large company with hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of customers. Finding negative feedback is not hard. With that said, take the comments for what they’re worth.

In my time at Kaplan, I had no issues with financial aid. I used FAFSA and my total out-of-pocket was minimal. I feel that I got a good education from Kaplan. I used it to “get my ticket punched” so to speak. That is I wanted a place to get an undergraduate degree that would get me into graduate school. Kaplan helped me achieve that as I was accepted into Norwich University.

Regionally accredited institution of higher education means a community college, college, or university which is a candidate for accreditation or is accredited by one of the following regional accrediting bodies:

Middle States, Association of Colleges and Schools
New England Association of Schools and Colleges
North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
Northwest Association of School and Colleges
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Western Association of Schools and Colleges

Ask the college/university to identify whether they are regionally accredited, and if so, by which accrediting body. Then visit the web site for the regional accrediting body and look up your college/university in their listing of accredited institutions.

To read more about why this is important to you, please read this web page. And yes, Kaplan and most other schools that offer distance programs is accredited by the same agencies that accredit Harvard, Yale, University of Texas, and other well known institutions.

Thanks for the mail. I hope this helps.

Do you have any questions about distance education
or anything in this post? Feel free to contact Scott anytime!

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NewsFlash! Apollo Group Ordered to Pay $280 Million

WheelCipher — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:00:00 GMT

First, I would like for everyone to look at this comic … a little off the topic today, but funny none the less.

Now for the big news of the day in distance education: The Apollo Group Ordered to Pay $280 Million

Apollo Group Inc., the for-profit company that owns the University of Phoenix, fraudulently misled investors about its student recruitment policies, a federal jury ruled Wednesday, and was ordered to pay shareholders about $280 million.

[…]

The report, which was issued on Feb. 5, 2004, concluded that the University of Phoenix paid enrollment counselors "solely based on (the) recruiters' success in securing enrollments," which violated federal regulations. It added that the university systematically keeps its incentive-based recruitment practices hidden from the Department of Education. [SOURCE...]

This could be devastating to the school. If they were supporting and carrying out illegal practices for the sake of revenue, I am very upset that this happened. Not so much for the University of Phoenix, but for the industry as a whole.

There are good schools out there that are making an effort to do the right thing. People like myself and all the other bloggers and staff at eLearners work on a daily basis to promote online education. What this does (in an indirect way) is slap us in the face. It also tarnishes the image of the industry and the schools out there that try to uphold standards and keep the process rigorous.

I didn’t want to use the term “diploma mill” in this post, but what is a person to think that doesn’t know any better? They were letting anyone in that met absolute minimum requirements for the sake of gaining revenue. There is a distinct difference between “for-profit” and fraud.

The only thing I can hope is that they have cleaned up their act. If there is one thing this industry doesn’t need is for it’s most populous (and most well-known) institution to have a black eye like this.

The thing is that all of these problems were preventable. How? Stay above-board and honest. Don’t get greedy. Do the right thing in the interest of the students. It is apparent that the school (by practicing this behavior) saw a bottomless pit of cash in Washington, DC and took full advantage of it. It’s sad to me that an institute of higher learning would do this.

Apollo’s lawyers argued against the accusations on several levels, but I have faith in our justice system and believe the right call was made.

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