by Chris Cumo

TO PARAPHRASE FRANKILN Delano Roosevelt's first inaugural address, the University of Phoenix has nothing to fear, not even fear itself. The for-profit university announced a 22 percent increase in enrollment between May 31, 1999 and May 31, 2000. Online enrollment, which leapt 44.7 percent, fueled much of this growth according to the Apollo Group Inc., which oversees the university. This increase "really shows the very large underlying demand for distance education in this country," said Scott L. Soffen, an analyst at Legg Mason Wood Walker, a brokerage firm in State College, Pennsylvania. The firm has been tracking the university for years because it is "one of the fastest-growing educational institutions in the United States," he said.

The numbers corroborate Soffen's opinions. In 1998 the University of Phoenix had only 6,512 students enrolled in online courses. Today more than twice the number, 13,779, fill online rosters. The university, which has 85 campuses in 15 states, Puerto Rico, and Canada, boasts a total enrollment of 75,057, and the Apollo Group, which operates other schools in addition to the University of Phoenix, has 94,255 students in its degree-granting programs. Thousands more are taking non-degree courses, pushing total enrollment near 100,000, and making Apollo a Goliath amid the Davids of higher education.

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