U Arkansas System Board Votes Against Acquisition of University of Phoenix

It's a non-binding vote for an affiliate / licensing deal

Author

Phil Hill
April 24, 2023

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I posted the following on Twitter and wanted to share here, especially for non-Twitter users.

University of Arkansas board votes 5-4 against the acquisition / affiliation with the University of Phoenix.

washingtonpost.com/education/2023…

The vote is symbolic, or non-binding, as the UA president can move forward even without the board's support.

The reasons against deal:
* reputation and legal baggage
* 9 years before any ability to unaffiliate
* minority representation on board of nonprofit foundation created for this deal
* lack of board access to due diligence reports and secretive 2 year process

UoP acquisition proponents pointed to $20m rev per year (projections) along with ability to learn from UoP retention models for nontraditional students

The closest model to this deal is UMassOnline's affiliate agreement with Brandman U.

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