Apollo Group (APOL- option chain) shares are rising today even though the U.S. Department of Education released an ugly study of federal loan repayment rates by former students of for-profit schools. The data shows that students at for-profit schools pay back federal loans at a 36% rate compared to 54% at public institutions. APOL, which runs the University of Phoenix, is higher today after comments from Deutsche Bank that indicate the school will expand its bachelor;s degree program. In contrast, both ITT Educational Services (ESI) and Devry (DV) are both down more than 9% so far today. If you think that the stock won't fall by too much in the coming months, then now could be a good time to look at a bullish hedged trade on APOL.

APOL opened this morning at $39.37. So far today the stock has hit a low of $39.34 and a high of $44.54. As of 12:20, APOL is trading at $41.49 up @2.53 (6.5%). The chart for APOL looks neutral and S&P gives APOL a neutral 3 STARS (out of 5) hold ranking.

One good thing to come out of the softening economy is that working adults may return to school in larger than average numbers to brush up on the latest in-demand job skills. DeVry Incorporated (NYSE: DV) is well placed to provide convenient, affordable, job-related educational opportunities. In its most recent quarter, DeVry's student enrollment grew 10%, it opened two new physical campuses and beefed up its accounting and finance programs.

Revenues for 2Q 2008, announced January 24, increased 16% to $237.7 million, but operating income increased 115% to $46.9 million, while net income increased 118% to $35.8 million, and diluted EPS increased 113% to $0.49.

At a cost of $27.5 million in cash, DeVry recently acquired Advanced Academics, Inc., which provides K-12 online educational opportunieis for the growing cyber-home school segment. DeVry's student loan program is in good shape, a claim not all for-profit educational companies can make.

The stock gained 3.6% on January 31 to close at $55.19, but gave up half that gain on February 1 to close down 1.5% at $54.35, before regaining that decline on February 4 to close at $55.11, up 1.4%. Investors may wish to investigate the for-profit educational sector for possible attractive growth candidates.

Apollo Group Inc. (NASDAQ: APOL) owns University of Phoenix, which posted an 11% enrollment increase to 325,000 students, as well as a consolidated revenue increase of 17% to $780.7 million for 1Q2008. But this is old news. Nevertheless, the stock jumped 10% on January 31 to close at $80.64, well up from its close of $68.11 on January 8 when the quarterly earnings figures were released.

Two recent events accounted for this jump. Apollo Group's legal troubles were not as serious as previously anticipated, in the $166-277 million range instead of much higher. The company has stated it intends to fight the verdict vigorously.

The second event is that Apollo Group is well placed to respond to increased demand for specific job-related post secondary educational opportunities for working adults in the U.S. Unlike its competitors in te for-profit adult education marketplace, Apollo Group is also well placed to respond to growing international demand for U.S.-provided online and in-class post secondary education. The company recently formed a joint venture with Carlyle Group and Apollo Global to expand its student base internationally.