Univ. of Phoenix president resigns suddenly (and quietly) amid federal inquiry
Categories: US Education News
The head of one of the largest for-profit universities in the country suddenly resigned months after taking the post.George Burnett was appointed the president of the University of Phoenix in February, and at the time the university spoke highly of his “deep understanding of our purpose of helping working adults acquire a higher education.”Specifically, the department had questioned Burnett’s time overseeing Westwood College, a for-profit college based in Westminster, Colorado with run-ins with federal and state regulators over deceptive advertising among other concerns. Some of those cases helped lead to the federal government canceling $130 million in student loan debt tied to the deception of Westwood College students. The Department's requests included questions about how long Burnett worked at the college and its parent company, Alta Colleges, Inc., but also his role in the school's advertisements, recruitment strategies and job placement reports. Burnett was also the CEO of Alta Colleges. The department also said it found credible evidence that admissions officers at Westwood were trained to use "emotional triggers" when talking to potential students and that they were "trained, directed, or encouraged to not take 'No' for an answer from the prospective student." The University of Phoenix is one the nation’s largest for-profit providers of online college education. It currently has about 75,000 students, and it received about $930 million in federal money meant for student financial aid in fiscal year 2020-21. At its peak, the university had about 470,000 students in 2010.“While our actions today will relieve Corinthian Colleges’ victims of their burdens, the Department of Education is actively ramping up oversight to better protect today’s students from tactics and make sure that for-profit institutions – and the corporations that own them – never again get away with such abuse," said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. The Education Department's inquiry was not related to the University of Phoenix. Rather, the agency had requested more information from Burnett because of his role overseeing Westwood College and the associated borrower defense claims, documents show.Though Westwood closed in 2016, the federal government in 2022 still cancelled the federal student loan debt of students who had attended. The agency discharged the debt through the borrower defense rule, a federal initiative that can refund students their student loans if they prove their college defrauded them. Sen. Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, has also called on the federal government to cancel the debt of students who were defrauded by Westwood College. And Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul did the same in May. A group of student advocacy groups also sued the Education Department in May to try and force the agency to clear the debts of Illinois students who had attended the university.