OT : University of Idaho in Process of Purchasing the University of Phoenix

[Suudy]

MOSCOW, ID – The University of Idaho is in the process of purchasing the University of Phoenix. Officials say the U of P is an institution of higher learning that has served mostly working adult learners with dependents for almost 50 years. The target date of acquisition is sometime early next year.

The purchase price is $550 million. The seller is also providing $200 million in cash that will transfer to the not-for-profit corporation. The purchase will be financed through non-taxable and taxable bonds. This money is separate from any U of I budgets or funding lines.

University of Idaho in Process of Purchasing the University of Phoenix

MOSCOW, ID – The University of Idaho is in the process of purchasing the University of Phoenix. Officials say the U of P is an institution of higher learning that has served mostly working adult learners with

www.koze.com

 

[Loyal Coug1]

MOSCOW, ID – The University of Idaho is in the process of purchasing the University of Phoenix. Officials say the U of P is an institution of higher learning that has served mostly working adult learners with dependents for almost 50 years. The target date of acquisition is sometime early next year.

The purchase price is $550 million. The seller is also providing $200 million in cash that will transfer to the not-for-profit corporation. The purchase will be financed through non-taxable and taxable bonds. This money is separate from any U of I budgets or funding lines.

University of Idaho in Process of Purchasing the University of Phoenix

MOSCOW, ID – The University of Idaho is in the process of purchasing the University of Phoenix. Officials say the U of P is an institution of higher learning that has served mostly working adult learners with

www.koze.com

WTF? Is this some sort of hail Mary by UI? Crazy shit.

 

[95coug]

I imagine the idea is that it gives UI a strong online presence and broadens its reach. They serve different bases though, so I’m not sure how it’ll actually work.

 

[Coug90]

Nobody’s safe from conference realignment these days.

 

[425cougfan]

Thought this was April Fool's Day or an Onion piece.

 

[Loyal Coug1]

Thought this was April Fool's Day or an Onion piece.

Yeah this is nuts. I am not a big fan of online schools in the first place, and the U of Phoeniz, IMHO, was an overpriced diploma mill. U of Southern New Hampshire is another one. As is/was Devry.

Sorry, and I understand that for older learners, the online thing makes sense. If it's quality. I took an online grad level course a few years back that was pretty good. Prof was engaged and made us work. But in general, college is about growing up, fostering relationships and engaging with your fellow human beings. F-ing Covid and social media has f-ed up the next generation. We are so F-ed as a country. Right wing freaks, left wing freaks, the rest of us caught in the middle.

 

[95coug]

Yeah this is nuts. I am not a big fan of online schools in the first place, and the U of Phoeniz, IMHO, was an overpriced diploma mill. U of Southern New Hampshire is another one. As is/was Devry.

Sorry, and I understand that for older learners, the online thing makes sense. If it's quality. I took an online grad level course a few years back that was pretty good. Prof was engaged and made us work. But in general, college is about growing up, fostering relationships and engaging with your fellow human beings. F-ing Covid and social media has f-ed up the next generation. We are so F-ed as a country. Right wing freaks, left wing freaks, the rest of us caught in the middle.

Wingless freaks?

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

Yeah this is nuts. I am not a big fan of online schools in the first place, and the U of Phoeniz, IMHO, was an overpriced diploma mill. U of Southern New Hampshire is another one. As is/was Devry.

Sorry, and I understand that for older learners, the online thing makes sense. If it's quality. I took an online grad level course a few years back that was pretty good. Prof was engaged and made us work. But in general, college is about growing up, fostering relationships and engaging with your fellow human beings. F-ing Covid and social media has f-ed up the next generation. We are so F-ed as a country. Right wing freaks, left wing freaks, the rest of us caught in the middle.

Online is a God-send for non-traditional students. Not everyone can drop everything they're doing and go attend on campus. This is from first hand experience.

That being said, there are certain subjects that should be taught and learned in person as they benefit from the interpersonal transactions that happen in a classroom.

THAT being said, there is so much college coursework that is a complete waste of time and lends itself to staring at a screen for as little time as possible. While group work can be helpful in certain circumstances, mandating that every assignment be peer reviewed and having a 20 year old provide their limited world view on content they are barely grasping, or a student who can barely make their way through a sentence without a typo or grammatical error give feedback on your paper is hardly useful.

 

[Loyal Coug1]

Online is a God-send for non-traditional students. Not everyone can drop everything they're doing and go attend on campus. This is from first hand experience.

That being said, there are certain subjects that should be taught and learned in person as they benefit from the interpersonal transactions that happen in a classroom.

THAT being said, there is so much college coarsework that is a complete waste of time and lends itself to staring at a screen for as little time as possible. While group work can be helpful in certain circumstances, mandating that every assignment be peer reviewed and having a 20 year old provide their limited world view on content they are barely grasping, or a student who can barely make their way through a sentence without a typo or grammatical error give feedback on your paper is hardly useful.

Exhibit A of BS courses - Comm 101 with Val Limburg using his own book. In Bryan Aud with damn near 1,000 fellow students. Christ I got a C in that class because I was so bored I skipped out half the time. And refused to go see Citizen Kane. I think that Rosebud was his sled?

 

[Observer11]

It's a solid move by U of I. Covid killed the radio star/on campus learning. A lot of people discovered working and learning remotely during the two year lockdown - one of the few positives of that debacle.

My wife finished her masters via online during the vid (different university) which also included some in person sessions where they met at different locations around the country. It was a fraction of the cost of re-locating to the physical address of the school but her diploma has the same frame as someone who was on-site. Wouldn't surprise me if U of I bought some real estate in Arizona and/or advertised a get away two week vacation to N. Idaho/CDA Resort/Moscow for on campus learning sessions.

With the bloated cost of tuition due to fat cat administrators the also U of I figured out a way to leverage their accreditation and grow revenue. U of Phoenix folks get a more prestigious diploma from a 'real' university that, quite frankly, is pretty damned solid academically. As noted in one of the articles, a boatload of U of P certificate holders are only two year AA degrees. Pretty built in sales pitch to entice them into ponying up for a couple more years for a diploma from a 'real' university.

Not sure how involved he is lately but former Albertsons CEO Gary Michael is a Vandal. Dude oversaw the massive growth of that grocery chain in the 80's and 90's, then was the U of I acting President for awhile. Mensa level genius savant when it comes to business. Wouldn't surprise me at all if he ran the risk assessment numbers in his head (not kidding) and provided his blessing on the whole transaction. Also, their current President Scott Green came out of the private sector, not through the kiss ass career path of your normal university administrator. Business guys see things differently. It's unconventional but, by god, it's crazy enough that it just might work.

 

[CougSinceBirth]

This made me chuckle. (Not actually affiliated with UofI)

 

[425cougfan]

It's a solid move by U of I. Covid killed the radio star/on campus learning. A lot of people discovered working and learning remotely during the two year lockdown - one of the few positives of that debacle.

My wife finished her masters via online during the vid (different university) which also included some in person sessions where they met at different locations around the country. It was a fraction of the cost of re-locating to the physical address of the school but her diploma has the same frame as someone who was on-site. Wouldn't surprise me if U of I bought some real estate in Arizona and/or advertised a get away two week vacation to N. Idaho/CDA Resort/Moscow for on campus learning sessions.

With the bloated cost of tuition due to fat cat administrators the also U of I figured out a way to leverage their accreditation and grow revenue. U of Phoenix folks get a more prestigious diploma from a 'real' university that, quite frankly, is pretty damned solid academically. As noted in one of the articles, a boatload of U of P certificate holders are only two year AA degrees. Pretty built in sales pitch to entice them into ponying up for a couple more years for a diploma from a 'real' university.

Not sure how involved he is lately but former Albertsons CEO Gary Michael is a Vandal. Dude oversaw the massive growth of that grocery chain in the 80's and 90's, then was the U of I acting President for awhile. Mensa level genius savant when it comes to business. Wouldn't surprise me at all if he ran the risk assessment numbers in his head (not kidding) and provided his blessing on the whole transaction. Also, their current President Scott Green came out of the private sector, not through the kiss ass career path of your normal university administrator. Business guys see things differently. It's unconventional but, by god, it's crazy enough that it just might work.

Good points here. I'm completely on board with U of I getting a better online presence, and I can see those points about it being solid from a business perspective. That upsell point is compelling. It just is hard to understand from an ostensible flagship university in a state 800 miles away from Phoenix in the sense that it could hurt U of I's prestige and it isn't clear why they need the baggage of a diploma mill to get a better online presence.

That point about the name being the same on the diploma goes the other way, too. I wouldn't want to send my kid to Moscow for four years to get the same degree being handed out to moms with GEDs attending an online YVCC / CWU remotely from Phoenix.

They could have done some kind of lead gen or tech licensing / white label deal with U of P, or a bunch of other places, if the idea was just to get a better online presence and be able to upsell some nontraditional students. Of course, I write all this just from a gut-level reaction standpoint without knowledge of important facts. I'm sure this was compelling if U of I's regents went for it. Just weird. I would be much less surprised to see it from some kind of mediocre private university that didn't have as much of a geographical tie and didn't have as much reason to be concerned with having its "real" university devalued.

 

[BleedCrimsonandGray]

Good points here. I'm completely on board with U of I getting a better online presence, and I can see those points about it being solid from a business perspective. That upsell point is compelling. It just is hard to understand from an ostensible flagship university in a state 800 miles away from Phoenix in the sense that it could hurt U of I's prestige and it isn't clear why they need the baggage of a diploma mill to get a better online presence.

That point about the name being the same on the diploma goes the other way, too. I wouldn't want to send my kid to Moscow for four years to get the same degree being handed out to moms with GEDs attending an online YVCC / CWU remotely from Phoenix.

They could have done some kind of lead gen or tech licensing / white label deal with U of P, or a bunch of other places, if the idea was just to get a better online presence and be able to upsell some nontraditional students. Of course, I write all this just from a gut-level reaction standpoint without knowledge of important facts. I'm sure this was compelling if U of I's regents went for it. Just weird. I would be much less surprised to see it from some kind of mediocre private university that didn't have as much of a geographical tie and didn't have as much reason to be concerned with having its "real" university devalued.

Of course they'll ditch the UofP moniker and rebrand as U of I global campus. They're just buying the infrastructure is my bet

 

[Loyal Coug1]

Of course they'll ditch the UofP moniker and rebrand as U of I global campus. They're just buying the infrastructure is my bet

They are idiots is my bet. Way to deep six what is a reputable University.

 

[justinbgocougs]

the rest of us caught in the middle.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA


I needed that laugh, thanks

 

[95coug]

They are idiots is my bet. Way to deep six what is a reputable University.

There’s not going to be any in between with this move. Either it’s genius and will pay dividends and expand UI’s reach, or it’s the dumbest move they’ve ever made and is just throwing away half a billion.

 

[M-I-Coug]

Exhibit A of BS courses - Comm 101 with Val Limburg using his own book. In Bryan Aud with damn near 1,000 fellow students. Christ I got a C in that class because I was so bored I skipped out half the time. And refused to go see Citizen Kane. I think that Rosebud was his sled?

Com 101. Mass Communications, with Val. I kept the original red book with a red cloth cover and still have it in a box in the garage somewhere. Val was my advisor....but that class....with over 1,000 in Bryan Auditorium...your freshman year...was brutal, (coming from high school).

But yeah....The University of Phoenix had the worst reputation. For profit....pay to play...and buy your diploma.

 

[mikalalas]

Com 101. Mass Communications. I kept the original red book with a red cloth cover and still have it in a box in the garage somewhere.

But yeah....The University of Phoenix had the worst reputation. For profit....pay to play...and buy your diploma.

Ah Mass Communications 101. I took it and got about, around a B, B+, A-, 3.3 GPA, etc, under Bob Runnels(probably not known to any of ya), the Journalism, Newspaper Advisor, Professor, at Big Bend Community College(I know not as good as a 4 year college, but based on Loyal's description, better then that Professor)

Where I got my first AP Style Book(Newspaper, Journalism BIBLE)

Good Memories.

 

[95coug]

Com 101. Mass Communications, with Val. I kept the original red book with a red cloth cover and still have it in a box in the garage somewhere. Val was my advisor....but that class....with over 1,000 in Bryan Auditorium...your freshman year...was brutal, (coming from high school).

But yeah....The University of Phoenix had the worst reputation. For profit....pay to play...and buy your diploma.

I made it through WSU without ever taking a COM or SpCOM course. I’m not sure how, considering one course was supposed to be a graduation requirement, but it happened.

Also managed to dodge the law course that was a department requirement - a tough class with a ton of required reading and a professor that only gave assistance or good grades to hit girls who would flirt with him. The professor went on sabbatical, scheduled for a year, so I took the substitute PoliSci course immediately. Turned out well, because he returned after one semester and they rescinded the substitution. Not aware of anyone else in the program who dodged that class.