University of Phoenix-Arizona vs Strayer University-Georgia

On every affordability measure in the federal data, University of Phoenix is the cheaper of the two. Average net price runs $13,520 a year against $18,318 at Strayer, a gap of $4,798 a year or about $19,192 across four years. For the lowest-income bracket ($0 to $30,000), Phoenix averages $12,776 to Strayer's $14,598. Graduates leave Phoenix with a median $31,553 in federal debt versus $40,621 at Strayer, which works out to roughly $335 a month against $431 on a standard ten-year plan.

What the affordability gap does not buy is a better outcome. The two schools post nearly identical results everywhere it matters: both complete 21% of students, both show a 42% three-year loan repayment rate, and ten-year median earnings are $37,752 at Phoenix and $40,092 at Strayer. In the one high-volume program where both report earnings, accounting, Strayer graduates come out slightly ahead at $66,108 versus $63,113.

Searchers often ask which of these two is more flexible for working adults. Federal data cannot measure schedule flexibility, and both institutions are built around online, career-adjacent enrollment, so we will not pretend the Scorecard settles it. What the data does measure is the risk that flexibility is standing in for: at either school, roughly four out of five entering students do not finish. In our view, that number matters more than any difference in course format, because a flexible program you do not complete leaves you with the debt and none of the earnings premium.

If cost is the deciding factor between exactly these two, the data points to Phoenix. But both score in the single digits on our 100-point ROI scale (8 and 9), so the better question is usually whether an in-state public or community college transfer path can deliver the same credential with a completion rate two or three times higher.