With a 7 percent decline in overall enrollment since 2009, a 42 percent drop in new enrollments between March 2010 and March 2011, a 9 percent six-year graduation rate (versus 65 percent for private colleges and 22 percent for all for-profits), a dependence on Pell grants and federal loans for nearly 90 percent of total revenue, excessive defaults on student loans, and intensified regulatory reviews, Phoenix wilted. Since March 2009, Apollo has ranked as the third-worst performer of publicly traded companies and the third worst among the S&P 500 in 2010. Apollo’s market cap nosedived 57 percent to $5.8 billion in 2011. In March 2011, Apollo reported a quarterly loss of $64 million and the stock price plummeted from a high of $90 in January 2009 to a low of $33.75 in November 2010. It currently trades in the mid 40s. Capital markets are no longer bullish on for-profit universities. Under the headline “Apollo Sent to Back of Class,” Barron’s declared in March 2011 that “shares are rightly getting a failing grade….We would steer clear of the uncertainty surrounding Apollo and its industry….”
Richard P. Chait and Zachary First, in Harvard Magazine.
October 23rd, 2011 at 8:47AM
I’m very thankful that I don’t work for a tax siphon. I’m very sure that Gilligan pays the full property tax on all of its property and physical assets; also, like most non-profits, I’m sure, we don’t take Pell grants, state grants, tax-subsidized loans, and of course we make our students and their parents sign an oath that they won’t take any education deductions or credits on their personal income taxes. We have the same policy for our donors: no charitable tax deductions, guys! Also, in the years we make a profit, I mean have a surplus, we pay the applicable full 34-39% tax corporate rate.