UPDATE:
State board of education members officially terminated the University of Idaho’s quest to acquire the University of Phoenix Thursday afternoon.
The move came more than a year after Idaho lawmakers essentially nixed the deal due to transparency and liability concerns.
State Board President Kurt Liebich said the need for such an online, higher-ed platform is still greatly needed here.
“We have to be able to reach Idaho adults no matter where they are in the state when they may be time and place bound. For all those strategic reasons, I thought this deal made sense. Well, now this deal’s behind us. Those trends haven’t changed," Liebich said.
The board will hear more about how the state’s universities could handle those challenges at its August meeting.
ORIGINAL STORY:
After two years of controversy, the University of Idaho will not be acquiring the for-profit University of Phoenix. On Tuesday, both schools announced they agreed to cancel the $685 million deal.
Announced in May of 2023, the proposed acquisition immediately drew criticism. Attorney General Raúl Labrador sued the state board of education over the deal, saying it violated the state’s open meeting laws when it was decided behind closed doors. In 2024, lawmakers blocked the purchase.
In a press release, University of Idaho President Scott Green said the school had learned many things during the process.
“Although we continue to see great value in University of Phoenix, it has become cost prohibitive, and potentially distracting to our other work, to continue conversations,” Green said.
The school will be reimbursed a total of $17.24 million dollars for their out-of-pocket expenses incurred in the last two years. That figure includes $5 million already received by U of I after the State board gave both schools a 12 month extension in June 2024 to revise the deal.
“This is all the consultants, the research, bankers and lawyers and those areas of expertise that we brought to the table to help us work through this complicated structure,” said U of I spokesperson Jodi Walker.
Walker said the process should be wrapped up in the next couple of weeks. The State board of Education will meet on Thursday to discuss the termination of the agreement. The cancelation comes a week before the extension’s deadline
In 2019, the University of Phoenix paid $191 million to settle a lawsuit with the Federal Trade Commission alleging it used deceptive advertising to recruit students.
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