I once met a woman who earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Phoenix. She had great difficulty getting a job, so she decided to pursue an MBA (not a good idea without some work experience first). No one would admit her, so she returned to the University of Phoenix.

When I met her, she was still working odd jobs. She insisted that she was happy with her education, but it’s clearly concerning that she wasn’t employable.

I don’t think it much matters what academia thinks about the University of Phoenix; they may be the largest player in the for-profit space and do a lot of work online, but they are regionally accredited (by the Higher Learning Commission, which is the same accreditor as Blackburn College, and the University of Chicago, for that matter).

However, employers are wary. For graduate admissions, there are certainly concerns about their graduates, but some have gone on to master’s degrees, PhD’s, JD’s, and MD’s at not-for-profit and public institutions.