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Apollo Group, Inc. NASDAQ: APOL is an S&P 500 corporation based in Phoenix, Arizona. Apollo Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides higher education to working adults. The company offers associate, bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees in business, criminal justice, general studies, health administration, and information technology. It provides program development services, which include degree program design, curriculum development, market research, student recruitment, accounting, and administrative services to regionally accredited private colleges and universities. Apollo Group also offers its educational programs worldwide through its computerized educational delivery system. In addition, it provides other services, which include recruiting and training faculty, monitoring academic quality, and providing support services. Further, the company offers professional education programs, such as continuing education for teachers; custom training; environmental training; and other programs leading to certification in the areas of business, technology, and nursing. The company owns and operates four higher-learning institutions: the University of Phoenix, Western International University, Axia College (of the University of Phoenix), the College for Financial Planning, and the Institute for Professional Development. As of November 2005, the combined enrollment of the four was approximately 315,350 students. Of these, nearly 90% attend the University of Phoenix, which Apollo describes as "the nation’s largest regionally accredited private university" ^[1].

Apollo Group, Inc. was founded in 1973 in response to a gradual shift in higher education demographics from a student population dominated by youth to one in which approximately half the students are adults and over 80 percent of whom work full-time. Apollo's founder, John Sperling, believed that employment with a single employer would be replaced by lifelong learning and employment with a variety of employers.

Corporate revenues for the year ending August 31, 2005 were $2.251 billion[2]. As of August 31, 2005, Apollo Group offers its programs and services at 90 campuses in 39 states, Puerto Rico, Alberta, and British Columbia, as well as the Netherlands.

• Apollo Group, Inc. website
• Yahoo! Finance profile of Apollo Group
• Apollo Group school discussion site

• University of Phoenix fined record $9.8 million article on the Arizona Daily Star (of Pulitzer, Inc.)