NEW YORK (MainStreet) — Beyond the spectacle of the Super Bowl is the little-known naming rights deal hiding in plain sight on the side of the building where the game was played. In 2006 the University of Phoenix, a for-profit college owned by the Apollo Group Inc., paid $154.5 for the naming-rights to the stadium in a deal that runs for 20 years. Two years later the University of Phoenix’s name was on the nation's flat screen TVs as it played host to the 2008 Super Bowl. It was back again yesterday.

The stadium is owned by the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority, which contributed $298 million to a public/private financing hybrid construction, with the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals adding $147 million.

The stadium is actually located in Glendale, Ariz. The University of Phoenix itself does not have a traditional campus or any sports teams. Most instruction takes place on the Internet or at one of its 130 “learning centers” in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there were about 308,000 students enrolled as of 2011. The naming-right deal has raised the ire of student advocates who criticize the for-profit college for its high drop-out rate while students funnel money to the school in the form of federal and private student loans.

Last year, the Department of Education’s inspector general demanded records from the University of Phoenix and the Apollo group going back to 2007 that related to marketing, recruitment, enrollment, financial aid, fraud prevention and student retention.

“The University of Phoenix is a bad deal for students,” said Maggie Thompson, campaign manager at the Washington, D.C.-based student group Higher Ed Not Debt. “In 2012, they collected $12,319 per student in tuition, but only spent $1,655 per student on instruction. That money should be spent educating students, not on TV commercials and stadium naming rights.”

”And that’s not the worst of it,” Thompson added. “The money University of Phoenix spends on advertising is our money. 92% of the University of Phoenix’s revenue comes from taxpayer dollars.”

While Thompson said that she watched the game—and didn’t disclose her rooting interest—her concerns about the for-profit college were still top-of-mind.

“For every dollar the University of Phoenix spends educating a student, they spend almost $2.50 on advertising,” said Thompson, “I don’t want my hard-earned tax dollars going to a for-profit university with record low graduation rates.”

The University of Phoenix’s credibility has been questioned. The U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions—the HELP Committee—began an investigation of for-profit colleges in 2010. Its findings, released in 2012, were especially critical of the University of Phoenix. Senate investigators found that the school derived 88.7% of its 2010 revenues from Federal student loan programs. It spent nearly three times as much on marketing as it did on student instruction while it’s dropout rate was over 66%.

Senate HELP committee chair Tom Harkin, a former Iowa Democrat, did not stand for re-election in 2014. He was replaced by Sen. Lamar Alexander (R.-Tenn.) this year as Republicans took control of the Senate.

--Written by John Sandman for MainStreet