University of Phoenix Reviews
The University of Phoenix is a hybrid university that has campuses both online and in physical locations. The school has been operating since the 1970s, and offers programs in the areas of business, security, criminal justice, education, information technology, social sciences, nursing, and health professions. The school also has continuing education programs for teachers, as well as specialized development courses for military service members.
Phoenix is different from many other online education providers in that it emphasizes teamwork and group projects, requiring students to spend most of their class time working within small groups of four to five students. These groups submit assignments together in portions, after agreeing among themselves who will complete which part. Through this learning model, Phoenix attempts to get students ready for a career in most business industries, where coworker collaboration and teamwork is valued.
REVIEW
On paper, there are many good things about the University of Phoenix. They have an open enrollment acceptance policy, which means that anyone with a high school diploma or equivalent is accepted without fail. For students who don’t have ACT, SAT, or other scores to submit, or who didn’t have stellar academic performance in high school, this makes it easy for them to pursue higher learning.
Beyond those two points, however, University of Phoenix has been shown time and time again to be an overall bad choice for any student who wants a meaningful college degree. Recruiters at Phoenix are frequently cited for their high-pressure sales tactics, part of their commissions-based work model that resulted in massive enrollments of students who were not fully aware of what Phoenix could truly offer them. While the school is accredited by the HLC and several smaller programs, and is a member of the NCA, the inability of most health services and business fields to accept a Phoenix degree has become nearly infamous. Swaths of reviews report that students graduated, only to find that their degree meant nothing in their field, and resorted to underpaid work or going to a new school entirely.
Additionally, problems with financial aid have plagued the school since the beginning, with students almost unanimously reporting being double billed, having trouble reaching their financial advisor, and being billed for classes they never attended. Cancelling classes or dropping out is notoriously difficult, and reaching support staff almost always results in long wait times and next to no resolution. So many thousands of bad reports have been filed across the Internet, to business and education organizations, to attorney generals, and to the school directly, that it’s hard to find any reliable source that rates the school above average, and most are much lower than that.
RATINGS
BRAND REPUTATION COMPARISON
USER ENGAGEMENT COMPARISON
POPULARITY TREND COMPARISON
- Unique collaborative learning model that prepares students for real-world business
- Open enrollment that allows anyone with a high school education to complete higher education
- Unanimously bad reviews in every area from financial aid to the competency of the staff
- Degrees from Phoenix are often not accepted by healthcare or business fields
- High-pressure enrollment that doesn’t prepare students to make the best decision before enrollings
- Cancelling or dropping out is very difficult
CONCLUSION
Overall, the majority view on University of Phoenix rules that it’s best to stay away. While the group-learning model and the open enrollment policy is attractive, the many issues that students have had with Phoenix since the beginning point towards the school being unworthy of your money and time.
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