Apollo Group, Inc.'s University of Phoenix Student Loan Default Rate Lowered to 5.6%

Phoenix, Arizona, December 10, 1999 -- Apollo Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:APOL) today announced that the U.S. Department of Education has revised the 1997 – the most current data available – student loan default rate for the University of Phoenix to 5.6% from the previously reported 5.7%. The national student loan default rate for 1997 was 8.8%.

The cohort default rate is calculated based on the percentage of borrowers who enter repayment in a certain year and default before the end of the following year. The U.S. Department of Education uses the rate to identify schools with students who default at high rates.

Tony F. Digiovanni, University of Phoenix Executive Vice President, commented, "We are pleased with the continued decline of our student loan default rate. We feel that this decline reflects our student population of mature, motivated students that desire to improve their place in the new economy."

Apollo Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries the University of Phoenix, Inc., the Institute for Professional Development, the College for Financial Planning Institutes Corporation, Western International University, Inc. and Apollo Learning Group, Inc., is one of the largest providers of higher education programs for working adults in the United States, with total degree-seeking enrollment of approximately 86,800 students. Educational programs and services are offered at 49 campuses and 80 learning centers in 35 states, Puerto Rico and Vancouver, Canada.

For more information about Apollo Group, Inc. and its subsidiaries, call 1-800-990-APOL.

This press release includes statements, which may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This information may involve risk and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements.