- Report: #108528
Complaint Review: University Of Phoenix - Nationwide Nationwide
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University Of Phoenix
www.phoenix.edu Nationwide, Nationwide, U.S.A.
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University Of Phoenix, University Of Phoenix Online - Scams its students & treats employees & faculty like dirt. Fined $9.8 million by federal regulators. Rip-off! Nationwide
This says it all. The largest fine ever handed out by the US Department of Education!
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University of Phoenix fined for using pressure sales
September 15, 2004
The nation's largest for-profit university has been fined $9.8 million by federal regulators who concluded it was so focused on boosting enrollment that it pressured recruiters to accept unqualified students.
The fine against the University of Phoenix, which opened classrooms in Indianapolis this year, was the largest ever imposed by the Department of Education. The federal investigators' 45-page report detailed several examples of compensation and sales practices that the government said were illegal or unethical, according to Tuesday's editions of The Arizona Republic, which obtained the report.
The Department of Education oversees federal financial aid programs and has strict rules against paying recruiters based on the number of students they enroll. It found the school evaluated recruiters and set salary incentives for them based on how many students they signed up and then tried to hide those practices from the government.
Enrollment counselors interviewed by regulators told of a glassed-in isolation room where underperformers were put on display to work the phones under intense management supervision, according to the report. The fine is the latest in a string of troubles besetting for-profit educators this year.
In February, federal agents raided the Carmel, Ind., headquarters of ITT Educational and 10 of its campuses. The company now faces a probe by the Department of Justice for possible falsification of student grades and attendance, enrollment and post-graduate placement data. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the California attorney general also are investigating.
Rene Champagne, ITT Educational's chief executive officer, said Tuesday at an investment conference in New York that the company continues to cooperate with the Department of Justice investigation. Similar allegations have put Career Education Corp. under investigation by the Department of Justice and the SEC. In June, the Department of Education cited a school operated by Corinthian Colleges Inc. for violating student loan application rules.
Government investigations are particularly threatening to for-profit educators because they receive 60 percent to 70 percent of their tuition revenue from government financial aid. The Apollo Group, the publicly traded parent company of the University of Phoenix, had announced last week that it agreed to pay $9.8 million to settle a year-old inquiry by the Department of Education. It did not admit any wrongdoing.
Todd Nelson, Apollo Group chairman and chief executive officer, called the regulators' criticism of the university's recruiting practices "very, very unfair" and inaccurate.
"That's not how we do it," he said.
The University of Phoenix offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, focusing on business and management, for working professionals. It has 151 campuses in 30 U.S. states, Puerto Rico and Canada, according to its Web site. As of May, it had 213,000 students, including nearly 110,000 attending its online campus, the site said.
Dan
Southfield, Michigan
U.S.A.
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University of Phoenix fined for using pressure sales
September 15, 2004
The nation's largest for-profit university has been fined $9.8 million by federal regulators who concluded it was so focused on boosting enrollment that it pressured recruiters to accept unqualified students.
The fine against the University of Phoenix, which opened classrooms in Indianapolis this year, was the largest ever imposed by the Department of Education. The federal investigators' 45-page report detailed several examples of compensation and sales practices that the government said were illegal or unethical, according to Tuesday's editions of The Arizona Republic, which obtained the report.
The Department of Education oversees federal financial aid programs and has strict rules against paying recruiters based on the number of students they enroll. It found the school evaluated recruiters and set salary incentives for them based on how many students they signed up and then tried to hide those practices from the government.
Enrollment counselors interviewed by regulators told of a glassed-in isolation room where underperformers were put on display to work the phones under intense management supervision, according to the report. The fine is the latest in a string of troubles besetting for-profit educators this year.
In February, federal agents raided the Carmel, Ind., headquarters of ITT Educational and 10 of its campuses. The company now faces a probe by the Department of Justice for possible falsification of student grades and attendance, enrollment and post-graduate placement data. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the California attorney general also are investigating.
Rene Champagne, ITT Educational's chief executive officer, said Tuesday at an investment conference in New York that the company continues to cooperate with the Department of Justice investigation. Similar allegations have put Career Education Corp. under investigation by the Department of Justice and the SEC. In June, the Department of Education cited a school operated by Corinthian Colleges Inc. for violating student loan application rules.
Government investigations are particularly threatening to for-profit educators because they receive 60 percent to 70 percent of their tuition revenue from government financial aid. The Apollo Group, the publicly traded parent company of the University of Phoenix, had announced last week that it agreed to pay $9.8 million to settle a year-old inquiry by the Department of Education. It did not admit any wrongdoing.
Todd Nelson, Apollo Group chairman and chief executive officer, called the regulators' criticism of the university's recruiting practices "very, very unfair" and inaccurate.
"That's not how we do it," he said.
The University of Phoenix offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees, focusing on business and management, for working professionals. It has 151 campuses in 30 U.S. states, Puerto Rico and Canada, according to its Web site. As of May, it had 213,000 students, including nearly 110,000 attending its online campus, the site said.
Dan
Southfield, Michigan
U.S.A.
2 Updates & Rebuttals
Kim
Gilbert,Arizona,
U.S.A.
Their recruting practices ARE questionable.
#2Consumer Suggestion
Wed, September 15, 2004
I live in AZ and know several people that used to work for U of P as "admissions counsellors" aka hardcore salesman. They all hated their jobs. The pressure to get students to sign up was intense. It seems that these guys are more interested in people's $$$$ than giving a good education. A guy I know still works for them. He used to tell me about their pay scale. He gets a base of around 28k I believe, and their pay is done in tiers. If he recruits so many people it goes up to 35k, then after that it goes up to 40k and so forth. Apparantly this is hugely illegal. U of P has a huge turnover too in this job, they just get rid of people who don't perform or force them to quit, and replace them with others.
Sherri
Piedmont,California,
U.S.A.
THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF "RETAIL EDUCATION"
#3Consumer Comment
Wed, September 15, 2004
I am not at all surprised by this report. I taught for eight months at one "college" and was totally mind-blown by the lack of quality of students admitted. The majority of my first class could not have possibly passed the admissions exam. Their spelling was so horrific that I actually gave them a list of twenty words every Monday morning and we had a spelling test every Friday. As far as enforcing rules on grades and attendance, puhleez. I had one student key my car, because she got a "B" for the quarter. Administration's response? "She's a single mother with three children. You have to cut her some slack. You really should change her grade to an A." Needless to say, I refused. I ended up leaving, as there was no way I wanted to be responsible for unleashing most of these people into the medical field. It was far more stressful than the ER. I called it "teaching 13th grade at Ghetto High." It seems that the only requirement for getting into many of these "schools" is to be able to qualify for grants and student loans. Case in point: In the pharmacy tech program, there was a male student in the class on "criminal diversion." His crime? Sale and manufacture of methamphetamine, which meant that he could not possibly be licensed as a Pharmacy Tech. But the Admission Reps, like at University of Phoenix, were pressured to get bodies in.
