UPDATE: A University of Phoenix spokesperson reached out to Education Dive with the following statement:
"We have cooperated from the outset of the FTC's broad, far-reaching inquiry, and we are committed to providing information for the federal government's review. We are also committed to complying with federal privacy laws before producing student records. That is precisely why the FTC's petition for a court order was sought without our objection and now provides a way for us to produce students' records while remaining compliant with applicable federal laws protecting those very students."
Dive Brief:
- The University of Phoenix is once again free to recruit prospective students on military bases, but parent company Apollo Education Group is not yet out of the woods with the Federal Trade Commission.
- Consumerist reports a federal judge ordered Apollo to submit records for an FTC investigation within two months after the company argued they would be impractical and complex given the nature of the request, the number of current and former students, and the difficulty in finding them.
- The Defense Department took the University of Phoenix off probation after announcing in October it could not recruit on military bases, attributing the decision to the results of an internal review.
Dive Insight:
When the U.S. Department of Education announced the probation in October, it also prohibited the University of Phoenix from accepting Tuition Assistance Program funding from active-duty service members who qualify for it. Had this become a permanent ban, there were concerns the impact would be severe, potentially putting the university in danger of violating the 90/10 rule, which says it cannot get more than 90% of tuition revenue from federal sources. The military TAP funding does not count toward the 90% limit.
Apollo Education Group disclosed the FTC investigation in July. The Commission is conducting a wide-ranging probe of potentially deceptive marketing practices at the University of Phoenix. Meanwhile, Apollo is exploring a billion-dollar sale to Apollo Global that is reportedly in advanced talks.
