from new president

Colleagues,

This past weekend on public radio an investigative report aired that examines military student use of GI Bill funds, and it includes University of Phoenix, our San Diego campus and our military students; the report continues on July 4 on PBS News Hour.

Supporting military students is a privilege and an honor, and our military leaders, public relations and government affairs teams worked incredibly hard to give the journalists reporting on this story an accurate view of our policies, services and commitment to this incredible population of students.

I want to share with you the message I sent in response to this report to our military veterans, active duty servicemembers, and their families.

The path that led you to pursue your education began in service to your country. At University of Phoenix, we honor your sacrifices and strive to match your commitment and dedication in the services and support we provide you. We value the trust you have placed in us and remain committed to helping you achieve your educational and career goals. Serving you is an honor that drives us every day.

You, our military students, are unique in many ways, but share in common with all of our students (and more than 860,000 alumni) a love of learning and a desire to advance and progress toward your goals. And I vow to do everything in my power to help you succeed.

The work we do to demonstrate transparency, accountability and a commitment to you, our military students, is among our top priorities. You earned educational benefits in service to our country and your choice to study at University of Phoenix is among our deepest honors and privileges. While a debate about you and your fellow servicemembers may appear in the media, or between political leaders in our federal and state legislative bodies, please know that our commitment to you remains the same. We have dedicated student service teams, many with prior military service themselves, devoted to your progress from before enrollment to after graduation.

Our leaders, including Major General James A. (Spider) Marks (U.S. Army, Ret.) and Col. Garland Williams, Ph.D. (U.S. Army, Ret.) – along with many more veterans now working to serve students at the University, are guiding our work to help you complete your degree program and advance in your professional career, whether you stay in the service or return to civilian life.

We are always here to help. If you have questions, concerns or want to add your voice to why military students choose University of Phoenix, please do not hesitate to email us at learnmore@phoenix.edu.

Thank you for your service to our country, and for allowing us the opportunity to serve you in your education.

We’re prepared to respond to this investigative report to ensure our story is told accurately. To that end, we’ve developed a website that highlights our efforts to support military students and I encourage you to visit it to learn more.

I want to express our gratitude to the team of nearly 1,000 academic counselors, advisors and staff in the military division for everything they do to support military students, and, of course, to our San Diego campus for their role supporting this process.

We will share more information with you as this story unfolds.

Regards,

Tim Slottow

President, University of Phoenix

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Most military students want the money not an education

They can sit in class with their military buddies and do group work that requires little time and effort.

Apollo's spin is "always helping students" the truth is they want the VA benefit.

San Diego has always received praise for growth. They benefitted from the demographics, over crowding at state schools.

A UOP degree is a joke so stop the pretense. Corinthian is going down now. ITT Tech is next, and then UoP after that. See ya, Bye.

I was just walked out b/c of the truth. I have been at UoP for more than 8 years and have seen too much. Thinking it's going to get better. They pay me 80K to dial a phone enroll a student.

Opra. Please post the email contact when you get time, so that all layed off personal from the Military Division can make contact with him!

Anon16759...I'm posting an email address this afternoon for a pro Veteran gentleman who is collecting information on the subject at hand. Reach out to him prior to signing off on any severance agreements. I have already spoken with him. Best of luck!

I as well would like to share with PBS some of the realities of Hiring our Heroes events, aggressive recruiting, and the real reason University of Phoenix dumps millions into MWR contracts and other soldier and family support sponsorships. As well as The Leadership at the UOPX Military Division and Apollo Education Group

In reference to the European campuses, University of Phoenix strongly underbid those contracts since they were not yielding enough profit. Rather than pulling out of Europe, and appearing to the DOD to be abandoning these military bases and students, they low balled the bid and let another school take over. It was all about profitability. Never about the best interest of the servicemembers and their families.

There was a simple question in the PBS story--how many Vets who graduate get jobs. In response, UoP has manufactured a story about a National Guard student who made the officer ranks "because" of his earning a UoP degree. What is missing is the fact that the commissioning process requires any 4 year degree—an accredited bachelor's in underwater basket weaving works! No issue with the LT getting his degree from Phoenix (or anywhere else) and thus getting an officer commission—shame on UoP for making the school sound integral to the process and generous/magnanimous in supporting the military. Sure UoP wants to sound supportive, look at the GI Bill money rolling in. Link: http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=BW&date=20140630&id=17740064

Next, I would suggest looking at a Frontline video about GI Bill funding and why schools like UoP have so many military reps. It’s not about support, it is about canvassing. To be fair, the Frontline episode does not give enough time to the differences between accreditations of various for-profit schools. It also does not illustrate how the service (I can speak to the USAF) looks at an advanced degree as a necessary piece of promotion. This makes schools like UoP attractive. It would have been beneficial for Frontline to delve into the graduation, employment, and default rates of the various schools and to compare the data to other public and private schools for valid comparison. Lastly, it is interesting that the DoD decided to NOT renew its contract with UoP on European bases (2013). Link: http://www.stripes.com/news/dod-renews-contracts-with-four-schools-drops-university-of-phoenix-1.230806 Frontline Link: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/educating-sergeant-pantzke/

I was just layed off from the Military Division and would love to share with PBS some of the realities of Hiring our Heroes events, aggressive recruiting, and the real reason University of Phoenix dumps millions into MWR contracts and other soldier and family support sponsorships.

Watch the spin.

Thread regarding University of Phoenix layoffs

from new president

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