Troubles Grow for a University Built on Profits - New York Times - The Diigo Meta page

• 09 Jun 09
  

  Bill Hooper

  This article highlight the University of Pheonix's struggle to maintain quality academic programs will surviving as a for-profit corporation.

  university_of_pheonix

• 28 Mar 08
  

  Heather Sullivan

  University of Phoenix Graduation Rates: Ouch!

  UOP degree education online

  • According to federal statistics and government audits, the university relies more on part-time instructors than all but a few other postsecondary institutions, and its accelerated academic schedule races students through course work in about half the time of traditional universities. The university says that its graduation rate, using the federal standard, is 16 percent, which is among the nation’s lowest, according to Department of Education data. But the university has dozens of campuses, and at many, the rate is even lower.
  • The government measures graduation rates as the percentage of first-time undergraduates who obtain a degree within six years. On average across all American universities, the rate is 55 percent. Dr. Pepicello said this was a poor yardstick for comparing other universities with his, which serves mostly older students who started college elsewhere. Alongside the 16 percent rate, the university Web site also publishes a 59 percent graduation rate, but that is based on nonstandard calculations and does not allow comparison with other universities, he said. The official rates at some University of Phoenix campuses are extremely low — 6 percent at the Southern California campus, 4 percent among online students — and he acknowledged extraordinary attrition among younger students.

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