Is the University of Phoenix deal finished? A deadline looms, with no visible signs of progress
A sign marks the location of the University of Phoenix Chicago Campus on July 30, 2015, in Schaumburg, Illinois. ()
This story was originally posted on IdahoEdNews.org on April 14, 2025.
Time is fast running out. And there are no visible signs of progress.
But University of Idaho and University of Phoenix officials insist they haven't given up on the idea of a partnership.
'We continue to be excited about the proposed affiliation with the University of Idaho and the opportunity to support important educational and workforce needs in the state of Idaho,' University of Phoenix spokeswoman Andrea Smiley said in an email to Idaho Education News last week. 'The two universities will continue to collaborate to find solutions.'
'We continue to see incredible value in University of Phoenix,' U of I spokeswoman Jodi Walker told EdNews in an email. 'However, next steps are in the hands of Phoenix and its ownership team.'
But the State Board of Education has the U of I on a deadline to close a deal with Phoenix, a for-profit online university serving some 85,000 students. That deadline, June 10, is quickly approaching.
And what's more, the State Board agreed to an extension in order to give the two universities time to win over skeptical legislators. And that hasn't happened — at least not publicly.
The 2025 legislative session came and went without a Phoenix bill, a committee hearing, or any kind of vote. That silence stood in a stark contrast to the 2024 session. The Legislature stymied the $685 million Phoenix deal — with the Idaho Senate killing a bill that would have restructured the purchase — after lawmakers complained that they had been left in the dark by the parties' closed-door negotiations.
In short, U of I and Phoenix officials now have less than two months to settle on a deal to meet the State Board's deadline. And with the Legislature adjourned until January, it isn't clear how lawmakers would have a chance to weigh in on a revamped deal — unless they returned to Boise for a special session.
In the meantime, as the U of I suggests, the next move belongs to Phoenix.
The State Board's extension also gave Phoenix the latitude to talk to other would-be buyers. Phoenix is continuing to explore 'other transaction opportunities,' Smiley said.
One option could involve going public.
As Bloomberg reported in March, Phoenix's ownership groups are considering an initial public offering, perhaps as early as the third quarter of 2025.
And what about the State Board — which has the U of I on the clock?
The State Board did not respond to a request for comment.
The board meets Wednesday and Thursday at the U of I. And while U of I President C. Scott Green is expected to address the board and deliver the university's annual report, the board has no Phoenix-related item on its agenda.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Associated Press
38 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Snake eyes: D-backs' $425 million investment in starting pitching hasn't gone as planned
PHOENIX (AP) — The normally budget-conscious Arizona Diamondbacks have been willing to spend big money over the past several years, taking chances on the notoriously volatile market of free agent starting pitching. So far, it's a bet that has come up snake eyes. Over the past 5 1/2 years, Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick has committed roughly $425 million to four pitchers — Corbin Burnes, Jordan Montgomery, Eduardo Rodríguez and Madison Bumgarner. The combined return on that investment: A 30-48 record, 5.25 ERA, minus-0.4 WAR and two Tommy John surgeries. Yikes. The latest bad news came on June 1 when Burnes — who signed a $210 million, six-year deal in January — abruptly left a game against the Nationals with right elbow pain. Now he's set to undergo Tommy John surgery and might not return to the mound until 2027. It's a brutal blow for the D-backs, who have a 31-34 record heading into Monday night's game against the Mariners. The 30-year-old Burnes seemed like the safest bet on the market last winter when the D-backs made the signing. The four-time All-Star and 2021 National League Cy Young Award winner had been remarkably consistent and healthy over the previous four seasons, making at least 28 starts every year. 'I might as well do another job if we're going to be scared of bringing in a guy of this caliber on your team,' Arizona's general manager Mike Hazen said at Burnes' introductory news conference. Added Kendrick: 'We're stretching the budget. It won't be the last time.' And for two months, he was everything Hazen, Kendrick and the D-backs hoped for with a 3-2 record and 2.66 ERA. Now he's out for the foreseeable future. It's the latest in a bad run of luck for Arizona's front office. It's also a brutal reminder of the substantial risk in handing out big money to pitchers in an era when injuries are happening at an alarming rate. The D-backs aren't the only team facing the same problem, even in their own division. The Los Angeles Dodgers currently have 14 pitchers on the injured list — including starters Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, Roki Sasaki and Tony Gonsolin. Snell has made just two starts this season because of injuries after signing a $182 millon, five-year deal in the offseason. The difference is the Dodgers seem to have nearly unlimited money to keep adding talent. The D-backs do not. The string of disappointing signings started in December 2019, when the D-backs added Bumgarner with a $85 million, five-year deal. The lefty had declined from his peak in the early-to-mid 2010s, when he led the San Francisco Giants to three World Series titles, but there was reason to believe he would be a solid middle-of-the-rotation option. Instead, he regressed even more in the desert, going 15-32 with a 5.23 ERA over a little more than three seasons. The D-backs released him in 2023 after he had a 10.26 ERA through four starts, eating more than $30 million in the process. The D-backs made a surprise run to the World Series that year and invested in a pair of pitchers — Montgomery and Rodriguez — during the ensuing offseason. Montgomery signed a $25 million, one-year deal with a vesting option for 2025. Rodriguez was added on an $80 million, four-year deal. Much like the Bumgarner signing, both seemed like good deals at the time. Montgomery had just helped the Rangers beat the Diamondbacks in the World Series and was a solid lefty with a sub-4.00 ERA in each of the previous three seasons. Rodriguez was coming off one of the best seasons of his career after going 13-9 with a 3.30 ERA for the Detroit Tigers. Things haven't worked out for either pitcher. Montgomery was awful in 2024 with a 6.23 ERA and eventually demoted to the bullpen. But because he made 21 starts, his vesting option for $22.5 million kicked in for 2025. His bid for a bounce-back season ended before it even started. The lefty got hurt during spring training in March and needed Tommy John surgery for the second time in his career, ending his time in the desert. Rodriguez hurt his shoulder during spring training in 2024 and didn't make his D-backs debut until August, contributing a 5.04 ERA as the team faded down the stretch and missed the playoffs. He's battled injuries and ineffectiveness again this year with a 6.70 ERA through 10 starts. There's still time for the Rodriguez and Burnes deals to take a turn for the better. Even if Burnes doesn't return until 2027, he'd have four more years remaining on his deal. D-backs manager Torey Lovullo chose to remain optimistic following Burnes' injury. 'We're all with Corbin right now,' Lovullo said. 'This is a tough day to get this news. But we'll find a way to rally around him, play hard for him all year long. ... It's a long road, and it takes time for him to heal and recover. And he will. He'll be great for the Arizona Diamondbacks, I'm convinced of it.' ___ AP MLB:
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
JD Vance says the ‘blood feud' between Trump and Musk is ‘not going to be good for Elon' but admits he ‘suffered a lot' for the White House
Vice President JD Vance acknowledged the deepening feud between Elon Musk and President Trump but emphasized his hope that Musk could eventually reconcile with the Trump administration, praising Musk's past efforts with DOGE and calling him a 'transformational entrepreneur.' While defending Trump and dismissing Musk's Epstein-related claims as baseless, Vance warned that Musk's aggressive political stance could backfire, both for his companies and the broader national interest. It's been pointed out by many spectators that the feud between the world's richest man, Elon Musk, and arguably the world's most powerful man, Donald Trump, is not going to end well for any involved. And JD Vance, Trump's political right hand, agrees. The Tesla CEO and president have fallen out to a major extent, at first over the White House's 'Big, Beautiful Bill', which Musk says will undo all the work of his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). But since Musk's departure from Washington D.C. several weeks ago, his attacks on President Trump have continued to ramp up. He has encouraged voters to outright rebel against the bill by contacting their political representatives, with Trump saying he was 'disappointed' in Musk for such statements. The man worth $342 billion hit back that Trump would have lost the election without his backing, with the president then threatening to terminate a host of government contracts to Musk's private entities. In response, Musk claimed that the president's name was in the Epstein files—a jibe he provided no evidence to support. Speaking in an interview this week, Vice President Vance said any notion that Trump did 'anything wrong with Jeffrey Epstein' is 'BS.' Yet while the relationship between the Musk and Trump seems to have gone past the point of no return, Vice President Vance says he still wants to see the SpaceX founder return to the fold of the Trump 2.0 team. 'My basic read on it, first of all I'm the vice president to President Trump, my loyalties are always going to be with the president. Elon [is] an incredible entrepreneur, I think DOGE was really good. The effort to root out waste, fraud and abuse in our country was really good,' Vance told the 'This Past Weekend' podcast with Theo Von. 'I hope that eventually Elon kind of comes back into the fold. Maybe that's not possible now because he's gone so nuclear—I hope it is,' Vance added. Musk's decision to go 'nuclear', as Vance describes it, may not prove to be in the best interest of his companies, such as Tesla and Space X, which may now draw the attention of the Oval Office for the wrong reasons. As a result of this concern, in the past five days alone the share price of Tesla has sunk more than 14%, with Musk's net worth taking an eye-watering hit as a result. Vance suggested that Musk may be shooting from the hip instead of assessing the ramifications of going head-to-head with the White House, adding: 'Elon's new to politics … I think part of it is this guy got into politics and has suffered a lot for it.' Indeed even prior to a spat with the White House, Musk was suffering for his political interests. While heading up DOGE, protestors to his work and the Trump administration began targeting Tesla by damaging cars, showrooms, and charging points—not only in the U.S. but also across Europe. 'The process in D.C., if you're a business leader you probably get frustrated with that process because it's more bureaucratic [and] slow moving. So I think there's some frustrations there,' Vance added. 'But I think it's huge mistake for [Musk] to go after the president like that. I think that if he and the president are in some blood feud, most importantly it's going to be bad for the country but I … don't think it's going to be good for Elon either.' Concerns have been raised about the bill on account of the fiscal ramifications of the largest tax breaks 'in history,' with previous projections from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) finding the legislation would add $3.8 trillion to the deficit while proposed cuts to Medicaid would shave only $1 trillion in spending. However the Trump administration said statements such as 'The One Big Beautiful Bill increases spending' and 'The One Big Beautiful Bill adds to the deficit' are false. For example, the White House points to the CBO's predictions that while tariffs will shrink the economy it will also reduce federal deficits by $2.8 trillion (the inclusion of the Big Beautiful Bill in its modeling is not mentioned). 'I think that it's a good bill and it does a lot of good for the American people,' Vance continued. 'Look, Elon's entitled to his opinion. I'm not saying he has to agree with the bill or agree with everything that I'm saying, I just think it's a huge mistake for the world's wealthiest man—I think one of the most transformational entrepreneurs ever—to be at war with the world's most powerful man who I think is doing more to save the country than … anybody in my lifetime.' He added: 'I don't want to reveal too many confidences but [Trump] was getting a little frustrated, feeling like some of the criticisms were unfair coming from Elon … the president doesn't think that he needs to be in a blood feud with Elon Musk, and I actually think if Elon chilled out a little bit, everything would be fine.' This story was originally featured on
Boston Globe
8 hours ago
- Boston Globe
N.H. tourism office deletes post, webpage of Pride-related events after Republican complaint
Advertisement Maidment tagged Get N.H. Morning Report A weekday newsletter delivering the N.H. news you need to know right to your inbox. Enter Email Sign Up 'It's the low level bureaucrats that are drowning us,' he Update - it's been deleted. — Chris Maidment (@ChrisMaidmentNH) Along with the social media post, the VisitNH Advertisement Caswell and a division spokesperson did not directly answer questions from the Globe about who decided to delete the Pride-related content, why they made that decision, and what policies govern their editorial decision-making regarding which events to feature. 'We regularly promote events throughout New Hampshire, and the webpage you mentioned is active,' division spokesperson Kris Neilsen said in an email Sunday, after the webpage was restored. It's not entirely clear why the complaint yielded such a prompt response, since VisitNH had made similar social media posts for Pride events in Caswell was first appointed in 2017 by Republican Governor Christopher T. Sununu. He was reappointed by Sununu in 2021 to a second four-year term. That term will expire Some other Sununu appointees have already been shown the exit on Ayotte's watch. The governor announced that Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut The deletion of this Pride-themed content also comes at a crucial stage in the budget process, as state lawmakers finalize their spending plan for the next two fiscal years. Although the House and Senate have Advertisement That ideological lens has been applied to individual line items. In advocating deep cuts in funding to the University System of New Hampshire, some have argued the reductions are appropriate to curb left-leaning ' At least one lawmaker drew a direct connection between the budgeting process and the Pride-themed post from VisitNH. 'This is why we tried to strip away their funding,' Republican Representative James Spillane of Deerfield wrote Spillane called on Ayotte to 'get the department under control' or face legislative intervention. The New Hampshire House and Senate are likely to form a committee of conference this week to reconcile the differences between their versions of the budget, with a June 26 deadline to act on the committee's compromise. Steven Porter can be reached at
