A Multi-Frame Analysis Of For-Profit Higher Education

Abstract

After years of remarkable expansion, the for-profit higher education sector is showing signs of an industrial reset in the wake of increased federal regulations aimed at addressing claims of aggressive recruiting practices and high student default rates throughout the sector. Large publicly-traded for-profit universities, such as the University of Phoenix, have resultantly experienced precipitous drops in student enrollment. As an initial point to begin thinking about for-profit higher education going forward, this article will put forth a multi-frame organizational analysis of the University of Phoenix with the particular goal of generating a body of knowledge endemic to improving Phoenix’s overall operating environment and discussing the important role the school has played and can continue to play in (re)defining higher education in the United States. This discussion can be used as an entry point to promulgate further discussion surrounding significant issues in for-profit higher education and the changing landscape of higher education.