Academic labor underwent a process of unbundling, in which "various components of the traditional faculty role (e.g., curriculum design) are divided among different entities, while others (e.g., research) are eliminated altogether".

In 2004, Murphy thought that "the University of Phoenix abandoned its founding mission of solely serving working adult learners to admit virtually anyone with a high school diploma or GED."

[16][17] A 2003 lawsuit filed by two former university recruiters alleged that the school improperly obtained hundreds of millions of dollars in financial aid by paying its admission counselors based on the number of students they enrolled, a violation of the Higher Education Act.

[20] UoPX disputed the findings but paid a $9.8 million fine as part of a settlement where it admitted no wrongdoing and was not required to return any financial aid funds.

[21][22][23] The university also paid $3.5 million to the Department of Labor to settle a violation of overtime compensation regarding hours worked by UoPX's recruiters.

[29] The university's graduation rate was 17 percent, according to federal data that measures first-time, full-time (FTFT) undergraduate students who complete their programs at 150% of the normal time.

[32] In 2009, the Department of Education produced a report claiming the untimely return of unearned Title IV funds for more than 10 percent of sampled students.

[33] In 2010, UoPX came under government scrutiny after its Phoenix and Philadelphia campuses were found to have engaged in deceptive enrollment practices and fraudulent solicitation of FAFSA funds.

[38] In August 2010, an ABC News investigation identified a UoPX recruiter who sought new students from Y-Haven, a homeless shelter in Cleveland, Ohio.

[39] In a December 2010 Bloomberg article, former UoPX senior vice president Robert W. Tucker noted that "at critical junctures, [co-founder] John [Sperling] chose growth over academic integrity, which ultimately diminished a powerful educational model".

[45] U.S. military commanders at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, allowed UoPX representatives to advertise and place promotional materials in high-traffic areas.

Access was provided in exchange for the university funding events on army bases, including Easter egg hunts and welcome briefings for newly assigned soldiers.

[46] Murphy wrote in Mission Forsaken (2013) about the school's degeneration from a provider of working adult continuing education programs to a money making machine whose sole criterion for admission was eligibility for federally funded student loans.

[14][47] In 2014 the Department of Education's Office of the Inspector General demanded records from the school and Apollo Group going back to 2007 "related to marketing, recruitment, enrollment, financial aid, fraud prevention, [and] student retention".

[56] In October 2015, the Department of Defense suspended the school's ability to recruit on U.S. military bases and receive federal funding for educating members of the U.S.

[67][68][69][70][71] In 2016, Apollo Education Group shareholders filed a class-action lawsuit against the corporation, arguing that it withheld information leading to large losses in stock prices.

"[93][94] In April 2023, the Supreme Court rejected a challenge to the settlement and allowed to proceed the debt cancellation due to alleged fraud.

[129] After passing the May 31st deadline of the original purchase agreement, both sides agreed to an extension, creating a new end date of June 10, 2025.

A non-exclusivity structure was also agreed upon, where Phoenix would be allowed to either seek a new buyer or undergo an initial public offering during negotiations.

[16][132] UoPX has been criticized for lack of academic rigor; Henry M. Levin, a professor of higher education at Teachers College at Columbia University, called its business degree an "MBA Lite", saying "I've looked at [its] course materials.

"[16] The university's "corporate articulation agreements" provide an alternative assessment program for people working at other companies to earn college credit for training they have completed at their jobs.

To qualify for college credit, students either write an "experiential essay" or create a professional training portfolio,[137] the latter of which is a collection of documents such as transcripts from other schools, certificates, licenses, workshops or seminars.

The HLC Institutional Actions Council First Committee (IACFC) concerns centered on the university's governance, student assessment, and faculty scholarship in relation to Ph.D.

[163] In 2016, a Brookings Institution study estimated University of Phoenix's five-year student loan default rate at 47 percent.

[169] In the private sector, alumni include former MBA Chair at the Forbes School of Business & Technology and radio host Diane Hamilton.

[172] Athletes who have earned degrees from the university include Shaquille O'Neal (2005),[173] Lisa Leslie,[174] Michael Russell (2012),[175] and Larry Fitzgerald (2016).

Fitzgerald graduated with a bachelor's degree shortly before his 33rd birthday (he began college in 2002 at the University of Pittsburgh) and was a spokesman for UoPX.

[177] Jane Oates, a former staffer for Senator Ted Kennedy and the Department of Labor, became the Apollo Group's vice president for external relations in 2013.

[179] University of Phoenix has community partnerships with Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the American Red Cross, and the Junior League.

[182] In 2021, UoPX demanded that the Republican Attorneys General Association refund a donation of more than $50,000 after the organization was allegedly involved in instigating the 2021 United States Capitol attack.