Apollo Group Plans to Lay Off 500, as Does Education Management Corp.

Two major higher-education companies announced layoffs this week.

The Apollo Group, the parent company of the University of Phoenix, said on Tuesday that it would lay off 500 nonfaculty employees, the same day it reported an 18-percent annual drop in enrollment and a 36-percent annual decline in operating income. Enrollment at Phoenix was 269,000 as of August 31, 2013, down from 328,400 a year earlier. Two years ago it was 380,800. New-student enrollment at Phoenix also fell from August 2012 to August 2013, from 52,800 to 41,000.

After several previous rounds of layoffs in the past three years, the company said it had 15,000 nonfaculty employees—fewer than 1,000 of whom are part time. (Most of its 29,000 instructors are adjunct faculty members who work part time.)

Company officials said they planned to reduce spending on marketing over the next year to further curtail costs, while also seeking to expand markets for certificate programs and other nondegree offerings. The company said it also planned to change its name, to the Apollo Education Group, in mid-November.

Also on Tuesday, The Pittsburgh Business Times reported that the Education Management Corporation, which owns Argosy University, the Art Institutes, and other colleges, was cutting almost 500 nonfaculty jobs, or about 2 percent of its work force.