The University of Phoenix, which once boasted hundreds of thousands of students and generated billions of dollars in revenue, is on track for a $550 million purchase by a not-for-profit entity created by the University of Idaho.
The pending acquisition comes roughly three weeks after trustees of the University of Arkansas narrowly rejected a similar proposal, at a purchase price estimated at about $500 million, according to an article by Inside Higher Ed. From its start in 1976, the University of Phoenix eventually counted more than 450,000 students but enrollment plunged amid a series of lawsuits, fines and other punitive actions by regulators, including a $191 million settlement of a deceptive-advertising lawsuit in 2019.
“The university has focused on student outcomes, support and upskilling, as well as understanding and reacting to marketplace trends from employers, and innovating ways to make online higher education more accessible and achievable," he said in a statement following the Idaho State Board of Education decision in favor of the purchase.
The affiliation also would broaden the University of Idaho’s reach to mid-career, adult students. The university sits on a traditional and bucolic — but remote — campus in northern Idaho. It was forced into national headlines late last year after four students were killed in a house next to campus.