The odds are good that you do not know much about the Apollo Group, for those of you who have never heard them before here is a look at how the company describes itself, “Since 1973, Apollo Group, Inc., has been creating opportunities for students to reach their full potential while enriching society as a whole. Today, Apollo Group continues to strengthen and capitalize on its position as a leading provider of quality, accessible education for individuals around the world.” The company basically functions as an umbrella for a number of different name, as the company does operate a number of organizations dedicated to adult education. One of the most prominent of those names is the University of Phoenix brand.

Apparently the Apollo Group, faced with a decline in the number of students they have and the increase in costs that many schools are dealing with, have decided to turn to layoffs in order to set their budget to right. The company is getting ready to shunt about 70 workers off of the payrolls and onto the unemployment line. For those of you who are not familiar with the idea of a mass layoff action here is a look at how the federal government defines the term, “The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program collects reports on mass layoff actions that result in workers being separated from their jobs. Monthly mass layoff numbers are from establishments which have at least 50 initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) filed against them during a 5-week period. Extended mass layoff numbers (issued quarterly) are from a subset of such establishments—where private sector nonfarm employers indicate that 50 or more workers were separated from their jobs for at least 31 days.” Luckily under the terms of a mass layoff action the company will have to give workers at least some advanced notice before putting them off of the payroll. While that may not sound like much it is better than nothing in a market where finding new work is an increasingly difficult hurdle to climb.

Since the company has not put out a statement about the job cuts, and as yet to respond to an inquiry, we do not know if the company is offering severance or any other benefits to the soon to be displaced workers. There is however an indication that they will do so, based on their previous layoff history. When the company made much larger layoffs at the end of 2010 they gave a severance. Here is an excerpt from that coverage that will get you up to speed, “The country’s largest for-profit school company Apollo Group Inc. axed around 700 full-time employees, mostly from student admissions, due to the decrease in student enrollment in the recent quarter. Apollo cited that they anticipate new students enrolling at University of Phoenix to drop around 40% in November, affecting its profit projection for the 2011 fiscal year. Reports said that Apollo Group held a meeting with affected workers to announce their removal and explain the company’s decision. Reports revealed that laid off employees would receive severance packages.”