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University of Phoenix Market Structure

University of Phoenix is a private for-profit institution that offers degree programs to adults who are between employments or have an employment status. Moreover, the university’s 2009 enrollment total was in excess of 380,000 students; refer to Figure one. This paper will highlight discussion questions, which will identify this university’s market structure and pricing strategy. In addition, this paper will identify the university’s product differentiation and non-price barriers to market entry (University of Phoenix, 2011).

Figure 1-National Center for Education Statistics. Fall 2009 Digest of Statistics.

Market Structure Character

University of Phoenix (UOPX) belongs to the world’s largest private education provider, Apollo (Medoff, 2011). Because of the degrading economy, enrollment in institutes such as UOPX has increased. People are going back to school to increase their changes in a no steady market.

Post-secondary education is growing and a very competitive market. UOPX is considered to be a monopolistic competition market. In this type of market structure, each firm has a small percentage of market shares because there is no sole dominance (Smart & Tierney, 2000). The characteristics of the higher education marketplace resemble a monopolistic competition for many reasons. UOPX advertises to potential students educational packages that are appealing with characteristics that are distinguishable when comparing to other institutes. Private universities such as UOPX are profit maximizers, and do not perform on the lowest price (Smart & Tierney, 2000).

Pricing Strategy

Concerning pricing strategies, a monopolistic competitive firm may act like a monopolistic market. UOPX can influence the market price of its educational packages by changing the rate of production or enrollment. In the long run, economic profit is not an outcome in a monopolistic competition. The demand curve of a...