Grand Canyon University criticizes Miguel Cardona's allegations

Grand Canyon College (GCU) is refuting Training Secretary Miguel Cardona's current feedback earlier than Congress, who accused the varsity of “preying” on college students and vowed to shut them.

“Mr. Cardona's outrageous feedback, that are each legally and factually incorrect, are so reckless that GCU has no alternative however to request the quick withdrawal of the enchantment,” the varsity stated in an announcement offered to The Christian Publish. “He’s both confused, misinformed or doesn’t perceive the actions of his personal company.”

Talking throughout an April 10 listening to of the Home Appropriations Committee, throughout which Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., characterised GCU as a “predatory for-profit school,” Cardona laid out measures he and his division are in search of to shut the most important Christian college in USA, based on Fox Information.

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“They’ve a shiny brochure and nice promoting, however the product isn't well worth the paper it's written on,” Cardona stated. “We now have college students graduating with $60,000 to $70,000 in debt who’re solely eligible for jobs underneath $30,000. That's unacceptable to me.”

Referring to GCU, Cardona defined how his division has elevated legislation enforcement “to go after these individuals and actually crack down on this conduct,” boasting that they “imposed the best nice in [Department of Education] historical past in opposition to a faculty that lied to college students about prices.”

“We're cracking down on them, not simply to close them down, however to ship a message throughout the nation which you can't prey on our college students and anticipate to achieve success,” Cardona added.

Final October, the Division of Training fined GCU $37.7 million, a nice that exceeds the $2.4 million nice levied in opposition to Penn State for failing to report the sexual abuse of boys by Jerry Sandusky, in addition to the $4.5 million nice in opposition to the state of Michigan for that he didn't do it. to deal with Larry Nassar's sexual assaults in opposition to tons of of scholars.

An investigation by the division's Workplace of Federal Pupil Assist discovered that “GCU lied concerning the prices of its doctoral packages to entice college students to enroll” of greater than 7,500 present and former college students.

The division alleged that the college misrepresented the price of its doctoral packages on its web site by promoting that it could value between $40,000 and $49,000 if lower than 2% of graduates accomplished levels in that value vary.

The required “continuation programs” usually added $10,000 to $12,000 to the ultimate value, the division stated. Investigators dismissed GCU's nice print about further prices as inadequate discover of “substantial misrepresentations about prices”.

Throughout a November press convention asserting GCU's enchantment of the $37 million nice, GCU President Brian Mueller pointed to a 2022 U.S. Authorities Accountability Workplace (GAO) report inspecting broader monetary disclosure in increased training. The GAO report discovered that 91% of faculties audited “don’t embody or understate the online value of their support provides,” of which 41% don’t checklist the online value of their supply to college students.

Following earlier statements refuting the division's allegations in opposition to them, GCU strongly backtracked on Cardona's feedback in its newest assertion to CP, accusing the Biden administration of attacking Christian establishments.

“There aren’t any factual allegations to warrant an try to shut GCU,” the varsity stated, including that the Ministry of Training's conclusions aren’t shared by any of the opposite 26 regulatory and accrediting our bodies that oversee them, together with the Larger Studying Fee. .

GCU identified exactly how the federal company “overtly expressed its disdain for for-profit establishments and, with a view to label GCU as for-profit, intentionally ignored the findings” of different accrediting businesses that accredited their nonprofit standing.

Based in 1949 as a nonprofit group of the Southern Baptist Conference, GCU grew to become a for-profit establishment in 2004 amid monetary difficulties. The varsity subsequently sought to return to its nonprofit standing, a transfer accredited by the IRS, the Larger Studying Fee, the State of Arizona, the Arizona Personal Postsecondary Board and NCAA Athletics.

In 2018, the Division of Training denied their nonprofit standing for Title IV funding functions. The company argued that GCU didn’t adequately separate itself from its publicly traded former proprietor, Grand Canyon Training, which nonetheless gives providers to GCU and the place Mueller nonetheless serves as CEO, based on Forbes.

GCU additionally claimed coordinated federal motion in opposition to them, noting how the Goldwater Institute, a Phoenix-based conservative suppose tank, sued to acquire related emails between Training Division officers and different federal businesses concerning the nice imposed on them .

Along with the nice from the Division of Training, the Federal Commerce Fee (FTC) and the US Division of Veterans Affairs launched 5 investigations into GCU, which the varsity stated was in retaliation for a lawsuit they filed in 2021 over its nonprofit standing. In January, the FTC additionally sued the varsity, alleging that it defrauded college students and engaged in unlawful telemarketing practices.

GCU additionally famous that Liberty College, the second-largest Christian college within the U.S., confronted an analogous $37 million nice final yr for alleged violations of the Clery Act. The Lynchburg, Va.-based college settled with the Division of Training for $14 million in March.

GCU additional claimed that the Ministry of Training has repeatedly refused to supply them with proof of intent or any verified scholar complaints concerning the PhD program which allegedly types the idea of the motion in opposition to them.

“Fairly, their allegations are based mostly on their very own subjective view of GCU's monetary info for doctoral packages,” the varsity stated. “As Mr. Cardona's feedback affirm, these views replicate a deep bias in opposition to GCU that has manifested itself in his division's selective and punitive actions in opposition to the college.”

The Christian Publish has reached out to the Division of Training for remark and can replace this story in the event that they reply.

GCU accused the Biden administration of hurling frivolous allegations and defamatory statements at them in an try to break their repute and use their findings to use for scholar mortgage forgiveness, impose disadvantageous charges and negatively have an effect on the credit standing of the mortgage GCU bought. college in a not-for-profit transaction.

“In different phrases, whatever the inevitable authorized outcomes in favor of GCU, the method turns into a punishment,” they stated.

GCU says the division's conduct towards them “goes past regular regulatory exercise,” saying their state of affairs “epitomizes the weaponization of the ability of federal businesses in opposition to a personal Christian college.”

“Borrow a time period [the department] used liberally to explain any for-profit establishment they search to hurt, Mr. Cardona's feedback and actions taken by his ministry are predatory in nature and designed to realize their very own ideological agenda,” it stated.

GCU expressed confidence that an neutral tribunal would in the end “disprove [the department’s] extraordinarily weak allegations,” and vowed to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Courtroom if mandatory.