University of phoenix when was it founded

He was convinced the establishment would always be against the things he believed in. The only way forward was to fight. Reflecting on the professors' strike in his memoir, John Sperling called it "one of the most liberating experiences of my life" because he no longer cared what anyone in academia thought about him. And he decided he was going to find a way out.

The opportunity to leave traditional academia arrived in the form of a federal grant designed to lower the juvenile delinquency rate among working-class kids in the city of Sunnyvale, Calif. Sperling thought the best way to do that would be to work with local teachers and police officers. He enrolled 30 teachers and police officers in a class and divided them into groups.

Each group had to design, conduct and evaluate a project that addressed the problem of juvenile delinquency. Sperling encouraged them to use their experiences at work to inform their research.

At the end of the class, all but two of the students signed up for another class. When that class was done, they told Sperling they wanted to take more classes. And we want to stay. Not only do we want to stay, we want degrees.

The police officers wanted bachelor's degrees -- they all had associate's degrees already. The teachers wanted master's degrees. A photograph of University of Phoenix students in , posted on a bulletin board at Apollo Group headquarters in San Francisco.

Photo: Emily Hanford. With great persistence, an adult learner could expect to earn a degree in 6 to 10 years -- for some, it took Sperling decided what higher education needed was a new way for working adults to go to school.

So he sketched out a degree program that looked a lot like what he'd been doing with the teachers and police officers. But when he went to San Jose State administrators with his idea, they said no. A colleague told Sperling that if he wanted to invent something new in higher education, he was going to have to find a school that was struggling and needed new students.

At the time, an established university like San Jose State had plenty of taxpayer funding and plenty of students who wanted the degrees they already offered.

Sperling saw the university's rejection of his idea for a degree program as a form of class bias, and he was not going to be deterred. So he took his idea to a Jesuit university in California that was in financial trouble and needed new students. Soon Sperling got a contract with another struggling college, and then another. At the age of 53, Sperling had begun his career as an entrepreneur. He took a year's leave from San Jose State, and, "because fortune smiled," he never returned.

Sperling's new career as an entrepreneur was anything but secure. By the time Sperling started IPD, he was no longer a socialist.

He believed the free market was the best way to bring innovation to higher education. He writes that being for-profit imposed a kind of "discipline" that was missing at traditional universities. The pushback that Sperling got from WASC and from people at traditional schools, some of whom called IPD a "diploma mill," was par for the course, in Sperling's opinion.

He writes in his memoir:. The battles fought by IPD To me, the defenders of academic traditions were protecting undeserved middle-class entitlements. Sperling eventually decided that the only way he would be successful was to start his own university. That is no small task. The layers of regulatory and political approval are immense.

Sperling determined there was no way he would be able to do it in California, where the higher education accrediting association was already against him. So he moved to Arizona, where a different accrediting body had control and where laws made it easier to start a new university. In , Sperling rented space in a Boilermakers' union hall in Phoenix, hired lawyers and a lobbyist, and opened for business. He had eight students to start. They were all working adults who had some college already and were looking for a way to finish their degrees.

Muriel Duncan was one of the first students. She had started college when she was 18 but quit because it was too expensive. When someone -- she can't remember who -- told her about this new school, Duncan was 50 years old. She was working for the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections. Her husband was on disability and they relied mostly on her income. She traveled a lot for her job and says she couldn't take time off to finish her degree.

But the University of Phoenix made her think again. Classes were just one night a week. She could manage that with her travel schedule and family demands. And Phoenix was offering her college credit for her work experience. It was an opportunity too good to pass up.

She paid cash for the classes because when Sperling opened for business the University of Phoenix was not yet accredited. That meant students weren't eligible for federal grants or student loans. It was worth it for Muriel Duncan. She was a member of the first graduating class, in She says her University of Phoenix degree allowed her to move up at work. A decade after opening, Phoenix had 6, students -- more than many colleges in America.

But John Sperling wanted his university to get much bigger. Sperling tapped Bishop to start the online program. Home About Us Our Roots.

Scroll for more. John Sperling, Founder, University of Phoenix. He changed higher education so you could change your future Dr. Anything worth achieving takes time. Dare to do something big. Program Finder. Learning Curve. David Gura Aug 25, Listen Now. Share Now on:.

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