Grand Canyon University

Founding Grand Canyon College was founded as a nonprofit institution in 1949 in Prescott , Arizona, by the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention . The institution was founded so local Baptists could obtain college degrees without going east to a Baptist college in Texas or Oklahoma. [ 12 ] On October 8, 1951, Grand Canyon College relocated to its current location in Phoenix . [ 15 ] In 1984, the college's trustees voted to transition the college to a university for the school's 40th anniversary in 1989, becoming Grand Canyon University . At this time, it also changed governance from the Southern Baptist Convention to the GCU Board of Trustees. [ 15 ]

Suffering financial and other difficulties in the early 21st century, the school's trustees authorized its sale in 2004 to California-based Significant Education, LLC, [ 16 ] making it the first for-profit Christian college in the United States. [ 17 ] Significant Education was a subsidiary of education entrepreneur Michael K. Clifford 's company. [ 16 ] Clifford became managing director of the privatized institution, with the former board of trustees serving in an advisory role. [ 16 ] Significant Education became a corporation in 2005, publicly traded under the name Grand Canyon Education , Inc. in 2008. [ 18 ] GCE trades on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "LOPE". [ 18 ] [ 19 ] After the infusion of capital, Grand Canyon University's size increased. After having fewer than 1,000 students enrolled in 2008, the university had 17,500 students in the spring of 2017. [ 20 ] A 2015 economic impact study revealed that the university was adding about $1 billion to the state's economy each year during its expansion. [ 21 ] In February 2017, then Arizona Governor Doug Ducey said that the neighborhoods surrounding the university had experienced a 30% increase in housing values and a 30% decrease in crime rates. [ 22 ] By 2014, GCU students' accumulated student loan debt was estimated at more than $5.9 billion. [ 23 ] Citing GCU's controversial for-profit status, Arizona State University initially declined to play against GCU in any sport. ASU eventually reversed its position, and sporting events between the two universities recommenced in 2020. [ 24 ]

In the fall of 2014, the college announced the exploration of a return to nonprofit status. [ 25 ] GCU's regional accreditation body, the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), initially rejected the university's petition for conversion to nonprofit status in 2016, stating that the school's proposed strategy, particularly its plan to outsource some of its activities (such as curriculum development and student support services) to outside vendors, did not meet the criteria for such a conversion. [ 25 ] [ 26 ] [ 27 ] In 2018, GCU submitted another application to HLC to change to nonprofit status. [ 28 ] This application was accepted on July 1, 2018. [ 29 ] [ 30 ] Although several organizations, including the IRS and the HLC, approved the transition, the U.S. Department of Education still classifies the university as a for-profit university. The government specifically alleges that GCU is a captive client to Grand Canyon Education and operates for the benefit of a for-profit company's shareholders. [ 31 ] Grand Canyon Education has also been accused of engaging in securities law fraud in relation to GCU. [ 32 ] [ 33 ] Grand Canyon University was alleged to have switched from for-profit to nonprofit status due to its yearly $9.2 million property tax bill. Numerous school officials said this was unsustainable and a key reason the switch was made. [ 34 ] Some critics of for-profit education criticized the relationship between GCU and GCE as too intertwined. [ 35 ] [ 36 ] In 2021, a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by GCU that claimed the university didn't receive all the CARES Act relief funds to which it was entitled because it was a nonprofit entity. [ 37 ] The same year, GCU sued the U.S. Department of Education after being denied nonprofit status twice. [ 38 ] The suit was initially dismissed in 2022 after a federal district judge rejected the university's claims. [ 39 ] In October 2023, a GCU press release alleged that there was a concerted effort by the U.S.

Department of Education , Federal Trade Commission , and Department of Veterans Affairs to punish the school for attempting to gain nonprofit status. [ 40 ] [ 41 ] In November 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit overturned the district judge's decision and ruled, by a unanimous 3–0 decision, that the U.S. Department of Education erred in denying GCU nonprofit status by applying the wrong standard of assessment. [ 8 ] [ 42 ] The Dept. of Education was ordered to reevaluate according to a different standard. [ 9 ]