Document and Entity Information In Thousands, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Nov. 30, 2011	Dec. 29, 2011 Apollo Group Class A Nonvoting Common Stock [Member]	Dec. 29, 2011 Apollo Group Class B Voting Common Stock [Member]
Entity Information [Line Items]
Document Type	10-Q
Document Period End Date	Nov. 30, 2011
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2012
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q1
Amendment Flag	false
Entity Registrant Name	Apollo Group Inc
Entity Central Index Key	0000929887
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--08-31
Entity Well-known Seasoned Issuer	Yes
Entity Voluntary Filers	No
Entity Current Reporting Status	Yes
Entity Filer Category	Large Accelerated Filer
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		125,909	475