After years of legal conflict with federal regulators, the U.S. Department of Education has formally recognized Grand Canyon University as a nonprofit institution, ending a prolonged dispute involving the nation’s largest Christian university.
GCU President Brian Mueller welcomed the decision in a statement released Monday, praising the department’s handling of the review process. “We are appreciative that officials within the current Department of Education adhered to the recent Ninth Circuit decision in our favor and conducted an objective and thorough review of GCU's operations in determining GCU's nonprofit status under the correct legal standard,” Mueller said.
The ruling follows a contentious period during which the university faced heightened scrutiny from federal officials. In October 2023, under the Biden administration, the Department of Education imposed a $37.7 million fine on GCU after an investigation by the Office of Federal Student Aid alleged the school misrepresented the cost of its doctoral programs to prospective students.
Federal investigators claimed that GCU marketed its doctoral degrees as costing between $40,000 and $49,000, while fewer than 2% of students completed their programs within that price range. According to the department, more than 7,500 current and former students were affected by the alleged misrepresentations.
The investigation further concluded that required “continuation courses” routinely added an additional $10,000 to $12,000 to students’ total expenses. Regulators asserted that the university’s disclosures did not sufficiently alert students to what they described as significant discrepancies between advertised and actual program costs.
In September, a report from the U.S. Department of Justice described the fines imposed on Grand Canyon University and Liberty University as unusually severe, characterizing them as potential examples of anti-Christian bias during the Biden administration. Both institutions were initially assessed penalties of roughly $37 million, the largest fines ever issued by the Education Department.
While Liberty University ultimately agreed to pay $14 million over alleged violations of the Clery Act—federal rules requiring schools to disclose campus crime data—the Department of Education rescinded its $37.7 million fine against Grand Canyon University in May, clearing the way for the nonprofit status affirmation.
