"Slow Rise of the Phoenix: Delayed by Higher Education’s Entry Barrier "

In the 1970s, San Jose State Economic History Professor John Sperling founded the Institute for Professional Development aimed at making higher education more accessible to working adults. Blocked in his efforts to gain accreditation, Sperling moved his enterprise to Arizona, where it was accredited as the University of Phoenix. Two decades earlier, San Jose State University Engineering sought accreditation to provide graduate education for working adults. Its efforts were blocked by the University of California. Comparing these two cases in two different eras, this paper explores concepts of competition in the nonprofit sector by looking at the industry of higher education’s use of accreditation as a barrier to entry and its impact on the needs of local employees.