Last month, Grand Canyon University in Phoenix appealed an unprecedented $37.7 million fine imposed by the U.S. Department of Education for allegedly misleading students about the cost of doctoral programs. GCU claims this fine comes from years of targeted and coordinated actions by the federal government against the university.

The fine is supposedly based on GCU’s disclosure of estimated program costs being lower than what most students actually pay due to necessary ongoing research credits for their dissertations. “GCU lied about the cost of its doctoral programs to attract students to enroll,” Federal Student Aid (FSA) CEO Richard Cordray said. “GCU’s lies harmed students, broke their trust, and led to unexpectedly high levels of student debt.”

However, according to GCU, the Education Department is the only source of these allegations and have not based their findings upon any student complaints or genuine evidence. The accusations also seem to completely ignore the federal court decision in Young v. GCU, which rejected the plaintiff’s claim that GCU misrepresented the time and cost it would take to complete a doctoral dissertation—exactly the issue in question with the fine.

Grand Canyon University claims to be a leader in transparency in higher education. “GCU actually provides more transparency regarding the estimated cost of the programs than is legally required,” a statement on their news site said, “and we believe our disclosures are more robust than other universities.”

The government claims that GCU’s “fine print” disclosures of the additional costs “are insufficient to cure the substantial misrepresentations regarding cost,” are “buried in dense documents and are much less prominent than the misrepresentations.” However, the university discloses the fact that there can be continuation courses in doctoral programs, and the cost of such courses, in full-size red print in its Degree Program Calculator—what the university calls “the most prominent place it provides financial disclosures for academic programs.”

This development comes as the culmination of several actions by the Education Department against GCU, revealing what the school says is a clear animus against it by the government. The Education Department launched detailed and tedious investigations into what are considered standard practices and protocols for colleges and universities. “The substance of these claims is so frivolous that they could have easily been resolved in a 10-minute phone call had the agencies chosen to do so,” the school claims.

One of the main points of tension has been the department’s refusal to recognize GCU’s legal nonprofit status, which the university returned to in 2018 and has been recognized by other necessary legal entities. GCU filed a lawsuit against the Education Department over this in 2021 after attempting to work cooperatively with the department.

Additionally, the fine was imposed on Oct. 31, just days after GCU President Brian Mueller sent an open letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona calling attention to their shared vision regarding issues in higher education and requesting a chance to meet in person to discuss their ongoing disputes “in a rational and productive way.” It seems what he received in response was the largest fine against a university in history.

By comparison, Fox News reports, Penn State University was fined $2.4 million for not reporting the crimes of football coach Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted as a serial pedophile. Michigan State University was fined $4.5 million for neglecting to address sexual assaults committed by medical doctor Larry Nassar.

Enrollment at Grand Canyon University has grown to about 25,800 on the ground campus and 92,000 online, producing roughly 30,000 graduates every year. The university has frozen tuition costs at its main campus for 15 years in order to keep private Christian higher education affordable, it says. Meanwhile, rates at other universities have skyrocketed.

“I have spoken to thousands of students, parents, employees, alumni and community stakeholders in Arizona,” President Mueller said in a press release, “and they all tell me the same thing: We need to fight this tyranny from federal government agencies not only to stand up for ourselves but to ensure this type of ideological government overreach and weaponization of federal agencies does not happen to others.”

“(The Department of Education is) just trying to stain the name of this successful school,” Franklin Graham said in a Facebook post on Tuesday. “Christian education is a success—and they hate that … The school has been tremendously successful, going from less than 1,000 students to one of the largest private schools in the country. That should earn praise from the Department of Education rather than condemnation.” Graham calls his Facebook followers to pray for the University’s leadership, including president Mueller, as they face this legal battle.

 

Above: GCU President Brian Mueller speaks during a press conference regarding the University’s appeal to the DOE fine.

Photo: Grand Canyon University