According to GCU officials, there is a “deeply held bias” behind the Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona’s promise to close down Grand Canyon University (GCU), which is the biggest Christian university in the country.
During a hearing held by the House Appropriations Committee on April 10, Cardona discussed the need for stricter measures against GCU and similar universities, as stated in the video.
Photo Credit: rosadelauro.com
According to Rep. Rosa DeLauro from Connecticut, she inquired about the efforts of the administration to close down GCU, which she described as a “predatory for-profit school,” during her conversation with Cardona.
Cardona openly expressed support for their enforcement tactics, stating that their goal was not only to close down illegal activities, but also to send a strong message to those who target students.
“Last year, your Department took action against Grand Canyon University, a predatory for-profit college, over the school’s failure to accurately disclose its cost to students, driving up the true cost for those students requiring for them to pay for continuation courses before they would graduate – scam courses added about $10,000 or more to the cost of education to these kids,” DeLauro said.
“Going after predatory schools preying on first generation students. They have flashy marketing materials, but the product is not worth the paper it is printed on. Increased enforcement budget to go after these folks and crack down. Levied largest fine in history against a school that lied about costs and terminated a school from Title IV. We are cracking down not only to shut them down, but to send a message not to prey on students,” Cardona responded.
The Department imposed a $37.7 million fine on GCU in November for allegedly misleading students about the cost of their doctoral programs over a span of several years. However, GCU has appealed against this fine.
The Department of Education has previously imposed fines of $2.4 million on schools such as Penn State and $4.5 million on Michigan State for their failure to address the crimes of Jerry Sandusky and Larry Nassar. However, the current fine imposed on another school surpasses these previous amounts.
According to a press release published in October, the US Department of Education’s office of Federal Student Aid (FSA) reported that GCU had deceived over 7,500 students, both past and present, regarding the expenses of their doctoral programs. The investigation revealed that GCU had falsely advertised lower costs for these programs, resulting in approximately 98% of students paying more than the advertised amount.
The university was given 20 days to either request a hearing with the ED’s Office of Hearings and Appeals or provide a response to the FSA in order to justify why the fine should not be enforced. Additionally, the Department placed certain requirements on the school in order for them to remain eligible for federal student aid programs.
A GCU does not expect a hearing to take place until January.
According to the GCU official, “Our next recourse after that decision would be another appeal within the Department, this time directly to the Secretary of Education.”
According to DeLauro, the problem goes beyond a small group of dishonest individuals. She stated at the April 10 hearing that for-profit colleges that engage in predatory practices have deliberately deceived students in order to boost enrollment and increase costs, ultimately benefiting the owners and shareholders. She then asked about the measures being taken by the agency to enhance supervision of these institutions and if there are any means to shut them down.
Cardona responded that the agency employed “multiple strategies” to crack down on for-profit universities, such as “borrower defense, debt discharge, holding colleges more accountable, and holding higher education institutions more accountable.”
In regard to borrower defense, Cardona added that for-profit colleges were “preying on first-generation students.”
“You have a shiny brochure and a great commercial. But the product is not worth the paper it’s written on. We have students graduating 60K to 70K dollars in debt, only eligible for jobs making under 30K–that to me is unacceptable.”
In reaction to Cardona’s suggestion of closing universities such as GCU, a representative from GCU said that their officials persist in making defamatory and provocative remarks that are both legally and factually erroneous, and not supported by any of the 26 other regulatory and accrediting bodies that oversee GCU.
According to the spokesperson, GCU is asking for a swift retraction of the Secretary’s statements made to the House Appropriations Committee due to their irresponsible nature. The spokesperson further stated that the statements do not align with the actual facts of the case, and suggested that the Secretary may be either mistaken, misinformed, or lacking understanding of his own agency’s actions.
The president of GCU has expressed strong sentiments of being “unfairly targeted.
Cardona’s comments came after a petition to “protect Christian colleges,” launched by the American Principles Project (APP).
The petition was initiated in response to the Biden administration’s unprecedented actions against the major U.S. Christian universities. The petition calls for the administration to stop their aggressive pursuit and allow students to decide which schools align with their beliefs.
According to Jon Schweppe, the Policy Director for APP, “The federal government’s education agenda is punishing schools that do not conform to their progressive ideology. It’s time we take a stand against this egregious abuse of power. The scrutinize-and-penalize campaign against faith-based institutions is not about students’ interests or well-being. Rather, it’s part of a concerted effort to snuff out education choice and promote far-left values. It’s critical that Americans be aware of this shameful campaign and that we do all we can to put a stop to it.”
GCU officials responded to APP’s actions stating, “American people are losing confidence in the federal government to be fair and objective in their operations.”
According to GCU, “There are clearly no checks and balances to prevent this type of behavior from the Department of Education. “We support any organization that is willing to shed light on the federal government’s unwarranted and targeted actions taken against GCU. If they can make these claims against the largest Christian university in the country, other faith-based organizations could be next.”
In February, the Goldwater Institute took legal action against ED in federal court by filing a lawsuit for not complying with the release of public records concerning their decision to fine GCU $37.7 million. The institute alleges that these records could possibly reveal any collaboration among different federal entities in what seems to be a deliberate attack on a reputable university based on weak accusations.
