Strange, odd, peculiar, weird bedfellows

The for-profit University of Phoenix has been taking its lumps of late, but not with the San Diego Unified Port District, which has a deal to promote the controversial school among its employees, according to a recently released state document.

As reported here in June by Don Bauder, the school got bad marks in a review of the controversial commercial degree industry by the Center for Investigative Reporting.

According to the center's report, "the University of Phoenix’s San Diego campus has received $95 million from the post-9/11 GI Bill since 2009 — more than any other brick-and-mortar campus in America.

"The school’s overall graduation rate is under 15 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Education, and more than a quarter of students there default on loans within three years of leaving school."

In July, California regulators reportedly moved to halt veterans' enrollments at Phoenix here, but U.S. Veterans Affairs department officials said "the situation that existed has been resolved," according to an August 2 dispatch in U-T San Diego. Nevertheless, the controversy has continued.

Despite the unfavorable reports, the San Diego port district is considering an agreement with the school to give its employees a sizable tuition discount.

"The District has been invited to participate in the University of Phoenix, Inc.’s tuition reduction program where District employees would receive a ten percent tuition reduction," reads a September 8 letter to port district deputy counsel William McMinn from California Fair Political Practices Commission Practices general counsel Zackery P. Morazzini.

"The reduction would apply to any University program, including certificate programs, and single courses, including professional development courses. The University has provided an 'Alliance Memorandum of Understanding' to the District in order for the reduction to apply to District employees who attend the University," the letter continues.

"This agreement is a one-page form whereby the University of Phoenix agrees to make a ten percent tuition reduction available to District employees and the District agrees to communicate the educational opportunities to its employees.

“The reduction would apply to any University program, including certificate programs, and single courses, including professional development courses."

The question for the lawyer for the Fair Political Practices Commission was whether or not the tuition cut would represent an illegal gift to port employees. Morazzini said it wouldn't.

"Because the tuition discounts offered by the University of Phoenix are offered in the regular course of business on a uniform basis to a large group of governmental and private sector employees," the letter says, it’s okay for port employees to sign up for classes.

The port workers also don't have to report the discount on their annual statements of economic interest, required under California law.

"Any District employee who enrolls in a course or certificate program at the University of Phoenix and takes advantage of the tuition discount has not received a gift or income that is either reportable on his or her statement of economic interests or subject to the gift limits of the Act," concluded Morazzini.