The U.S. Department of Education has dismissed its case of alleged deceptive tuition practices against an evangelical university in Arizona and rescinded its $37.7 million fine, the university reports.
The department imposed the fine—its largest ever against a university–in October 2023 after claiming that Grand Canyon University did not fully disclose the cost of its doctoral program on its website. Allegedly, GCU’s disclosure of estimated program costs were lower than what most students actually paid since ongoing research credits are necessary to complete their dissertations.
According to a Foxnews.com article, the case was based on federal government reporting that 78% of GCU’s doctoral students who graduated between 2017 and 2022 required additional courses and incurred additional costs of at least $10,000 to complete their program.
The head of the Education Department’s Officer of Federal Student Aid, Brian Cordray, had accused GCU of lying to prospective students, which he claimed led to “unexpectedly high levels of student debt.”
The university appealed the fine in November 2023. Its president, Brian Mueller, said at the time that the federal government was “out of control.” GCU claimed the fine was a result of years of targeted actions by the federal government against the university.
In fact, the American Principles Project (APP) said the federal government had been on a crusade against Christian colleges throughout the Biden-Harris administration. In December 2024, Decision reported on a November 2024 APP study which found that 59 of 87 penalty actions levied by the Department of Education during the previous administration were against faith-based colleges and career schools. That’s 70% of penalties levied against a group of institutions that represent less than 10% of college students, APP said.
The Education Department targeted excessive penalties or disqualified federal student aid in at least 12 Christian colleges and universities, the report said, noting that over the last 10 years, more than a quarter of nearly 75 fines for federal violations were placed on Christian institutions. Christian schools received an average fine of $815,000 while public and private institutions received an average of $228,571.
The APP report charged that the government used its Office of Enforcement, a subsidiary of the Office of Federal Student Aid, which was created by President Obama, to eliminate universities that did align with its left-wing agenda.
The Department of Education’s move to rescind the fine against Grand Canyon University ends a yearslong legal battle for the university and clears it of any wrongdoing, GCU said in a news release after the decision.
“In a Joint Stipulation of Dismissal Order issued by ED’s Office of Hearings and Appeals, the Department dismissed the case with no findings, fines, liabilities or penalties of any kind,” the release said. “ED confirmed it has not established that GCU violated any Title IV requirements, including the claim that GCU ‘substantially misrepresented’ the cost of its doctoral programs that was alleged by ED officials under the Biden Administration. The Dismissal stated unequivocally that ‘there are no findings against GCU, or any of its employees, officers, agents or contractors, and no fine is imposed.”
Mueller welcomed the decision.
“The facts clearly support our contention that we were wrongly accused of misleading our Doctoral students and we appreciate the recognition that those accusations were without merit,” he said. “GCU is a leader in innovation, transparency and best practices in higher education, and we look forward to working cooperatively with the Department in the future—just as we have with all regulatory agencies.”
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