by Michael Tilley (mtilley@talkbusiness.net)
The University of Arkansas System Board of Trustees on Wednesday (April 19) heard almost three hours of discussion about ongoing efforts to buy the University of Phoenix (UofP). The meeting included a surprise that trustee approval is optional for what could be a more than $500 million deal.
Transformative Education Systems (TES), an organization loosely but not legally affiliated with the UA System, was incorporated to raise the financing to acquire the UofP and enter into licensing and/or affiliation agreements with the UA System. Arkansas law does not allow the UA System to directly acquire the UofP, according to Patrick Hollingsworth, UA System interim general counsel. TES has UA System representation, but most of its officers are independent.
Wednesday’s discussion was the first time the trustees and the public heard more detailed information following reports that UA System President Donald Bobbitt had been working behind the scenes for at least two years to pursue the deal that would affiliate the system with the UofP, which is primarily an online for-profit university with more than 83,000 students. The UA System, of which the flagship campus is the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, enrolls more than 70,000 students, employs over 28,000 and has a total budget of over $4 billion.
