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According to the good folks over at the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, those who attend the for-profit University of Phoenix earn more than those who attend traditional, selective colleges. Well, sort of.
This is potentially very important information. The University of Phoenix, like all for-profit colleges, is a career school; the point of going there is to earn more money. While critics often say that for-profit schools leave students with high debt and little potential for career advancement, this information would seem to put things in perspective.
According to the piece by Christopher Matgouranis:
The chart below is a snap-shot of the earnings of alumni from two very different types of schools: those from the “traditional” public/private non-profits and those from the largest for-profit university in the country, the University of Phoenix. The “traditional” public/private universities are a sample of 153 schools from Barron’s Guide to College’s “competitive” schools (there are about 700 total). These are the typical mid-quality American colleges and universities. The salary data is taken from Payscale.com’s alumni median salary by years of experience. The average “competitive” school in this sample had 313 observations and the University of Phoenix had over 16,000 total observations.
The chart shows that the typical University of Phoenix alumni earns slightly more than those from the traditional competitive schools at every level of experience throughout their career.
Here’s the information:
This is a potentially very interesting chart. At every level of experience the average Phoenix graduate appears to earn about $2,000 more annually. That’s not a lot of money, but it’s enough to make for-profit education look a little less, well, scammy.
The truth is more complicated. First of all, the chart appears to only look only at the graduates of the programs. But the University of Phoenix has a 16 percent graduation rate. That means that the average student at the University of Phoenix actually never graduates at all; while he has still accumulated significant debt, he isn’t included in this survey.
But it’s no surprise that graduates of Phoenix end up doing reasonably well financially. The reason for this is simple; virtually everyone who attends the university successfully is already employed in one of those highly bureaucratic jobs where pay raises and promotions depend on education, no matter where it’s from. That’s why the University of Phoenix works for the people who actually do graduate; they have the sort of jobs where they get paid more directly as a result of earning a degree.
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fledermaus on June 14, 2011 12:55 PM:
Really? And who is reporting these salary numbers? law schools have been rigging salary numbers for years for new graduates. I wouldn't be surprised if the for profits are doing the same.
Robert Townsend on June 08, 2012 7:27 PM:
I guess you were hoping to find a story about how useless University of Phoenix is. I bet that would be something you would not doubt at all. You people kill me, get a life why don't you?
Amy Heath on July 30, 2012 3:57 PM:
Damaging the creditabilty of a huge school such as UOP is just destructive to over million people who are either employed at UOP or go there. The true numbers is they have over 500,000 grauates and over 500,000 in school currently. Continuing to beat up the school will just diminsih the value of the education which has never been the issue. As an acredited college the class content is that of any other school. So the education these graduates recieve is on par with all other schools and they are taught by people working in the industry, not professors that do not work and have not work in their fields for 10-50 years. The problem is the recruiting process make sure you credit UOP for the positives so not to destroy the lives of 1 million people with no crediabl evidence about their programs. USE YOUR BRAIN OR SHUT UP!
Django on November 14, 2012 4:57 PM:
Dear Amy Heath,
Following your admonition to "use my brain or shut up," I decided to use my brain and correct the spelling and grammar of your comment above.
You made six spelling errors, which I imagine would be embarrassing for someone defending an educational institution:
1: "creditabilty" should be "creditability," although I think you mean "credibility"
2: "grauates" should be "graduates"
3: "diminsih" should be "diminish"
4: "acredited" should be "accredited"
5: "recieve" should be "receive" (there used to be a rhyming pneumonic about this one)
6: "crediabl" should be "credible"
Also, what Internet browsing software doesn't have a built-in spell-checker at this point? How lazy are you? Is this what you did while at UoP?
But that's not all! You also don't understand English grammar:
"The true numbers is..."
This is called number agreement. It should be "The true numbers are" or "the true number is." This is basic stuff. Elementary school stuff.
"Professors that do not work and have not work..."
This should be in the past tense: "Professors who have not worked."
You are obviously an apologist for UoP. But whether you are a student, a graduate, or an employee of Uop, your argument is weak. And so are your written communication skills.
"Use your brain or shut up" indeed.
Edward H. on February 15, 2013 8:57 AM:
My older brother got his business degree from UoP and regretted it ever since. Most of the companies he applied to never got back to him. He had a friend in Genentech who tried to get him an interview, but apparently the guy in charge of recruitment at the time had dismissed resumes that had anything to do with DeVry, Uop, ITT Tech, etc, and will have to wait until another opportunity arises.
My brother had to start over at UCLA with me. It's gonna be weird for him to graduate a year after I do, but it's one of those life lessons I suppose.
And LOL @ Amy Heath's comment! She's a full-time professor at Saint Leo University: http://saintleo.catalog.acalog.com/content.php?catoid=2&navoid=27
Amy Heath - Weekend and Evening Programs
M.B.A., University of Phoenix (of course!)