Tell Ellen DeGeneres: Dump the "University" of Phoenix

Ellen just partnered with one of the most notorious predatory "for-profit" colleges. Sign the petition to ask her to drop this partnership immediately.

Dear MoveOn member,

We're big fans of Ellen DeGeneres and her fights for progressive values, which is why we couldn't believe she's partnering with the Apollo Group's University of Phoenix—one of the most notorious of the predatory "for-profit" colleges.¹ Will you join me in urging The Ellen Show to stop supporting this harmful, for-profit university? Click here to sign the petition, which says:

Ellen, please drop your partnership with the University of Phoenix immediately.

Ellen announced her partnership with the University Of Phoenix in the "Rise to Dream" contest, where 10 "lucky" entrants will win a $25,000 scholarship to the University of Phoenix. Ellen promoted this contest on her show and on her social media platforms, giving Phoenix free promotion, despite its terrible track record for students and its contribution to the $1.3 trillion student debt crisis.

Figures from ForProfitU.org report that only 13% of those who enrolled in the for-profit University of Phoenix had received their bachelor's degree as of 2012. Phoenix's parent company Apollo Group received over $800 million in federal Pell Grants in 2013—the most of any college in the country. Meanwhile, the University of Phoenix has been the subject of numerous federal investigations and investigations by Attorneys General in a number of states around the country for its practices and the quality of education enrollees receive.²

Lastly, the National Center for Education Statistics reported Phoenix gets $12,000 per student in tuition but spends only $1,600 on actual instruction.³

Click here to tell Ellen: The student loan debt crisis is threatening the American Dream for tens of millions of student loan borrowers. The University of Phoenix deserves not your seal of approval, but condemnation and derision. If you don't believe us, talk to people we know who have paid for Phoenix about their experience and the quality of instruction they received.

This is why we ask you to please drop your partnership with the University of Phoenix immediately.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Thanks!

—Natalia Abrams, Student Debt Crisis

Sources:

1. "Ellen DeGeneres Shills for For-Profit College Facing Law Enforcement Probes," The Huffington Post, May 2, 2016
http://act.moveon.org/go/3595?t=6&akid=164826.10220574.-lx2Se

2. "University of Phoenix Fact Sheet," ForProfitU.org, accessed May 6, 2016
http://act.moveon.org/go/3596?t=8&akid=164826.10220574.-lx2Se

3. Ibid.

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