Academics and economics: the Yin and Yang of for-profit higher education : a case study of the University of Phoenix

The purpose of this study was to investigate how the University of Phoenix defines and implements a balance of academics and economics in curriculum and operations. The University of Phoenix is organized as a for-profit institution and has the largest enrollment of any university in the United States. Tremendous growth has occurred in large proprietary colleges in recent years. According to the literature, for-profit higher education is an understudied area of which knowledge could be useful. The University of Phoenix has been the most successful of the for-profits in recruiting students and generating revenue. As the growth of for-profit education continues, so does the controversy in academic, governing, and accrediting bodies concerning the legitimacy of for-profit colleges. The common points of contention pointed out by critics include: predominant use of adjunct faculty, acceptance of work experience for credit, lack of library resources, high relative tuition, management of financial aid, recruiting techniques, use of distance-learning methods, study groups, and the profit motive. Central to the controversy is a philosophical debate concerning the business orientation versus the virtues of education. Qualitative research methods were used to collect data. The primary source of data came from twenty-one semi-structured interviews with University of Phoenix stakeholders. Another significant source of data was documentation related to the history and operation of the University. Three major themes were found in the research: 1) a desire to accrue value to the consumer, primarily students and their employers, termed Consumer Stakeholder Value; 2) a desire to improve business value which is referred to as Business Stakeholder Value; and 3) an acknowledged tension that exists between the extremes found in the values of academics and economics, referred to as The Tension. Throughout this research, a sense of complimentary opposites influenced the researcher to develop a theoretical model of how the University of Phoenix defines balance. This was done using the Tai Chi symbol representing Yin and Yang.Educational Administratio