Apollo faces federal review on financial aid issue
The U.S. Department of Education plans to review two years of paperwork filed by for-profit education company Apollo Group Inc. to ensure it complied with federal student financial aid rules at its University of Phoenix chain.
Apollo disclosed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday that Education Department found that the University of Phoenix had previously misreported the status codes for its verification of student-supplied information. The university has to verify information and report it to the department in order to participate in federal student financial aid programs.
The U.S. Department of Education plans to review the school's reporting during the 2010-2011 award period, as well as 2011-2012 to date. The review will begin July 16.
"We are fully committed to complying with every regulation the Department of Education has," Apollo spokesman Alex Clark said Wednesday.
A representative for the U.S. Department of Education was not immediately available to discuss the matter.
The news comes amid a broader crackdown on for-profit colleges to ensure students of these career programs are able to find jobs and manage their debt after graduation. The schools must meet certain guidelines or risk losing access to federal student aid in the future.
The University of Phoenix is the country's largest for-profit education chain by number of students.
Shares of Apollo Group, which is based in Phoenix, lost a penny to $35.80 in afternoon trading.
