academic counselor

enrollment and eligibility representative

financial advisor

enrollment advisor

software engineer

University of Phoenix

After teaching more than 60 classes over 4 years, I stopped receiving requests to teach more courses at the University of Phoenix online. In addition, they sent me notices that future classes I was scheduled to teach were cancelled. After a month making numerous phone and written inquiries, I was told by email that I was now terminated because my Educational and Work Experience no longer met their criteria. They apparently made this decision in early January while I was simultaneously teaching 2 online classes and one on campus class. I was fired retroactively in late January, yet they never bothered to explain the circumstances to me. My peer and student reviews were excellent, usually around 9.5 on a 10 point scale. This termination wasn't for cause or poor performance. They did not specify what was now missing (after 4 years) from my resume, work history, and academic record that no longer qualifies me to teach there. When I was hired, my resume, undergraduate, and graduate school transcripts were confirmed and found completely acceptable. My termination only applies now to the online courses I was teaching (online and on campus are separate divisions within the parent company, Apollo Group Inc.). I am still on the brick and mortar payroll and teach on campus, yet now feel like just a temp employee. I expect that after my next "Content Area Review" concerning my academic and professional experience outside University of Phoenix, my final on campus termination will be forthcoming.

In addition, only after repeated phone calls and emails, it takes two to three months for simple expense reimbursements to be processed. Several instructors told me this is standard operating procedure. They wear you out and hope you give up asking and eventually stop submitting expense forms.

Open enrollment creates a student body with a range of writing, reading and study skills far below standard college level. If you are a student, don't depend on your cohorts to proof read your papers. They might write worse than you.

Do not consider working for University of Phoenix or any subsidiary of Apollo Group Inc.. This is just a for profit corporation dressed up as an academic institution. Their profit motive is more important than creating a good working or learning environment.

It's a great company to gain a diverse set of skills ranging from information technology, customer service, the general college admissions process and how college accreditation and evaluation is done. But the pay is verifably low compared to similar institutions.

There are many positives including a good team atmosphere, great coworkers who are genuinely dedicated to improving processes and helping students attain their goals, and managers who are interested in employee engagement and development.

Managers are generally flexible with regards to scheudling time-off and employees are endowed with a generous PTO accrual which goes up yearly. And you get free tuition on an associates degree and bachelors degree, and almost free tuition on advanced degree programs.

The most enjoyable part of the job is having a flexible schedule in terms of shift times, breaks and lunches - although it is rather bizarre to require salaried employees to clock in and out for shifts, breaks and lunches.

The hardest part of the job is dealing with a great amount of ambiguity - the training and leadership teams try hard to cover scenarios, but the nature of having rigid policies against a wide range of student conditions means that judgement calls often have to be made that can sometimes result in errors. Maangement is rather inflexible when employees reason towards why a decision was made that was ultimately ruled to be erroneous.

Even though many managers are flexible, there are a decent mix which either don't appear to care for their jobs and leave employees hanging, or lack intuitive management experience and go straight to micromanaging, leading to lower productivity and lower employee morale. This micromanagement regime originates at the top with directors who do not appear to understand what it is exactly that employees do day to day, blaming employees first for processes which were flawed from the beginning without input from those doing the job.

Possibly the worst part of the job is the crony-ism that develops between leadership of departments and vendors. Friends only hire friends - so merit based promotions are tenuous at best and the software developed in house is riddles with bugs (try clocking in and out for lunch, I bet you can't because it's down again).

I worked at UoPhx online for 8 years as an Enrollment Counselor. There was a lot of growth and changes continously happening as regulations changed and the company grew quickly. I enjoyed working independently and was good at my job and stayed focused so I never felt micro-managed. I enjoyed the autonomy and building relationships with my students.  It was a kind of "soft sales" job as recruiter, but it was easy because it's an education and something that all your leads had directly expressed interest in pursuing. I spent about 3-6 hours a day on the phones talking to students and being their main point of contact in there initial first months. I enjoyed helping them have a smooth transition into an online university and helping them in whatever ways I could so to help retain them at UoPhx. Overall I really loved my job and felt very rewarded about the work I was doing. 

They love hard working motivated people who can work independently. You will have your own cubical that is low so you can see everyone on your team and on the call center floor. Some people work from home. Typically work for 8 hours +1hr lunch break in the middle of your shift. Depending on which division you work in, you can work Day shifts (6am-10am start), Swing shifts (1pm to 3pm start), or Graveyard shifts as there are Counselors available to help students all over the world. I worked Militart division as I was prior service. 

Some people worked from home, or 4 day shifts for 10 hour days + 1 hour lunches in between their shifts. Your tuition is free and you are supported and commended for taking classes and completing your degree/s. When I started working there, no degree was required as a pre-requisite for getting the job. That may have changed now though...

Overall I highly recommend this company. I recommend a lot of friends apply but I must have been lucky getting in because no one I referred was able to get the job for some reason. Create a great resume that really highlights the strengths they are looking for and have a positive and hungry attitude and you should have a good shot. Good luck!

The University of Phoenix is the largest provider of on-line education in the world. In addition, they do have campus based classes, but I was not involved in this aspect of their business. Courses lasted nine weeks; and I would usually have duplicate classes at the same time then mid-way through (five weeks), I would rotate in two additional and identical classes. Thus, I would teach four or more classes at any given time. There were class discussions for credit. Students would submit papers, private questions, and exams in a private forum that I had with each student.

PROS:
- can work hours as convenient to each individual
- I believe that a student gets as much out of any school as they are willing to invest their time and interest
- the vast majority of students are: prepared, willing to work, and believe that they are in school to get an education
- when I attended graduations, I felt a great sense of pride for the graduates and speakers were most enthusiastic.
- the courses that I taught were most interesting and exciting to instruct
- I was able to use my education and vast business experience to personalize situations, make the classes more interesting, and enhance the offering to each student
- as needed, I enjoyed telephone conversations with students that either party could always initiate
- at the beginning, I needed technical support from the school; and they were always available and willing to help me with all needed as needed.
- being that I lived in Phoenix, I was invited to forums and discussions for teachers that were on sight.

CONS:
- incosistent supervision
- very little positive feedback
- tremendous pressure to pass students
- students are oversold by salespeople and a minority have far greater expectations as to what they will be given and believe that they are being overworked
- a minority of students are only there to be "given" a diploma, which they feel is a magic wand to higher pay. They are not willing to do work as required to get the education that they need.
- spelling (eg. "to", "too", "two" AND "then" and "than" ) grammar, and use of the English language makes a minority of work unintelligible
- prejudice students, who make comments that are offensive to other students.

Apply adult learning theory and practices by providing training needs and career development. Evaluate current curriculum and improve high quality courses or workshops for students and faculty. Facilitate training and development, coordinate classroom-set up, organizing course materials, coordinating course assessments and facilitating course activities. Plans, designs, acquire, documents, implements, and monitoring electronic information. I identify needed competencies for learning online, continued education, and assess learning and development needs by assigning developmental assignments or workshops, mentoring and coaching. 
Utilize effective formatting and message presentation techniques for GEN 195/200 Fundamentals for General Education and Professional Success for undergraduate students. Reinforce effective online classroom management techniques. Discuss the faculty and student requirements for substantive classroom participation. 
Provide feedback and guidance to students throughout their experience while meeting Online requirements. Discuss plagiarism guidelines, effective writing, conflict management and resolution, online tone and etiquette, mapping goals testing and measurements, ethics in the classroom, grading policies and student participation requirements. Determine monitoring and feedback strategies for Groups or Learning Teams. Provide leadership development in order to create effective learning teams. This general education course is designed to introduce the intentional learner to communication, collaboration, information utilization, critical thinking, problem solving and professional competence and values. The course uses an interdisciplinary approach for the learner to develop personal, academic strategies in order to reach desired goals and achieve academic success.
Hardest part of teaching online is the challenges of different time zones and language barriers. Most of the time work is carried out indepently. What I enjoy the most about this position is the personal and professional growth that is developed at the end of the course. It's refreshing and rewarding. Enjoy seeing others reach their full potential.

I came to this job after having a horrible experience at my last job and have nothing but good things to say about it so far. 
Yes this is a production, compliance, and quality checked job because you are dealing with government funds. Some people do not like having their work monitored or to have to meet requirements daily. 
I have had no issue with this. Everything is reasonable. I stay busy all day but I do not feel overworked in any way. I’ve also been blessed with a great manager who really shows she cares about me by talking to me, giving me recognition for my work, and getting to know me as a person. 
Yes a company will always be numbers/results driven because that is how companies work. We don’t do this for fun. But some companies handle that better than others. My previous job showed they ONLY cared about numbers. A good company does care about both, but puts their employees needs as a first concern. Sometimes you’re told a lot of things during training. Such as, we’re like a family here, we really care, or you will have support through your job. And a lot of places don’t mean that. University of Phoenix does though. I always feel care and support every day. Everyone is ready and willing to help when you need it. They even send out surveys to employees to see where they can improve as a company. In the time I’ve been here, I’ve actually seen them adjust things based on feedback. 
They’re transparent and honest about how the company is doing. And constantly working to improve things. 
I do not feel pressure or that the expectations are at all hard to achieve. I am someone with no background in finance. This company has such great training that even I was able to learn and succeed in this role. The company gives us plenty of opportunities to get to know and engage with coworkers and managers in an at home environment. There’s plenty of opportunities to grow within your role but also to learn more things and get a raise. 
Certain jobs are not for certain people, so I can understand a full time job of using systems, looking at numbers and making spreadsheets will not be for everyone. But this role has worked out great for me. I’d definitely recommend this role and this company! 

I have had the opportunity to work in multiple roles at the University of Phoenix. I have experienced both the joys and frustrations of an ever changing organization.

My current role at the Univesity of Phoenix allows me to work directly with students. My responsibilities include proactively contacting students, ensuring students are progressing through their degree program, and providing support and encouragement.

In my tenure with the University, I have learened a multitude of skill sets. The one skill set that I hold most important is perspective One must always remove themselves from any situation and look at it from multiple perspectives. By doing so, one will be able to gain a better understanding of the "why" behind any initiative.

Management at the University of Phoenix, especially middle management, is a challenge. With such a large organization, there are times when changes are made without the proper perspective needed. Although executive management does interact with the entire organziation, the feedback provided is never implemented. This lack of implementation can create frustration.

My co-workers work as a team. We support one another as the University continues to evolve. Challenges always arise. However, I would say that everyone supports one another overall.

The hardest part of my current position is the constant change. The University of Phoenix is continually looking for way to provide students with an exceptional student experience. The challenge with the constant change is that the University is not provided enough time to adapt to the change. It feels as if once a change is beginning to take roots, another initiative is introduced.

The most enjoyable part of the job is interacting with people. As I stated earlier, I have had the opportunity to work in multipe roles at the Unvierstiy of Phoenix. In each role I have held, working directly with people has been my passion. The ability to have an impact in someone else's life is something that I look forward to each day.

Being an Academic Counselor has very limited to no perks. They bring you in on a Step program of pay despite doing the same work each day. You start from Step 0, basically entry level through Step 5, seasoned or experienced, and that determines the pay structure. Raises are annually, if you are at a lower step, you get an ok pay increase, anywhere from 3-4k and an increase in steps until you max out at step 5. 

You work under a manager who can be very passive, agreeing with everything you say, but always protecting the company despite seeing the flaws, they want to keep their job too. The call form, and from others providing feedback, it is horrible. Flowing conversations are not what they want, they want structure but look at you and say "be yourself". Many many people in this role have brought this up, Directors give us false hope, changes are happening, they are in the works, but no tangible information, the when mostly. They are just as to blame as they are the sups as the trainers are. 

Each training group it appears have the same OJT leaders, but are taught so differently. Right now, call form is the biggest concern, with no resolution, the University even says retention of the AC is at an all time high, they won't tell us the percents, again, tangible information, just it's better than it has been. Notice if you work here the gap from new hires to tenured. AC's are hired at an alarming rate, with many leaving, I think an entire group all left, again, what is the reason. 

Work is a burden with their expectations, its tenured vs new hires daily, metrics is unreal, and they want you to have non scripted conversations, be that best version of yourself and come down on your like it's entirely your fault you did not hit certain parts on the form. 

Please be cautious and yes, even now, it is a University of change, still. 

There is a big downfall, the expectations can be demanding, but when I worked there salary employees weren't expected to work more than 40 hours (which is great if you were meeting your goals), the culture was pretty inclusive. I did see people get promoted who deserved it. Paychecks weren't great in finance or academics, but enrollement (which is like sales and is at ALLLLLL schools) was much better, and as much as people can try to claim, it was done legally.

The worst thing about being there is the bad rap from former students and employees who all shouldn't have been there in the first place. Yes, you will deal with office politics and expectations that seem extreme at times, but the HR dept was easy to work with, you gained great relationships with staff and students, and at least in the region I worked, business practices had a high integrity.

I will say that there is some improvement needed with staff training, any bad rap is due to that, or those who just don't care. It's a large organization with high expectations for their staff and students and rather progressive when you think about it. When I started online courses in 2004 people thought I was nuts, now can you name many schools that don't offer it?

And if the office culture wasn't to someone's expectations, I MISS the benefits! Cheapest and best health insurance I ever had (and I work in healthcare now for another large organization), fantastic vacation time, and free tuition. So where the pitfalls are, there is the flip side.

If you don't want to be held to certain expectations, don't work here. People who want to be at UOP do enjoy it and even after 4 years away I still have friends who still work there and put up with the negative people because there are more positives than negatives, which seems hard to come by these days.

There is extensive training to help prepare you for the role, however training makes it seem as though most students are coachable when in fact majority of them do not care to even speak to you. A typical day on the job after training is having meetings whenever they are scheduled and logging in and taking inbound calls and making outbound calls. Although the description may say 20-30 inbound/outbound calls and 20-25 work items daily, work items are essentially just outbound calls once you review the students file. So expect to take about 60 inbound/outbound calls daily. Although you technically have assigned students, you will rarely speak to them. Students basically speak to whoever answers the phone or whoever is assigned their file at the time. And although you may be assigned to a specific college such as business or social sciences, be prepared to assist all students unless they have a program specific question. I learned a great deal about higher education and management is great and so is the culture. Despite all the people you meet in training who have been with the company 10+ years, the turnover rate is really high because the job has a lot of pressure and you are constantly graded using metrics that most customer service call centers use. Even when you feel like you have done a good job on a call, you get chewed on audits for the smallest things. The job also requires you to be a bit invasive which may not be comfortable for some people. Some academic counselors really love the role so I think it depends on what you want. I did not find talking to different students everyday valuable or helpful to them. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Academic counselor 3 salaries reported	$45,000 per year
Enrollment and eligibility representative 8 salaries reported	$55,000 per year
Financial advisor 6 salaries reported	$42,250 per year
Enrollment advisor 3 salaries reported	$53,333 per year
Software engineer 3 salaries reported	$101,500 per year

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