Apollo Group’s Ryan Rauzon responds once again

by David Safier

I rarely post about comments, and almost never about two comments by the same person, but I really want to keep up a dialogue with Apollo Group spokesman Ryan Rauzon, because I think we can learn something — me, him, BfA readers — from the exchange. If there are legitimate points that will soften my criticisms of for-profit college practices, Ryan is in an ideal position to make them. And if points I've made are valid, he is also in a position to say so.

We've done this on the comments page before, carried on long discussions on issues involving informed, intelligent people with differing opinions. I have never edited a word or deleted a comment by anyone who participates, except for obvious trolls who use lots of capital letters, make ad hominem attacks and hijack the conversation to go in irrelevant directions. For that reason, the blog format is ideal for lengthy discussions/debates, since everyone can write as much as they want as often as they want. Like a chess game by email, it goes on as long as there are still things to say and moves to make. The discussion is held on a level playing field.

That being said, after Ryan posted a very aggressive comment on my post about the tax breaks the Arizona legislature wants to give to Apollo Group/University of Phoenix (Nothing wrong with agressive, by the way. I don't use that adjective as an insult), I replied to the comment, and Ryan commented a second time, this time with a more friendly tone, writing,

David, glad you responded. We may have to agree to disagree here.
But your readers can also read more here:

http://www.phoenix.edu/content/altcloud/en/about_us/media-center/value-of-a-university-of-phoenix-education/leading-on-reform.html

And for those who want read The Chronicle of Higher Education story from February, it may prove helpful:

http://chronicle.com/article/fast-growing-u-of-phoenix/126260

Apologies for paywalls…

Ryan Rauzon

Ryan's first link is a piece on the University of Phoenix website titled, Leading on Reform. It has a list of ten things U of Phoenix is doing to make sure the for-profit college is "setting the gold standard in transparency, accountability and robust student protections."

I take it, this is a recent addition to the site which is a response to the attention from the media and the federal government about problems with paying recruiters for each new student, giving students inaccurate information, etc. In fact, one item in the list implies as much:

We've spent more than $100 million upgrading our compliance systems – including large investments in digital call monitoring. This is to ensure our advisors are giving students the best and most accurate information.

This begs the question — and Ryan, I hope you will answer: Is this piece an admission that standards have not been as high as they should have in the past, but U of Phoenix is making the necessary changes? If so, my criticisms are accurate about past practices and possibly less so about current practices.

The second article you link to, much of which is behind a subscription wall, appears to reinforce my impression that U of Phoenix is trying hard to mend past practices. The title is Fast-Growing U. of Phoenix Calculates a More Careful Course. "Careful," of course, is the opposite of "careless," implying the college was less than careful — careless — in the past.

Though I can only read the first few paragraphs of the article, a caption under a photo tells the tale:

The re-engineering of the U. of Phoenix comes as it and the $20-billion for-profit higher-education industry it helped to create face substantial political, financial, and public-relations pressures.

So my question to you, Ryan, is, are these two links you sent me an admission that U of Phoenix is tightening up procedures which were lax (I would choose a stronger word than "lax," but I don't want to load the question) in the past?

Again, comments on BfA posts can go on as long as people continue to add comments, and there are no restrictions on the length of any given comment. I sincerely invite you to enter into a discussion with me and interested readers. Who knows, if you're convincing enough, you may pick up a few new students.