Another round of layoffs is coming to the University of Phoenix.
Facing a decline in enrollment and transitioning into more online-only services, the parent company of the university, Apollo Group, announced Tuesday it's laying off 500 workers around the country. The cuts will largely affect career services that had been by non-faculty staff.
The cuts are coming down from the Apollo Group.
These layoffs follow the 800 jobs eliminated in cutbacks announced in October 2012, when the school received a barrage of negative government reports on its recruitment practices and the prospects of its students. In addition, the company's work force lost 3,000 employees over the past year and is shedding another 4 percent.
According to AZCentral, the latest layoffs at the largest for-profit university in the nation came as the publicly traded company announced that their net income fell by 71 percent in the fourth quarter compared to the same period a year ago, mostly because of restructuring costs.
"This is definitely a period of transition for Apollo," Mark Brenner, chief of staff to Phoenix-based Apollo Group, told AZCentral. "We are confident that we are the right-sized organization for the student population we are going to serve in fiscal 2014."
Brenner declined to say how many jobs were lost in Arizona or any state.
Ryan Rauzon, spokesman for the University of Phoenix, said the latest cuts are not being made because of attrition, but actual job losses. The Apollo Group expects to cut its operating costs by at least $300 million, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Steven Azarbad, portfolio manager for Maglan Capital, a New York-based hedge fund that focuses on troubled companies, said cutting operation costs is a wise thing to do.
"That's good for the company," he said. "Over time, their top line should stabilize ...This is definitely a step in the right direction.
Among the changes, the Apollo Group plans to change its name to the Apollo Education Group to better reflect its mission.
The cutbacks coincide with the imposition of new rules, some enacted by the federal government, and others by the university itself in the wake of unflattering disclosures about its academic and financial performance.
