Feds say Grand Canyon University is not as Christian or affordable as it claims

Grand Canyon University — according to its multimedia advertising and promotional campaign — prides itself on being “private, Christian and affordable.”

It’s an effective slogan, one that had drawn tens of thousands of online students to the university.

Although, on Tuesday the U.S. Department of Education suggested otherwise, accusing GCU of being not-so-affordable in a deceptively unchristian manner, and cracking down on the university in a very public way.

The department’s Office of Federal Student Aid this week accused the GCU of misstating the cost of its doctoral programs and levied a whopping $37.7 million fine.

All of which GCU plans to fight, with school President Brian Mueller saying the feds are “unjustly” targeting his school.

'GCU lied' about its costs, feds say

The accusations leveled by the Education Department seem pretty straightforward.

In a statement the Office of Federal Student Aid said, “An FSA investigation found GCU lied to more than 7,500 former and current students about the cost of its doctoral programs over several years. GCU falsely advertised a lower cost than what 98% of students ended up paying to complete certain doctoral programs.”

It added, "GCU stated that those doctoral programs cost between $40,000 and $49,000. GCU made these false claims about the cost on the school’s website and net price calculators, as well as in its enrollment agreements, catalogs, policy handbooks, and other marketing materials … GCU’s statements about the total cost to complete these programs were false and misleading because, based on GCU’s own data, less than 2% of graduates completed within the cost that GCU advertised."

Either that’s true or it’s not.

GCU says it 'does not mislead ... students'

And if the feds are using GCU’s own data to point out that 98% of graduates end up paying more than GCU advertised, that doesn’t sound very … well … Christian.

The Education Department says GCU officials pointed to “a series of fine print disclosures” by way of defense, but officials found them “insufficient to cure the substantial misrepresentations regarding cost.”

In a lengthy rebuttal GCU officials vowed to clear the university’s good name and said in part, “To be clear, GCU does not mislead or deceive students in any way. In fact, the opposite is true given that GCU goes above and beyond what is legally required … GCU is looked at by its peers as an industry leader in transparency and its employees have been invited to speak at seven different higher education conferences on these matters.”

Is it all a matter of reading the fine print?

FSA’s Chief Operating Officer Richard Cordray was not mincing words, however.

In the agency’s statement he said, “GCU lied about the cost of its doctoral programs to attract students to enroll. FSA takes its oversight responsibilities seriously. GCU’s lies harmed students, broke their trust, and led to unexpectedly high levels of student debt. Today, we are holding GCU accountable for its actions, protecting students and taxpayers, and upholding the integrity of the federal student aid programs.”

When I was a student in parochial school I recall more than once being told in catechism class that God, by way of the Bible, does not deal in fine print.

The same isn’t true for universities, apparently.

Even Christian ones.

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: GCU is not as Christian or affordable as it claims, feds say