This is one of the most
interesting and utterly unique universities in the world! The University of
Phoenix is a real university, it’s just different. It has adapted to a
changing world and now has almost 40 campus locations around the globe and
455,600 students. Just 15 years ago the University of Phoenix had 25,100
students. The
University of Phoenix is the second-largest higher education system in the
country, behind only the State University of New York. And it’s growing
at a rate of about 9 percent a year, compared with only 1.5 percent a year for
all institutions.
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John Sperling, founder and executive chairman of
Apollo Group Inc., poses for a portrait at his home in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S.,
on Tuesday, June 16, 2009. Defying the education establishment, Sperling and
his protégés transformed a backwater of mom-and-pop trade schools in a $30
billion industry lead by Apollo Group's University of Phoenix, which is now the
biggest U.S. university with almost 500,000 students. Sperling, 89, who had
until recently been tending to non-educational interests ranging | Bloomberg
via Getty Images
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John G. Sperling, who
overcame learning problems early in life and went on to found the for-profit
University of Phoenix, has died, company officials said Sunday. He was 93.
Mark Brenner, chief of
staff of the Apollo Education Group, the parent company of the University of
Phoenix, said Sperling died Friday at a hospital near San Francisco. He did not
provide a cause of death.
Sperling started the
chain in the 1970s and campuses were established around the country as it
became a major company and leader in adult education and online classes.
He stepped down two years
ago as executive chairman of its parent company.
Detail provided by Apollo
said Sperling left high school a virtual illiterate but learned to read in the
Merchant Marine. After serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps, he began an
educational journey that led to his receiving a doctorate in 1955.
"Dr. Sperling's
indomitable ideas and life's work served as a catalyst for innovations widely
accepted as having made higher education more accessible to adult
students," his son, current Chairman Peter Sperling, and Chief Executive
Officer Greg Cappelli said in a statement on the Apollo website.
The
company said that Sperling's school introduced the idea of local satellite
campuses in more than 30 states, deliberately positioning them near freeways
and major intersections to help adults pursuing their degrees after work. |
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A
woman walks through the parking lot of the University of Phoenix, part of
Apollo Joshua Lott/Bloomberg
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Apollo said in July that
the U.S. Department of Education was reviewing the administration of federal
student financial aid programs by the university for the past two years. The
university has about 242,000 students. Enrollments at for-profit education
companies boomed during the recession, but demand is sliding and government scrutiny
of the industry has intensified.
The Arizona Republic said
Sperling's schools often catered to older students wanting classes at more
flexible hours. By tapping a demographic niche that traditional schools missed
or didn't want, Sperling elbowed the University of Phoenix into a lasting place
in the world of higher education.
"University of
Phoenix is my proudest legacy," Sperling said in a 2011 interview with The
Republic. "Knowing that over 1 million staff, faculty and students have
benefited in some way from the university is something I'm very proud of."
The
paper called Sperling a billionaire whose philanthropy supported a variety of
causes. He
is survived by his long-time companion Joan Hawthorne, his former wife Virginia
Sperling, and his son Peter, daughter-in-law Stephanie and two grandchildren.
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