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Posted on Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 5:59 a.m.

University of Phoenix still shuttering Ann Arbor campus and directing students online

By Kellie Woodhouse

Ann Arbor's University of Phoenix campus is in the process of shuttering and is not accepting new students, although the closing will likely take at least a year, according to a school official.

The for-profit university announced last year that it intends to close its Ann Arbor location, although area residents can enroll in the for-profit online.

MI-Ann-Arbor-Learning-Center.jpg

University of Phoenix's Ann Arbor location is closing.

University of Phoenix photo

Enrollment at the school's local learning center at 315 E. Eisenhower Pkwy had been declining for years, while online enrollment was increasing, according to Alex Clark, a University of Phoenix spokesperson.

"Our enrollment there is relatively small and keeps going down," Clark said.

About 200 students are taking classes at the campus, which will remain open until the majority of their coursework is finished. Students also have the option of completing coursework online or at the school's downtown Detroit learning center.

The Ann Arbor location won't be closed for at least a year, and Clark said it might be open even longer.

About 12 employees work at the Eisenhower location. The location hasn't laid off any staff, but layoffs could occur when the campus shutters.

Clark said Phoenix will try to shift some employees to nearby learning centers available. All classes at the Ann Arbor campus are taught by part-time adjuncts.

The college leases its space off Eisenhower Parkway, in the Burlington Office Center, and is trying to negotiate an early exit with landlord Oxford Properties.

It opened in the office center in July 2003, and by summer 2012 occupied about 9,000 square feet there.

In October the University of Phoenix announced it was closing 115 campuses, including 8 locations in Michigan. In addition to Ann Arbor, satellite locations in East Lansing, Flint and Portage are being phased out. The closings are expected to save $300 million.

Kellie Woodhouse covers higher education for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at kelliewoodhouse@annarbor.com or 734-623-4602 and follow her on twitter.

Comments

AMOC

Tue, Jul 23, 2013 : 2:31 p.m.

There's little hope for the University of Phoenix even as an on-line only provider of college-level education if this initiative from Georgia Tech takes hold. http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/07/georgia_tech_s_computer_science_mooc_the_super_cheap_master_s_degree_that.html?google_editors_picks=true#comments GT has started an on-line MS in computer science program where tuition for the first class is $6,600. That's compared to $41,00 and some for out-of-state students who sign up for the same program in person.

Greggy_D

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 6:44 p.m.

The University of Phoenix......Pay for an "A" From the stories I've heard from former students, you basically just need to show up to class to receive a 4.0 .

eagleman

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 7:54 p.m.

There are plenty of brick-and-motar schools who do the same.

AMOC

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 5:40 p.m.

I'd love to see on-line university education offered at 10-25% of the cost of a big name school as LXIX commented. However, what I've seen the University of Phoenix and others of this ilk (Cappella U, DeVry U, Ross Institute, ITT, etc.) actually deliver is an education that charges just a little less than big name schools and provides a highly variable quality of education and questionable degree programs with minimal accreditation. For every working professional providing the students with inspiring, state-of-the-art instruction in their field, there are 2 or 3 instructors who may be competent at their day jobs, but can't teach their way out of a wet paper bag. And in traditional academic subjects, where there is no "day job" for the instructors, these schools hire exclusively part-time adjutant faculty, many of whom will never find full time academic positions and who must juggle several different past time jobs to make ends meet. Many / most of these very heavily advertised programs are absolutely not worth the tuition when it comes time to get a job, although there are certainly some graduates who manage to learn a lot and do well fro themselves. The possible exception to the "not worth it" warning would be graduate credits in Education, because of the peculiar requirements of teachers union contracts that reward academic classes taken and seniority rather than performance. I hope that changes soon, since much research has shown that additional education courses taken by teachers has no effect on student learning or on teacher job satisfaction.

eagleman

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 7:58 p.m.

LXIX, you can only use online classes for certain programs. You cannot use it for fields of science that require hands-on approaches or medicine. You cannot use it in law classes that demand standing up before a courtroom. Online classes are going to be an excellent adjunct to on campus aspect, but it isn't going to totally replace it.

LXIX

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 6:41 p.m.

I think that a big name school like Princeton or Stanford will soon figure out how to broadcast what they already know how to do well. Given a prestigiuo name and high-tek know-how, supported by their vast school investment coffer about to hit the interest wall, within a few years demand costs of 10%-25% current levels for online degrees will propel the first bold universities into solid financial "Apple" or "Google" like frontrunner positions. The "old schools" will very quickly lose their snob appeal - and their income,.and their star faculty . Depending upon how easy the medical and sports monies can be tapped until the U catches up will decide the fate of Ann Arbor as a listable city. Maybe Snyder will appoint an Emergency Manager. Someone with a respectable degree from one of the new "Vine Online" schools.

seldon

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 4:22 p.m.

For all the bashing U of Phoenix gets, I have friends and colleagues who got their degrees there and do excellent work. There are systemic problems in the for-profit "university" business sector, and there are certainly scams. But don't let that tarnish Phoenix's graduates as a whole.

eagleman

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 7:53 p.m.

Greggy, that is equally true of any other university. One's success or failure in life is contingent upon the individual, not the name on the degree they possess.

Greggy_D

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 6:59 p.m.

Maybe because they are excellent on-the-job learners, which the U of Phoenix had absolutely nothing to do with?

Commoncents

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 4 p.m.

Ann Arbor school teachers love Phoenix Online. They get automatic pay raises just to get a degree - why get a good education and pay a lot more to go to UofM if your pay raise is the same ?

An Arborigine

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 3:48 p.m.

I wonder what will rise from the ashes in the Ann Arbor location?

LXIX

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 6:13 p.m.

I understand the DIA needs a new home for its world class art holdings - fast - before Detroit's creditors find out that this DIA is not the regional 'Defense Intelligence Agency' office spying on Canadian bridge traffic..

YpsiYapper

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 5:19 p.m.

A main frame building housing the equipment needed to run a nationwide online university. This is not a fad but a trend. U of M may crash and burn 20 years from now turning tree town into a two way street consisting of a red light camera, remote speed detectors a machine to buy stamps which will be called the local post office, and a HDTV to face the judge and pay your fines. LOL !

Kenneth Gallaher

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 3:45 p.m.

They are scam artists. Avoid.

Annette Poole

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 3:31 p.m.

This honestly doesn't surprise me. I hear mostly negative things about Phoenix, especially from two people who attended there.

LXIX

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 3:22 p.m.

The University of Phoenix exemplifies the difference between academic and corporate. The demand value of intelligence versus the undermining value of controlling capital. It also provides a glimpse as to what is going to happen in Ann Arbor. The purpose of a school is to fill new brains with learned information and future problem solving skills. Yhe objective of a coporation should be to make use of those new brains to sustain everyone's surivival economy. That slide into quickie profit as the prime pursuit with or without brains will be capital's own undoing. The UP is failing because it is a for-profit corporation that is really masqueirading as a for-brain school, It did however, show that remote learning is in demand and more suited to the diffuse "neural net" type of modern society than the old fashioned central "main frame" world of Ivy education. Imagine any big name UCLA or Penn State or MIT or Stanford offerrring 25% or even 10% cost BS/MS degrees to seven billion conxumers over the "network". How long would people continue to struggle just to enjoy the high cost of having the pure "Michigan" experience? Not those young "professinals" kids mixing with the "in crowd" of their online peers. The numbers of "You Tube" class professors that will be needed to keep the UM in the Big Ten competition let alone Big One Hundred of top name schools could easily supplant the student populationce here to keep the game alive. Sadly, the high city taxes and wrong headed DDA living arrangements not for them will lose the UM much the same way as the Phoenix was lost - first it's crash and burn before the bird brain egos and capital adicts at the U and their minions finally get a clue.

charlotte

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 5:37 p.m.

It's failing because the Federal Government is finally looking at what its Pell Grant money is being spent on -- not because students have figured anything out.

GoNavy

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 10:58 a.m.

I've always wondered how the people of Phoenix feel about having this "university" using the city's name.

seldon

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 2:10 p.m.

I was gonna say: it was founded in Phoenix and they have a big headquarters there, so they're at least creating local jobs. They may not mind. Plus, the locals know there's no such thing locally. They go to ASU.

Ed Kimball

Mon, Jul 22, 2013 : 12:50 p.m.

Well, their headquarters are in Phoenix, for whatever that's worth.