University of Phoenix’ Plot to Corner the Cheap Education Market
University of Phoenix’ Plot to Corner the Cheap Education Market
It’s typical: the for-profit education market caught lobbying to kill public education opportunities while scrabbling hard for public dollars and students from the community college systems.
The University of Phoenix played a key role in defeating legislation that would have allowed community colleges in Arizona to offer low-priced bachelor’s degree programs, interviews and state records show.
The for-profit college, which is one of the state’s biggest employers, provided research and political muscle for a multi-year lobbying campaign against “community college baccalaureate degrees” - out of concern that those programs would undercut its business model.
For-profit schools and community colleges generally serve the same working, non-traditional student demographic, but tuition rates at community colleges are often much lower.
Historically, community colleges have offered two-year associate’s degrees, with students then transferring to other schools to earn a bachelor’s degree - also known as a baccalaureate degree. Recent efforts by community colleges to offer their own baccalaureate degree programs have been controversial, in part because they dramatically expand the traditional mission of these schools.