Grand Canyon University

HORRIBLE!!  Do NOT start here!  I feel most of the online reviews do are posted by people who work for this diploma factory.  I went to a real college for a while, and the quality of this institution is not even close!  I have had nothing but problems with GCU.  From contacting my academic advisor to the experience I have had with the financial aid department--everyone is not helpful and just after your money.  I met someone who actually stayed in the online classes until she received her diploma, and she had so much trouble finding a job.  Graduate schools also wouldn't admit her even though GCU is "accredited."  Do not fall for this trap like I did!  

This is the worst experience and biggest headache I have ever encountered.  Stay far, far away!!!

Keep up the great non peer reviews.  This is why I love it at Grand Canyon University.  No sweating from me...I would say god bless but look at what you are and the students you have.

Any company is only as good as the people who work there.  To me, that means each campus will vary, as will each college. The Tucson NP program is notably weighted down by extremely poor Administration, the Incredible Revolving Door of Academic Counselors (a new one every month!), previously described (in many forums) financial aid nightmares, and being under the thumb of control of the Phoenix Campus NP college administrators.   Despite the rhetoric, they DO NOT find your clinical or practicum sites, so good luck on that, competing with ASU residents and nursing students, and all the other for-profit nursing schools. The new administrators (about every 8 months) cannot provide ready answers because they haven't been there long enough to really know the policies, and they have to check with Phoenix on EVERYthing, so you spend literally weeks in limbo on critically time-sensitive issues.  If you looked in the bogs of Scotland in the winter, you could not find a worse quagmire to taint your life and leave your cold hard body (and cash) on the Banks of Deception. All the more sad, because you and your classmates start bright and motivated, and some of the instructors too, but by halfway through, we all just contemplate educational suicide, but we can't transfer more than 9 hours and the debt is still screwed up by a clerk with seemingly a GED from a Charter school.   So beware the GCU fast-talking enrollment machine, financial faux-aid,  and bi-polar administration if you are contemplating the GCU NP Few Years of Misery tour.  

My personal experience with Grand Canyon was horrible. The customer service department are there to destroy your finances and get all the money they are able to steal out of your pockets, it seems that you don't have any rights or respect as student. If you have a problem, you spend days trying to reach for somebody. When I tried to get tuition reimbursement I spend months trying to get the papers I needed from them and everything they sent to me was wrong. Advisers and the majority of workers don't stay long, you are always talking with somebody new . Some instructors are good, but many others want you to do complex work with very little explanation or guidance. 

I find it ironic that so much negativity makes it to the internet and yet the positive aspects of a company are forgotten.

I have worked from the time I was thirteen. GCU has far surpassed any other company for whom I was employed. While they have their issues, as ALL companies do, they work hard to improve employee and student experience using the CONSTRUCTIVE feedback provided them.

Companies are entities of change and anytime something alters the student, staff and faculty body throws a fit. It is absolutely ridiculous.

Aside from being employed at this company I am also earning a Graduate degree. The work load is heavy and not for the feint of imagination. While you are required to pay taxes on your degree the University does offer an incredible tuition program for employees who qualify. How do you qualify? You work for GCU longer than 90 days and you do your job.

The amount of complaining in this forum is indescribably juvenile. If you want to know how much your tuition is go to your Student Portal: ALL financial information is posted there. Of course, you would only know this if you READ your Student Welcome package emailed to you upon entry. Also, GCU campus is improving everyday. Each building is being serviced and security has been doubled to help protect campus denizens.

I have enjoyed this company far more than the IRS running, micro managing, perverted commenting occupations of my past.

I completely agree as a former student and 3 year employee the school will not Fail any student in the first 2 courses, no matter how poor you write or how little you contribute, Why?  because the school wants to get paid and keep their enrollment numbers up!  Then the student hits their 3rd course and reality sets in and they are unprepared. Many can't write and probably should not even be in college without some remedial courses first. The school is motivated by Money...bottom line.  Profit.  They leverage the "Christian" banner but are far from any Christian values and are out to enroll anyone and everyone and take your money.

I regret ever attending GCU. The advisors are mere post grads that have "higher than thou" attitudes, and most of them drink and smoke...that says a lot about the quality of Christian education you'll be getting from that school. The secretary thinks that she has some kind of high position and will do whatever she can to not let you see your advisor. She loves the fact that she has the "power" to deprive students a chance at an education just because she graduated from a community college. The library is some little tool shed that they threw desks into and smells like the carpet is molding. You probably will never get any studying done anyway because they put speakers the size of those tower speakers you see at big concerts right next to the window of the library and throw concerts almost every week. The class rooms are a little bigger than my walk-in closet. The teachers greatly favor ass kissers and will reward you greatly for being fake. If you want an easy A, just go to Dr. Arford's class go and tell her that her pink glasses are pretty.

You're pursuing an advanced degree and can't assemble a cogent sentence.  Whose fault is that?

I have nearly completed the RN to BSN program and will be going directly into the MSN program.  This has been nothing but a positive experience.  This is not for the undisciplined student who cannot manage time and meet deadlines.  The workload is comparable to any RN-BSN completion program, which means this is not a "skate" course.  You will write a paper each week, work on group projects, and complete Power Point presentations.  If, however, you are mature and intend to work each class is only 5 weeks long.  No matter how "bad" one thinks the class is, one can handle anything for 5 weeks.  My only complaint is that the financial and academic counselors rarely return calls or emails.  However, my admission counselor is fantastic and when I contact her about issues that are not in her area, she always follows through and ensures actions by others.  It's college, people.  It's a lot of work, but the rewards are there.  Quit whining and study!

I am in a doctorate program and it is the BEST ever. Really professional support and direction. This is my second degree (MA Special Education) and it has been an incredibly useful learning experience.

They are horrible! I was attending for a MA in Secondary Education. They had their field adviser quit and did not tell me. This caused the school I was student teaching for to kick me out. GCU blamed me haha! What a horrible school. Stay FAR AWAY! Now because I was mad about their mistakes and told them how shizzy they were, they are expelling me. What a crock of shiz.

The best academic decision I ever made was to attend GCU. The professors were great and the office staff was caring and always gave me the attention I needed. The degree program itself was outstanding. The Master's required about 20 hours per week of reading, researching and writing.  It is a university that will test your academic skills. However, if you want an outstanding graduate degree program and you are not afraid of the workload and being academically challenged, then this is the school for you! You'll love it!!!!

This school was absolutely the worst experience of my life.. and I've been through a lot of things. I was switched advisers about 10 times.. no kidding.. no exaggeration. I was overcharged for a class and they would not send an official transcript to my employer because they were saying I still had a balance. That waS IN APRIL. It is still on there! I am now finished and cannot get my certification paperwork finalized until that is taken care of. The staff is absolutely horrendous. Only about one person out of 50 have done their jobs and done them well, and unfortunately that person left. I don't even care about the tuition, it was the staff that was awful and made the experience absolutely horrible. I seethe every time I think about everything I have dealt with the past couple years. They kept adding classes and switching my program. Listen, I am a teacher. I am a very thorough person and work hard for everything that I do. I'm not exaggerating. DO NOT go to this school. You will be in for nothing but stress and frustration. You will constantly have to monitor your own account and make sure all is in line, and it won't be. These are promises. You'll be completely powerless especially if taking online classes. Don't even think about going to this school. I know you may have read other remarks, positive and negative, but this one you should take to heart. I even had my state representative involved and my father (whom I'm receiving VA benefits from). Make good choices. Don't go to this school.

It is called an increase in tuition. Every single university does this. In California a couple of years ago the University of California System (public) increased the tuition by 30% in one year! 

we were misinformed about fees and discounts.  Now my wife is almost finished with her masters and they tell us the school made a mistake.  We owe almost $1600. It's called bait and switch.  I will not stand for it and I am interested in knowing how many other students have been taken by a higher fee increase after getting over half way through the program. 

The vast majority of GCU students and graduates love the university! End of discussion!

This is an interesting comment board. You have someone affiliated with GCU responding to all not-so-complimentary posts about GCU's background. You also have past students, current students, past employees and current employees posting there experiences and opinions.
I worked at the school from 2007 to 2008. I wouldn't be able to tell you everything negative about the school because there's not enough room to post in here.
If the public saw what I saw this school would not be in business today;they would force a closure immediately. 
I am ashamed I worked there. I am  sorry if you are a student who was convinced to attend via a strategy of 'finding your pain' and making you feel you couldn't succeed without attending the university. To this day, I wonder how they got away with their enrollment process. 

I was going thinking about going to GCU,I am very scared I am going to stop everythings and find another online university. I am try to finish up my teaching degree.

GCU is great! If you want an excellent education go to GCU!!!! I loved it there and I believe you will as well! Don't believe the negative reviews and comments being written by one 'man' under various names. Believe U.S. News & World Report, CNN Money, Fortune Magazine, Barron's Profiles of American Colleges, OEdB, etc. that have all published facts and figures that support what I say. The former employee that is responsible for the mis-information in this forum relies on blogs!

I had horrible experiences with GCU. Their recruiting people would call me every day, over and over. I told them I was not interested and they kept calling. I knew by the way they didn't respect what I said that it was not the school for me.
I want to know how they get our numbers? I never requested information from them!
From what I have read online about the school, I wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy. There are too many negative reviews, including this site. Please don't let them push you around.

Let's look at the gainful employment question. Why should for-profits be held to that standard if non-profits aren't. Our tax dollars support those institutions. 

Let's look at an example. The former counselor from GCU has said that he was released from his office job in Utah ( I suppose a 'branch office'. I would also venture to guess that he has never actually been to the GCU campus). He has also told us that his lofty position paid him under $40,000 yearly. He has also 'proudly' told us that he holds a bachelor's degree in business from one of the Utah public universities. 

Since the national average yearly income for bachelor's degree holder is $54,500 putting him a huge 36% below the national average, shouldn't he be able to sue his alma mater since he did not attain gainful employment?

This is what you should know about GCU and the Dept of Education:
The Education Department includes several early conclusions:

-  Federal officials want more information about Grand Canyon's compensation plan for enrollment counselors. Under new, tougher federal rules, schools can't base admission workers' pay on how many students that they enroll. But at the time of the program-review period, Grand Canyon had a policy that allowed some of the pay counselors receive to be based on enrollment figures, a practice that was allowed at the time under a "safe harbors" provision.

-  The University's Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies programs was not eligible for federal financial-aid funds because it did not prepare students for gainful employment in a recognized field. The school said it is pleased that the allegation, which at one point focused on all its liberal-arts programs, now only impacts one.



Read more: www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2011/08/29/20110829university-addresses-review-sec-filing.html#ixzz1WvkTWAzh

Your comment about student loan debt and not obtaining gainful employment was funny. Obviously since GCU has a student loan default rate which is 3.4% (about half the rate of non-profit universities and one-third the rate of other for-profits) graduates take their superior education and highly regarded GCU degree into the job market and get high paying positions. You keep trying to divert attention with 'misdirection blogs' filled with whinners and excuse makers. It is not working! People are smart enough to look through your smoke screen.

You obviously did not read my post dated August 26. GCU has one of the lowest student loan default rates in the country. Now why do you think that is?

Grand Canyon University does have some struggles right now. I decided to do my own research after reading these posts. You do not want the Department of Education finding that your programs are lacking. Gainful employment rules help us as consumers and students. We don't want thousands of dollars of student loan debt with a lower chance of obtaining a career path.
Is anybody else getting the vibe we won't see many of these online, for-profit schools in ten years? Each day we read of more issues or litigation with them.
If you want to read some interesting articles, type for-profit schools and gainful employment into Google. After you can search a particular school by entering the name of the school into the search. 

The former 'counselor's' reviews are all sounding the same. They are generic and non-specific. The pattern goes lie this:
1. Call it the 'worst' place on earth
2. Complian about office staff
3. Suggest a 'caring public university'
4. Be as vague as possible

All of the above are completely contrary to my experiences. GCU is:
1. A caring environment where office staff do everyhing possible to be of help.
2. Is one of the BEST educational experiences of my life.
3. I graduated from a top 25 public university in California. Believe me the office staff couldn't care less according to my experience. Steer clear of public institutions if you can. If you check the academic rankings, 84% of the Top 25 universities in the U.S. are PRIVATE universities. Therefore I would say go private if you can!!!!

Here is what you should do:
1. Check Barron's Profiles of American Colleges & Universities 2011 
GCU is rated 'Highly Competitive'.
2. Check OEdB! GCU is highly rated.
3. Check CNN (Money). GCU's Online Business Entrepreneur Program is ranked in the top 5 nationally!
4. Check U.S. News & World Report has GCU's student loan default rate at 3.4% compared with 6.0% at non-profit universities and 11.6% at other for profits. 

These are all highly credible sources. Do not make the mistake of buying into the former counselor's 'blog sources'

It is very unfortunate that the former enrollment counselor is so filled with hate! He is obviously not objective nor does he do his homework before posting his dribble. Here are the facts:

In the case of GCU, there is a lag between initial borrowing and subsequent graduation that artificially inflates the university's borrowing to credential ratio. 
( educationsector.org)

Your quote below from insidehighered.com was based on a research study done by educationsector.org. If you had done your homework and followed up you would have seen this. It is also possible that you did follow up but intentionally left this important information out to make GCU look bad. I wouldn't put it past you. 

Here are some more facts for you to chew on:

GCU's tuition is $8,250 per semester for 12-18 credits. I will do the math for you. 
That is $16,500 per year for tuition.(gcu.edu)

The average tuition at a private university is $27,293. 
That means that GCU's tuition is $10,793 less than the average.
These figures come from the Collegeboard.com

Given the fact that the student loan default rate at GCU is a mere 3.4% compared with 6.0% for non-profits and 11.6% for for-profits, GCU is an educational bargin (given that it is a private university). In addition, GCU extremely low student default rate we can only conclude that GCU grads go onto higher paying positions which allow them to repay their student loans.

All in all, I would say that you have made yourself look very bad in this forum. You have used sources such as blogs and wikipedia which are not credible. In addition, I believe that you have either not done your homework and are grasping at straws in attempt to make GCU look bad, or
you have intentionally left out important information. I have clearly demonstrated that in this post.   

Sorry ! Your source is not credible. Didn't you learn about not using sources like Wikipedia, blogs etc. in college? I guess you didn't attend college. In any case, if you would have used a credible source, you would have found that the average student at GCU takes on $10,072 in student loan debt during the four years at the university . A total of 57% of the students are getting federal student loans. GCU had one of the lowest default rates on student loans in the country at 3.4% compared with 6.0% for non-profits and 11.6% at other for-profits (U.S. News & World Report).  The reason for such a low default rate is the fact that the superior education at GCU allows the graduate to attain high salaries in the work place hence allowing for repayment. The unfortunate fact is that blogs & wikipedia, where you get your information from , are not credible. Sorry former enrollment counselor! 

The legal action that you are referring to was legal action concerning a mere legal dispute with some fired clerks. That is all. For-Profits should absolutely have access to federal student loans just as non-profits do. You are wrong once more.GCU's superior education allows graduates to obtain high paying jobs which gives them the capacity to repay those loans. That is why GCU has one of the lowest default rates in the nation at 3.4% according to U.S. News & World Report! That is far below the default rate of non-profits which stands at 6.0%! Those are the facts from a credible source. You are very confused and blinded by hate and bias that you cannot explain these facts away! GCU gives it's students an excellent education which translates into large salaries in the market place. When will you move on and find other employment?

GCU is mentioned twice in the article. So many for profit schools have been sued, including GCU. We are talking about our tax dollars and it affects us. Go to the top of page 6 and the bottom of page 8 to see GCU mentioned. 
I'm all for for-profit schools as long as government loans can't be used there. That would fix the problem.

This article has nothing to do with GCU nor does it mention GCU. Your blogs and other ' sources' are meaningless! I have provided U.S. News & World Report, CNN as well as Fortune and Money Magazine as credible sources. You have provided blogs! 

Dear Former Recruiter;
You are trying to tell us that all for-profits are the same when they are clearly not. I have provided credible sources that have hailed GCU as an outstanding university that provides an excellent education that results in high salaries for their graduates. I have provided sources such as U.S. News & World Report, CNN, Money Magazine, Fortune Magazine, etc. that refer specifically. You on the other hand provide blogs ad your sources with crying, whinning and complaining by those that could not hack the demands of the curriculum. The last web site you provided speaks in general terms about some universities; not all. So, once again you have failed to provide us with anything substantial but your bias which stems from you being asked to leave GCU. I amamazed that you are still here posting your trash after almost two years now!

CNN & Money Magazine, two highly credible sources, have rated GCU's Online Business/Entrepreneur Program in the top five in the Nation!  Read it at CNNmoney.com
Again, the choice is yours! You can read the blogs suggested in this forum by the former recruiter ( who was 'released almost two years ago and has nothing better to do with his time but complain in this blog)  or you can read facts from credible sources such as U.S. News & World Report, CNN, Money Magazine & Barron's Profiles of American Colleges & Universities! 

More blog bs! U.S. News & World Report says GCU has one of the lowest student loan default rates in the nation including all non-profits! Since the education you get is superior and top notch ( providing you can hack the academic demands put on you) you will land a great position! This translates into GCU grads having the financial capacity to repay their loans! Now I ask you, who are you going to believe? Will you believe a disgruntled former ' recruiter' who is blowing off steam in a blog crying, complaining, whinning blah, blah, blah or will you believe a credible journal like U.S. News & World Report?

You are completely correct! That joker wants to cite 'ripoff report' as a serious source! It is a blog! Nothing more! Everyone knows that has any academic background that you don't use a blog as a source since blogs are not credible! You, on the other hand, cite U. S. News and World Report ( a respected journal) to make your point. Who cares if Joe Blow crashed and burned during his studies at GCU and dropped out? Who wants to read his excuses for failing? What do we expect him to say after not being able to hack it? I want facts and figures from credible sources like you have posted!  Excellent work. Your point is well made with real information that people can use when deciding to attend GCU. The fact that their student loan default rate is half the national average of non-profit universities says a great deal about GCU. It does indicate a high salary placement or promotion which results in the ability to repay!!!

Facts from U.S. News & Workd Report:

Loan Default Rates:

For-Profit Average = 11.6%
Non-Profit Public Universities = 6%
Non-Profit Private Universities = 4%
Grand Canyon University =. 3.4%

GCU degree = high paying position = ability to pay back student loans

It is a simple equation!!!!

The choice is simple: you can use 'ripoff report' as a source of information about  or you can use
U.S. News & World Report! Using 'blogs' you get a lot of people who have failed to complete their studies ( blah, blah, blah). You get the real story from a real source. Now, the facts are that GCU is a great school! Graduates go on to get well paying positions in leading fields. The evidence is the fact that GCU has one of the lowest loan default rate in the nation! Check out a real source:

usnews.com/education/online-education/articles/2010/09/15/loan-default-rates-at-prominent-online-universities

ripoffreport.com/private-schools/grand-canyon-univers/grand-canyon-university-grand-50b54.htm


Do your research so you're not deceived by GCU.

GCU's student loan default rate is less than half the national average for non-profit universities and one quarter that of for-profits! How can that be? Simple! The quality of the education is high and employers respect GCU. The education you receive allows you to land high paying jobs or get advancements/raises. This puts them in a financial position to pay off their student loans hence the extremely low default rate!!!!

People who are writing fake negative posts need to do their research before posting! GCU has only 8 & 16 week sessions. Check it yourself at gcu.edu (university academic calendar). You would think that these liars would at least get their information straight. 

GCU has 8&16 week sessions according to the gcu.edu website! Check the academic calendar!

Do your research before you make false claims. Read the first paragraph where it mentions the 6-week sessions. 
christiannewswire.com/news/369829901.html

You are probably not telling the truth in my opinion. To begin with GCU has 8 week sessions, not 6 week sessions. You also are not giving us the entire story! In addition, you made errors in your post!!!!!!

Your story sounds fishy. You are not related to the dismissed clerk from Utah are you? 

GCU screwed me over so well with my Federal student financial aid. GCU paid classes way ahead of time making sure that they got paid. Meanwhile I have absolutely no control over my tuition, my schedule (2 times I was signed up for 2 sections of the same class and they were both paid for way ahead of time, so GCU got paid twice.) I was able to unregister for 2 classes due to family obligations taking my attention, but those classes were already paid for remember. I was told by my finacial aid advisor that I would have to pay for them again when I went back to take them for real. They must have kicked me out of school because nobody calls me or returns calls and they are trying to collect on a Balance Forward (money that is in my account) How do you pay them money they already have?  And then they have made bogus reports to the IRS of figures that look like nothing I have seen on my school web pages. They are perpetrating FRAUD all over the place. I now have a 3rd party collection agency after me.  So GOD DAMN GCU TO HELL ! ! ! 

Outstanding experience without the religious propaganda! I highly recommend this university if you are interested in getting a great education in a caring environment!  

I am sorry error made.  I study paralegal at Phoenix College.  I am not a paralegal.  I can admit my errors and faults.  I get worked up at things and my writing sometimes gets ahead of me.

If I didn't know any better I would think you are a poster for GCU.  How can you state a person is lying solely on your experience. We do not get the same experiences.  I am taking my first class at GCU and it says get all the facts before you make a fool of yourself.  In law it teaches us that also.  Were you there, did you get any of the facts or are you just slandering someone.  If that is what the student believes then find a better way to prove him wrong.  Don't defame their character.  That makes you look guilty at least that is what my law and psychology books say. 

Thank you that is the truth.  I give my opinion regardless, I used to cower in a corner until I would explode, but I will not risk my health or my mental stability over selfishness anymore.  God is teaching me to stand up for myself.  I don't care what they think.  They didn't care one bit about me.  I even let them know that I felt like a $ sign and have not heard from anyone.  I put boundaries around me after I realized what happened.  I trusted them with my life and my livelihood and the truth is it was about the money.  I figured that out after the fact.  At least with PC I was able to get the things I needed and I turned that down on their promises.  The promises of Christians.  What they did to me was cruel and no amount of business can change that if it is suppose to be Christian University.  They talk about others but when it comes down to it there were devilish tactics used.

I love many things about many religions and hate many thing, also.  We are so busy trying to be God that we forget compassion.  Any job that would allow me to hurt others for profit would have to go.  My soul and my respect are worth more than that.

I go to Phoenix College, I am a paralegal, also.  No matter how bad it gets, I still go.  They are upfront and I know what to expect.  GCU came as a shock and for the money I have to pay and the games that were played.   The ungodly insults are not necessary.  Insulting people's intelligence is not right and some people do not have the strength or patience to deal with cruelty.  I am not a dropout and on Honors in PC.  The truth is right is right and wrong is wrong.  I may have done not so well my last semester in PC but I was still and am still on honor roll.  

Please do not excuse cruelty for anything other than what it is.  We all do not play head games and just ask to be treated like human beings and live up to that Bible verse, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."  I am sure if the shoe was on the other foot you would have something to say also.  

Being an abused victim, and coming out of that environment has taught me about abusers and mental abusers the worst.   I went through classes and was taught about abusive tactics.  Your post is an abusive and deterring tactic.  I know abuse when I see it and it is not Christian behavior.

The problem for me was there were half-lies told, information omitted and not being upfront,  along with calling GCU a Christian University and using God for dirt that did it for me.  I am not failing my class and was even asked to join a leadership program.  People go back and forth about their behavior, condemn others, while still looking at the beam in their eye and if people try to defend themselves or warn others.  They work on making you mad,ignore you or try to make it seem like there is something wrong with you.  People have a right to freedom of speech if not slanderous or libel.  If it is true be a man or a woman and live up to it.  That is what I was taught and not lie, insult and con your way through it.

The Christians are becoming more corrupt than any non-believer.  It is about the money which is the root of all evil and power has corrupted their minds like David.  Remember what happened to him and all the others.  God does not like ugly and you always have to pay for your misdeeds, maybe not right away but those you trampled on, on your way up most likely be the ones you need on your way down when God says enough.

The post about the bank was a reply to a statement.  I am trying to let people know just because they have had good experiences, all of us have not.  I am not trying to state they are bigots.  Just using example to get a point across.

It is nice to hear that there are some decent people in GCU.  My problem is with all the stuff going on around me I can only see it in my Professor right now.

I am real person and all I wanted to do was be obedient and serve God.  I do not post lies to ruin people's lives and I know what I know.  I am stuck at GCU until next semester because I declined my financial aid and I was mislead.  It was my faith in my fellow man that got me here and I will live with that so some of us are actually telling the facts.  Yes, we may be upset but if your boss came in and told you were fired today and your life and livelihood were being taken, would you be happy?

Until I came to Arizona I never would have believed a, black person with me being black, when they said that things were different and I did not know.  I had never experienced many things,until one day I walked into M&I bank.  I went in of February 4, 2011 to get some funds out of my school debit card and they made it seem like they could not get it to go through.  Now what they were really doing is gathering together the head office and the police.  When the police got there they made me drop my bag and handcuffed me in the lobby. I just came in to get funds to pay my rent.  They never apologized and even made it sound like my license  may not be valid, yet gave it back to me.  I was racially profiled and if not had seen it for myself would have continued to believe that it was a thing of the past.  I knew about racism but no one had ever done that to me.  They got of free but his words still ring in my ears, "They were going to take you to jail but I stopped them.  You should be happy about that."  I am what most people think is to clean and he is telling me this, like I was some dog off the streets.  That is when I got a new found idea on racial bigotry.  Just because you don't experience it does not mean it is not going on.

I am grateful that you had a good experience but all of us do not.

First of all the first thing I have to say is I love my first class.  With that being said the rest of the GCU experience has been traumatic.

I came from a homeless situation and at the rate I am going will be there again.  The lack of compassion given to me was anything but Godly.  When it comes to the money they will go secular on you.  I would only recommend you go online if you have money and if I had not had such a bad experience I would have recommended the campus route.  

If you can take a rude or untrained group of people then you have your University.  I am here for the Biblical training and surprisingly enough I a getting it from the staff more than anything else.  I am waiting for my financial aid to go through which they said would take six weeks and instead of me getting transcript they would do it.  My six weeks is almost up and I will see.  

If I had of stayed on campus instead of going online and the benefits would have been great.  They worked on me and worked on me like a telemarketing company until I was in school, online and early.  I planned on going in August and started in June.  No one told me I would loose everything and that online and campus are two different entities.  In replacement of all the benefits they slick talked me out of I received a $750 bonus for going to school early.

There was no God in this and I came for the Ministry degree.  What did I get from this the understanding of why Jesus was always fussing at the so called believers.  Money is what is important and if you believe anything else you have been deceived. As it was put to me , I cannot say it is Grand Canyon's fault.  I agreed to it.  Made me feel as if I had just been mentally raped.

I love God and Jesus and I also believe every religion has its good and its bad but to use God for ill gotten gain is anything but Godly or even humane.  

Once again I state I love my class and my professor is great, but everything else has been a nightmare.

I few helpful tip:
1.) Do not go online if you are seeking those grants they promised.

2.) Do not start a class until you actually have financial aid.  I owe as of now over $2000 for a class and still no funding.

3.) If in it for ministry find a ministry school there is a difference.  

4.) Ask all the questions you can and do not believe them when they say they are thinking of your interest.

Great school! Flexible schedule. Instructors work with you. I am about to go in vacation and asked my professor to see how i could those two weeks off from school. She is well to work with. She gave me the option to finish before or right after my vacations. Pretty happy with the course so far. I just start in May 2011. I have had a great experience the classes demand homework due every week and participation plays major role since these are online classes they want participation. I would recommend this school. So far the instructors are easy to work with and give great input on assignments. The academic counselors are also courteous and guide to every step of the way! Way to go GCU!

I attended GCU and obtained my BS in Business. I am an older student and waslooking for a college that would allow me to work take care of my family and complete my degree. This college provided all of that and more! I am currently completing my masters at a traditional university and I can tell you that the course work at GCU prepared me well for this next phase. I have read some of the other reviews especially the negative ones and all I can say is this; I could tell which students we applying themselves and those that were slacking or coasting on the coat tails of others. 
My advice is as follows: if you are serious about obtaining your degree and growing personally in the process, then GCu will suit you just fine. If you are looking for aa paper mill don't waste your time or money because you will find everyone to blame for your lack of committment to the endeavor.
If I have any complaints it would be working with the counselors, but I found that if you establish clear expectations at the beginning (bot parties) there were no problems after that. I had a great experience and actually flew to Arizona for graduation. I have never been so proud of myself and am a proud graduate of GCU!

GCU is a great university! My experience was terrific. The professors were wonderful and so was my counselor! Keep up the great job GCU!!!!!

These guys are sharks. They just want the student loan money. 

I dropped a class because I found a better program, for less money. Since I had e-mailed the teacher to tell the teacher I was dropping the class, they say that means I took the class and are charging me $1400. 

I had already taken two classes from them. The curriculum was okay. The teachers were a mixed bag, but I'm not sure they read my work. I got A's on everything and I guarantee I could find issues with my papers. 

Don't go here if you don't have to, and watch your wallet if you do go. 

I have been a nurse for 25 years and went back for my BSN, going to GCU was the WORST mistake I have ever made. They make false promise, the acedemic counselors are a joke, especially Jason. I was told I would be able to use CEUs to transfer in, have emails as documentation 2 weeks before grduation, without any notice they changed their policy! It have been 2 weeks, I have no answers, and I am in complete LIMBO, other employees I work with are in similiar situations, Im telling you FIND ANOTHER SCHOOL!

Great experience! I loved the caring environment! 

GCU has a student loan  default rate of 7% compared with other non-profit universities of 12.5% and 25% for other for-profit universities!

My friend says that the Utah State College he went to was a horrible experience not to mention the fact that it is very lowly rated! 

IT IS GOOD THEY GAVE SOME OF THE MONEY BACK! THE ONLY PROBLEM IS THAT OTHER STUDENTS ARE STILL PAYING OFF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS OF STUDENT LOANS BECAUSE OF DISHONEST RECRUITING TACTICS. I READ ABOUT THE 5.2 MILLION DOLLAR SETTLEMENT WITH THE GOVERNMENT. NOW MAYBE IF THEY GIVE AWAY THOUSANDS OF OTHER FREE SCHOLARSHIPS IT WILL EQUALIZE.

IT IS GOOD THEY GAVE THE MONEY TO THE COMMUITY SO THE 'LESS FORTUNATE' KIDS COULD ATTEND COLLEGE. I PRAISE THEM FOR THEIR LEADERSHIP! MORE UNIVERSITIES SHOULD BE LIKE GCU. 

I love GCU! The professors are great and the entire campus atmosphere is one of caring and compassion! 

I have to agree with you completely. The facts are that GCU is a fine university with high rankings! The financial aid issues have to be addressed but the actual learning environment is top notch! 

I am a current GCU student and am really puzzled by all of the negative talk about the university. It seems that most complaints come from financial aid issues, not receiving refund checks, overpayment, etc. I have had none of those problems. Online education requires a high degree of independence and a dedication to hard work. If your sole purpose in attending an online university is to get a check every few months, that is probably your first problem.

If you can focus on your studies and actually make a valid attempt to learn something, you will succeed and most likely not have to deal with and/or complain about these petty issues. GCU is not at fault for your incompetence. 

Hi, 
I believe GCU is a great school I have done extremely well in our online classes even though I was out of school for over twenty years

You are absolutely correct! I have had an excellent experience with GCU as well. The university has wonderful professors in the education department. I highly recommend it! 

I currently attend GCU. I am graduating this May with a BS in Accounting. I am glad I made the decision to attend this institution. I don't know why so many people hate on this school.

I attended California State University San Marcos, before transferring to Grand Canyon University. Unfortunately, I could not finish my undergraduate degree at CSUSM because they don't offer certain accounting classes online, and I had to relocate because of military orders.  At CSUSM I was able to take a couple of online classes, and I found that the level of difficulty is similar to GCU. I found that instructors at both institutions provided the same amount of feedback. I have, however, found instructors at GCU to be quicker to respond. 

My only issue with the school is that it is a for-profit entity, but I understand the need for investment funds to keep the school flowing. Maybe they will eventually go back to non-profit status?????? Who knows. 

To cut to the chase, any university will be what you make it out to be. Work hard, study, put 100% effort and you will benefit.  Yeah it's no Harvard, but Grand Canyon University does give you the tools you need to succeed, but you have to do your part.  Good luck! :) 

GCU has been a great experience. Unfortunately there are far too many people in our society that are flakes and finger pointers. They simply are not willing to accept responsibility for their actions (or in-actions). I am sick and tired of them carrying on and on, not just in this forum but in all of the forums at this website! My advice is simple; take responsibilty for your failures and stop blaming others!

Does anyone have information or experience with the quality of the  health care management online degree program at G.C.U. Thanks

The Professors at GCU are great, but the financial aid staff really needs to get their act together, I would not recommend GCU to anyone who is looking for good tutition rates, and expect prompt service from the financial aid staff when you plan to transfer. It has been a month since I have finished my last enrolled cours, and I still do have my financial aid clearance to attend another school. This is SAD!

I highly recommend this university to all of my colleagues wanting to earn a Master's in education. Simply outstanding! 

GCU money hungry? Really???? Read this!

GCU gives to the community: "The Promise"
www.azcentral.com/news/articles/grand-canyon-university-children-free-education.html

"Grand Canyon University would offer all 62 of the second-graders full scholarships to the school. They would be called 'Sydneys kids'l

I had the exact opposite experience! I never was over charged and never waited on the phone or argued with anyone. I think the previous poster is lying! I strongly recommend this university! 

I have strong suspicions that this school has a financial scam in place. They are VERY pushy and have way too many financial descrepancies to be accidents. example- I paid IN FULL and then 3 months later owed $300 for sales tax (why would sales tax tack on AFTER payment????) and I was charged the wrong amount per credit hour. I would strongly recommend going elsewhere for your educational needs unless you are willing to keep a constant eye on your account and spend countless hours on the phone arguing with people and leaving unreturned messages.

In Arizona only one party can legally record another by law.  A third party cannot record and have it be a legal record, but it's fine when only one party is aware of the recording.  I have used this myself in a court.

I'll be starting my Bachelor's in Secondary Education on February 14th, 2011 and so far, so good. I don't have any complaints about my enrollment counselor, Brian. He has been very helpful with any questions I have and also in dealing with anything that comes yet. I have yet to speak with my financial aid advisor and academic counselor so we will see how that goes. Hopefully just as smooth and easy as the enrollment process. :)

I attended Pennsylvania State University for graduate school as well as GCU (in two different subject areas). I found the courses at GCU to be just as challenging and required more work/hours per week. The typical class at Penn State required one term paper (10-15 pages) as well as one presentation (20 minutes)as well as textbook readings and discussions. My workload at GCU included weekly papers of 10-15 pages, textbook and journal article readings as well as classroom discussion. Although the workload was heavy I feel that it was certainly worth it. I learned a great deal and with my master's degree from GCU I am earning $40,000 per year more! I highly recommend Grand Canyon University.

They needed a huge tax write off! GCU does not care about people. Its all about the benjamins.

Don't believe these positive comments about GCU. Look deeper, think about it. GCU is a for profit school. Their counselors are sales people. If you do not have money they will not care about you. After you pay, they stop caring because the sale was made. I have experienced all of the negative comments about GCU first hand. Horrible experince and a total waste of over $10k. Buyer Beware!!! Get everything in writing and read the fine print, as it has a tendancy to change in favor of their profit margin. Google "GCU complaints" and see just how many agree.

I am currently attending GCU online. This university is very excepting and understanding of all people with different backgrounds and lifestyles. I happen to have a felony on my record from when I was in my late teens and I have been blogging about my experiences for over year with dealing with the daily struggles that I face with a felony conviction. I had no idea that I was able to qualify for financial aid with a felony conviction, but GCU had not problem helping me apply for financial aid and admissions. I was granted financial aid and was excepted by GCU after explaining my situation. I am now in my third class and have been doing great. I love GCU so much that I even advertise for them on my blog and write about my experiences frequently. You can check out my blog at www.exfelongirl.com. 

IT IS GOOD THEY GAVE SOME OF THE MONEY BACK! THE ONLY PROBLEM IS THAT OTHER STUDENTS ARE STILL PAYING OFF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS OF STUDENT LOANS BECAUSE OF DISHONEST RECRUITING TACTICS. I READ ABOUT THE 5.2 MILLION DOLLAR SETTLEMENT WITH THE GOVERNMENT. NOW MAYBE IF THEY GIVE AWAY THOUSANDS OF OTHER FREE SCHOLARSHIPS IT WILL EQUALIZE.

GCU has once again demonstrated that it is indeed a community leader here in Phoenix. I am very proud that we have such a fine institution of higher learning in our community. Giving those  62 full scholarships really demonstrates GCU's commitment to this city and state! Thank you GCU! 

This is amazing!!! GCU gave out 4 million dollars in tuition to these 62 students. This is what we need more of in our society; universities that care enough about those who can't afford college to give them full scholarships. I was truly touched by this act of kindness! Those in this forum must feel very ashamed and foolish for having said that GCU is 'out for the money'. Really???? How would they explain this act of kindness and compassion? 

I read the article about GCU giving all of those poor children full scholarships! I was so moved that it  made me cry! Now I ask you; what type of a university would go and do such a wonderful thing? A university that puts people first! A community leader! GCU is wonderful!

GCU gives to the community: "The Promise"
www.azcentral.com/news/articles/grand-canyon-university-children-free-education.html

"Grand Canyon University would offer all 62 of the second-graders full scholarships to the school. They would be called 'Sydneys kids'l

I started to go to this school in the summer of 2010, online. And, what a joke. I was in the Masters Education program. First of all, my advisor told me that I do not need any experience. However, the professor's first assignment required recalling information for the classroom. And, they called me 2 months later asking for more money!!!! 

This school is very deceptive. It's like wolves in sheep clothing. The way they have things setup makes you feel at ease, the decision is undeniable. Everything is to personally fit your needs; the academic adviser was there to help answer every question asked. I felt like wow, this is amazing. Never before would I have ever considered an online school until someone told me about their 8 wk. classes. The deception is that once you start if for any reason, your application is denied you still have to pay for the entire class. They will let you start immediately, but if something about your application doesn't fit their qualifications you will be required to pay for the class regardless. Another thing, your first class will not be transferable because it's a foundation class specifically for their University's. They tried to tell me it was financial aid that rejected me, but that was not true due to me being a transfer student I was already approved for the year. I've been calling all week to dispute their claim but I am getting nowhere. It's not worth the headache, go somewhere else.

All calls are recorded at universities so that the students can have a record of exactly what was said. A recording made by a student without notification to the other party would not be admissible in court...

I had a great experience at GCU! I would very highly recommend it to anyone looking for a strong Masters program in Education! 

Read about it here.
complaintsboard.com/complaints/grand-canyon-university-c386486.html

Attended GCU for a year, online and although I am now attending college in my town, I will be returning to GCU as soon as I'm done. I absolutely LOVED GCU. The financial aide was the only problem I had which wasn't as nearly BAD as the community college in the town I presently live in, Denver. GCU is where I started and where I will return. PLEASE do not listen to the negative reports, experience it yourself and form your own opinion. Like any college, it tends to get a bit busy and crazy.

GCU gets top ratings from:

1. OEDb ranked 7th
2. Fortune Magazine ranked in the top 5 business/entrepreneur programs in the country!
3. Profiles of American Colleges ranked GCU VERY COMPETITIVE(ranked above EVERY UTAH STATE COLLEGE!)
4. Onlinedegreereviews ranked 6th among all online programs.

The former counselor that has been posting negative comments under over 30 different names says: "I don't know why someone would choose GCU over other schools..."
Well just read the above list little man and you will have your answer. 

It is obvious that he knows nothing about curriculum, instruction and overall program quality. He continues to ignore the high ratings that GCU gets. I believe he is only out for his benefit and is promoting his 'cause'!

This forum is about the academic merits of a university not to discuss labor relations for clerks at any particular school. It is disgusting that the same individual that has posted bogus comments and reviews is using this site to further his own agenda. 

I attended Pennsylvania State University for graduate school as well as GCU (in two different subject areas). I found the courses at GCU to be just as challenging and required more work/hours per week. The typical class at Penn State required one term paper (10-15 pages) as well as one presentation (20 minutes)as well as textbook readings and discussions. My workload at GCU included weekly papers of 10-15 pages, textbook and journal article readings as well as classroom discussion. Although the workload was heavy I feel that it was certainly worth it. I learned a great deal and with my master's degree from GCU I am earning $40,000 per year more! I highly recommend Grand Canyon University.

Be careful when dealing with Grand Canyon University. Make sure you document all your phone calls and communication. In face, I would record your phone calls with the enrollment counselors, finance counselors and academic counselors. You have to realize that you're dealing with a for-profit institution. Their past shows a lot of dishonesty so be careful. I don't know why someone would choose GCU over other schools but this is a fair warning to anyone looking. 

I attended Pennsylvania State University for graduate school as well as GCU (in two different subject areas). I found the courses at GCU to be just as challenging and required more work/hours per week. The typical class at Penn State required one term paper (10-15 pages) as well as one presentation (20 minutes)as well as textbook readings and discussions. My workload at GCU included weekly papers of 10-15 pages, textbook and journal article readings as well as classroom discussion. Although the workload was heavy I feel that it was certainly worth it. I learned a great deal and with my master's degree from GCU I am earning $40,000 per year more! I highly recommend Grand Canyon University. 

GCU is higher ranked than Utah State University, Weber State University and Southern Utah University and is as highly ranked as BYU and the University of Utah! That is the truth like it or not. By the way you said "If someone comes into my office to interview for a job,...." You don't have an office anymore since you were "released" from GCU a year ago! Remember? LOL!!!!

Who is the person insulting all schools in Utah? Seriously? Who would honestly choose GCU over BYU or the University of Utah? Those are great schools. Please stop with your uneducated attacks on other schools. 
If someone comes into my office to interview for a job, I value an education from a reputable school over an online degree from Strayer, GCU, Phoenix, etc.. It's not even close. 
And onto a more familiar comparison I would attend ASU or UofA over GCU. It's like comparing the Lakers to the Clippers.

I have my master's degree from GCU! I loved my educational experience! The curriculum and instruction along with outstanding professors made it a great choice. I also have graduated from a large public university (UCLA) which is far, far academically superior to that Utah State College you attended! So don't try to tell me about GCU and public universities 'Buddy'!

You are either unaware of what really happens at public universities or you are lying. Simply google the name of pretty much any university  and the phrase "pending law suits' and you will see a long list including everything from misappropriation of funds to discrimination! I pay taxes to support those types of activities? We should be outraged! You, on the other hand want to fool us into believing that your 'crusade' against GCU has nothing to do with your agenda and personal gain! You may think we don't see what you are attempting to do but we do! You have posted over thirty negative posts in this forum and numerous fake negative reviews over the past year!

I feel like Grand Canyon University is out to screw its students. There were too many lies in the recruiting process. I wonder if they train their enrollment counselor recruiters to lie. In my mind they are unethical in the way they do business. It's not like it is a public university. They make money off of us and it all starts with the way they tell you what you want to here so you'll chose their school;Then you're stuck and it's hell trying to fix the problems.

I have seen administrative service be poor at another university. I attended and graduated from a state university in California. The service was WORSE than GCU. That is no excuse however. They do need to improve administratively. That being said, the curriculum is strong, the professors are very good and the educational experience is great at GCU! I highly recommend this university!

This is an understatement. I haven't seen such poor service to students at another school. Maybe one day the school will get their act together and treat the students as a priority. Until then, I'll never attend Grand Canyon University.

I really enjoy the online experience this college has to offer; however I do not feel that the administration is as focused as the educators are. I use the military tuition assistance and it is free money for the military. They  do not even take the appropiate steps to obtain this money correctly. I hope to finish at this institution, time will tell.

Did you know that GCU is more highly rated than EVERY UTAH STATE COLLEGE according to Profiles of American Colleges 2011 (29th Edition)? Well, now you know! (How is that Utah State College degree serving you? Not so good I assume!)

What really matters when choosing a university are the academic merits of a university. The fired counselor that has been the only negative voice here has posted over thirty times under various names to deceive the public into thinking that there is a massive movement against GCU. In fact it is a 'movement of one'! This self serving fool wants to push his labor dispute agenda in this public forum. Please take a moment to check the sources posted here that clearly demonstrate GCU's academic merit. Do not be fooled by the former clerk!

GCU gets top ratings from:
1. OEDb ranked 7th
2. Fortune Magazine ranked in the top 5 business/entrepreneur programs in the country!
3. Profiles of American Colleges ranked GCU VERY COMPETITIVE(ranked above EVERY UTAH STATE COLLEGE!)
4. Onlinedegreereviews ranked 6th among all online programs. 

This forum is about the academic merits of a university not to discuss labor relations for clerks at any particular school. It is disgusting that the same individual that has posted bogus comments and reviews is using this site to further his own agenda.

I highly recommend GCU! It is a fine university and in fact is one of the best I know! One other former counselor is posting here and we have a difference of opinion. Some of us are able to move on while others apparently cannot!

In a complaint filed in Maricopa County Court, a former Grand Canyon University enrollment counselor seeks punitive damages for being fired for refusal to “call and threaten” a prospective student regarding a $100 non-existent application fee, to shred records of calls to members of the Do Not Call registry daily, and to use sales scripts copyrighted by the University of Phoenix. In addition, the (Courthouse News Service, April 9, 2010) 

nacacnet.org/LegislativeAction/LegislativeNews/Documents/HEA%20Fraud%20Alert%20081010.pdf

I agree with John D Agnew. Grand Canyon University only wants your money. If you are looking for a quality education look beyond GCU. Military personnel don't waste your time or well earned money here.

Go to the Carolina schools if you have that option. To me, GCU would be an option only if other options disappear.

If you are an out-of-state student, UNC and NC State is extremely expensive (for a state school getting all kinds of financial aid from the government):

UNC (graduate)  $500- $850 per unit  $1,500-$2,500 per class

NC State (graduate) $500-$1,300 per unit $1,500-$3,900 per class

These figures have been rounded. However, I think all of us not living in wonderful North Carolina that this is extremely expensive!

The article makes no mention of Grand Canyon University. I would call them to find out. I do know this; my friend had her Federal Loan completely forgiven after she received her Master's in Education from GCU (she is obviously an educator). Therefore, if a GCU education is good enough for the Federal Government, it is hard for me to imagine that Intel would not find a GCU education good enough.

As I was studying my options of universities I read that Intel doesn't allow tuition reimbursement at the UofP and at schools which are similar. Does this include Grand Canyon?
Here is the link I read.

azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/1205biz-intel1205.html

1. State Schools are easily more expensive than GCU per credit especially if you are an out-of-state student.
2. You won't be treated like a number as you are at state schools.
3. The student to faculty ratio is much smaller at GCU than at any state school including UNC and NC State.
4. I would certainly choose a private university given a choice between state and private. I will remind you that 84% of the top 25 universities in this country are private, not public (U.S. News and World Report in conjunction with the Princeton Review 2011 Rankings). 
5. Please stop with that garbage about no one accepting GCU credits or degrees. You are lying about that. I have personally received a promotion with my Master's Degree from GCU. My friend is getting her PhD at Arizona State University. She received her Master's from GCU. So you can stop lying about that. My experiences say that you are wrong.

Some of these lawsuits have to be somewhat legit. There is a lot of smoke and there must be some fire behind them. 
It may not be a terrible school but it is definitely expensive. Tell me why I would chose Grand Canyon for a post-graduate degree? 
What advantages does it have to UNC or NCstate? I can do online at these and a few other schools and they're less expensive. I know they'll be accepted when I want a job promotion.
Please give me the pros and cons of a post-graduate degree from GCU.

Grand Canyon University Ratings

1.) AcademicAdvice.com
(Dec. 2009)
Grand Canyon University: As of November 2009, Grand Canyon University made the list of top 25 online colleges. The Online College Rankings considered accreditation, cost of tuition and books, student feed and more. Not only in the top rankings, Grand Canyon University also offers a great curriculum at a low cost. With $350 per credit hour for undergrad and $450 for graduate programs, a student can earn an outstanding accredited degree from Grand Canyon University.

2.) OEDb’s Online College Rankings 2009

For each college, we gathered data for eight different metrics — acceptance rate, financial aid, graduation rate, peer Web citations, retention rate, scholarly citations, student-faculty ratio, and years accredited. The overall ranking, shown below, ranks each college by its average ranking for each metric for which data was available.

GCU #7 score: 15.5 (Top 15% Ranked 7th out of over 40 universities that were rated).

3.) Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges 2011 Edition

GCU Ranked: Very Competitive (Top third)

4.) Onlineegreereviews.org 
New - Best Online Colleges for 2010
Ranking of top online colleges based on over 2,000 reviews, find the best online universities
TOP 2% : GCU Ranked: 6th

What a silly notion! The idea that because GCU was sued for 5.2 million dollars makes it a ‘terrible university’ academically is absurd. If you Google ‘pending lawsuits against the University of California System’ you come up with over 1.1 million results. There are currently dozens and dozens of lawsuits filed against this university system. Yet according to U.S. News and World Report 2011 Top Ranking Colleges and Universities List (in conjunction with the Princeton Review) 6 of the top 50 National Universities come from the University of California System. Are we to assume that these are terrible academic institutions because they are being sued dozens of times? Therefore, I have to dismiss what the former employee had to say about the lawsuit in connection with him believing that GCU is a terrible academic institution. It is a ludicrous statement from a ludicrous person motivated completely by revenge.

Do Utah State Colleges suck?
Well, apparently they are producing some 'graduates' with 'business degrees' that:
1. Take on lowly clerk positions that pay $15,000 below the national average for college graduates.
2. Produce some grads that cannot keep a job due to under performance
3. Cannot find work for more than a year after being fired.

So do these Utah public colleges suck? You be the judge!

The link above about another lawsuit against GCU does not belong in this forum. Two 'released' emloyees in Utah allege that GCU did not pay them the overtime they deserve. This of course has nothing to do with the fine curriculum in all subject areas. It has nothing to do with the wonderful instructional program at GCU. It is simply a case of a pissed-off former employee posting this unrelated article here as a way of seeking revenge. Please disregard these links.

It is shameful and sad to see these links being posted here. Most have nothing to do with GCU. The frustration that causes this smearing of the university steams from being unemployed for a long period of time. I was 'released' from GCU a year ago. It has been impossible for me to find a job. My 'wonderful state college education in business' has proven to be a bust. I have not been able to find work with my worthless degree. I know it is difficult ti resist temptation. I too have been posting negative comments and reviews in this forum for a year now. I urge you to stop the madness!

Typically classes are 3 credits each (although they can range from 1-4) at most universities. GCU is no exception. To get into a PhD program at a school such as Arizona State University, every class is scrutinized carefully. If the classes at GCU are 'difficult to transfer' they certainly would not be accepted by ASU with or without a degree. Therefore I stand by my original statement that you are factually incorrect. I believe you have an agenda. I do not believe a fired employee nor should anyone else reading these posts!

You will have problems transferring credits from GCU to another school. It's easier if you have a degree but people change schools all the time. Don't go to GCU if you have any intentions of transferring before receiving your degree.

My friend with her Master's degree from GCU was accepted into the PhD program at Arizona State University! She is in the process of writing her dissertation! That is a fact! Therefore you obviously have no idea what you are talking about. That is probably why GCU fired you!

If you have any ideas or a chance of transferring to another college do not attend GCU. You'll have a hard time with most schools accepting their courses. Trust me...I've seen this through personal experience.

I am very much enjoying my experience at GCU! The professors are great and the campus is wonderful. I feel that I have always received help and support from the faculty and staff. I can recommend GCU for it's low student to professor ratio. You really get individualized attention!

I am going to GCU right now and I'm in about 1/3 of the way or so. Anyway, I have not had any problems with GCU at all. The academic and financial aid advisors call/email me back in a timely manner, and my financial aid is processed and my excess checks sent back in a timely manner. The tuition for me, in Professional Counseling, is about $1395 per class plus books. I've attended University of Phoenix and it was not too bad, I don't remember having too many issues with them either. I guess it just depends on your personal situation. I'd recommend GCU for those who want to stay at home and get an education.

Grand Canyon University is a for-profit university... The ones you mentioned above are not-for-profit schools.
Also, the lawsuit against GCU is much different than at other schools. It was a whistle blower lawsuit. The government was involved and deemed them dishonest in their enrollment actions. 
When you're dishonest with recruiting/enrollment, it affects the students. They have to pay back the money and we as taxpayers, have to cover the burden during the mean time.
Avoid the for-profit schools. You'll be much better off going a different route.

THE CORRUPTION AT FOR-PROFIT SCHOOLS IS MIND BOGGLING! IF YOU'RE READING THIS PAGE, GO TO A NON-PROFIT SCHOOL OR TO A STATE COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY!

uspoverty.change.org/blog/view/for-profit_colleges_encourage_financial_aid_fraud_amp_crippling_debt

consumerist.com/2010/08/for-profit-colleges-caught-on-video-encouraging-financial-aid-fraud.html

nytimes.com/2010/08/04/education/04education.html

pervegalit.wordpress.com/2010/05/18/the-repo-man-comes-to-campus/

bizclaims.com/2010/09/grand-canyon-university-grand-canyon-university-financial-aid-rip-off-reported-me-as-a-half-time-student-when-i-was-full-time-i-lost-my-fafsa-phoenix-arizona/

complaintsboard.com/complaints/finacial-aidgrades-ripoff-c247054.html

complaintsboard.com/complaints/financial-aidpresident-of-gcu-c171893.html

azcentral.com/business/articles/2010/08/18/20100818biz-grandcanyon0819.html

fox11az.com/news/local/101045109.html

I have found another school. Now they are not wanting to give me my transcripts. I also caught them in another lie today. They messed up my VA certifications. They told I had to call the VA and fix it and I did.However, I cannot fix the mistakes its the schools job. The VA told me something totally different than what the school did. The school told me the VA changed their ways of certifying and thats what messed me up. Pretty much passing the blame to the VA. Well the VA told me they havent changed anything with any schools and the certification forms from the school is the reason I am messed up. Then I called the school and told them what the VA said and I was told they had to talk to their manager and then call me back later.

According to the rankings you've submitted many times, WGU is rated in the same category as GCU. They're rated 9th at oedb.org/rankings
It definitely wouldn't be my first choice to get an education but it is regionally accredited and it's not-for-profit. You'll spend less than half the money you'd spend at GCU.
I would chose a state university that offers an online program but if that doesn't work, look around.

I can see that some have had their share of problems. I cannot say the same. In fact I would highly recommend the university. The professors have been very supportive. Most have given out their cell numbers so that they can be reached immediately in case of a problem or question. The masters program has been a great experience for me. I have had no problems at all getting my degree recognized. The university is RA. Why should there be any problem at all with transferring? RUN TO GCU! You will love it!

If you can transfer, I'd get out as quickly as possible. I had nothing but problems with the University as well. Your money is more important than your graduation. They promise the world and only deliver the county landfill.
Your problem will be transferring your credits. Many schools will not accept credits from GCU. If you're not too far along, run!

I am extremely unhappy with GCU. I chose an online school because I live an hour away from the nearest ground campus. There has been nothing but problems from the start. It is always difficult to reach someone when you need help. The professors are supposed to email you within 48 hours of a question and that almost never happens. The course work does not match the the courses. They dont check your work. I purposely sabotaged a essay and I got an A on it still. Most people wouldnt complain about that but I am there to actually learn something and not just be pushed thru. Also, they know nothing when it comes to the VA. They have me so screwed up with my certifications that I now owe the government money because they certified me as part time after certifying me as full time. I have been full time the whole time. Anyhow its up to the school to fix it and I have been ignored so I am stuck paying for my classes and paying the VA for money I recieved for a full time status. Even though I was always a full time student and not part time. I have recently transferred to another school and its alot better.

money.cnn.com/2010/10/14/news/companies/education_stocks/index.htm

What a silly notion! The idea that because GCU was sued for 5.2 million dollars makes it a ‘terrible university’ academically is absurd. If you Google ‘pending lawsuits against the University of California System’ you come up with over 1.1 million results. There are currently dozens and dozens of lawsuits filed against this university system. Yet according to U.S. News and World Report 2011 Top Ranking Colleges and Universities List (in conjunction with the Princeton Review) 6 of the top 50 National Universities come from the University of California System. Are we to assume that these are terrible academic institutions because they are being sued dozens of times? Therefore, I have to dismiss what the former employee had to say about the lawsuit in connection with him believing that GCU is a terrible academic institution. It is a ludicrous statement from a ludicrous person motivated completely by revenge.

Some of the best teachers I had were adjunct professors who were working in their professions. It all depends on the situation. I'd prefer to have a teacher who has experience and not just book work experience. Some teachers shouldn't have been teachers because they were teaching what they didn't know how to do on their own.... So, it all depends on the situation.

This is my fourth update, the last one was May 5, 2010. I now have five courses remaining before I complete a bachelors in business. Throughout this process of posting my experience, the most important point I've discussed has been the quality of education. I still believe that the curriculum and course material presented is substantial and is the base of a good - quality education. 

The issues that GCU has had with regard to system upgrades have been without a doubt, painful. It does seem that they have however moved past a near gridlock condition with regard to administrative services, which is a very positive development, and are now providing what I percieve to be better service. 

Throughout this education process one other thing has managed to stand out about GCU, and that is the polite and calm and professional demeanor of the administrative employees of the school, regardless of the difficulty in executing thier tasks while suffering the difficult launch of their new information system.

I don't know if I will make another post on this sight. It seems that many of the posts her have comopletely detracted from the credibility of this site. I wonder if anyone can feel like they might be able to seriously consider any of the postings here as a basis for choosing GCU to satisfy thier education requirements.

Good luck all.

There's another national news network that's going to run a  long news story about some of the crap at a few for-profit schools. They contacted me, students and a few other people who work/worked at GCU to interview us in regards to some major current issues. It will be very informative for everybody to view this. 
When I know when they're going to run the news video, I'll let you all know here.

I agree! I see lot of potential in GCU as well. I was in Phoenix not too long ago and visited ASU and GCU. I took the time to speak with several people on campus, faculty and students as well. I have been part of the evaluation process with the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) so I enjoy interviewing people involved with colleges and universities. I can truly say that everyone I spoke with all had a very positive perception and experience with GCU. They said that there was rigor and that they were challenged by the curriculum. They felt that the environment was supportive. That is just my experience after having spoken to these individuals. However, you are correct that they will have to make administrative adjustments! Change is on the way! The government is putting pressure on for-profits and things will have to change.

I appreciate your level head Neutral. I do see a lot of potential in Grand Canyon University but you have to realize that schools are judged in sections and as a whole. Their recruiting practices are part of the school. It doesn't matter how great their education becomes...if they are corrupt in one part, it will affect the entire school. If students are being lied to and sold to get into the school, the students are not going to be as happy of students in the future. This will drastically affect the school's perception from within and from without.
Here's my problem with Grand Canyon University:
The whistleblower lawsuit was started in 2007. You'd think the school would clean up its recruiting practices shortly after. Well, this was not the case. Their shady, unethical practices were still occurring on a regular basis almost 3 yrs after. 
If they were truly committed to being an outstanding school, they would have addressed their problems and fixed them much sooner. Because of their practices, many students were lied to and they're stuck with lots of debt to pay back. What's funny is that GCU pretends it can just move forward without any opposition to its practices. 
To be fair, it's not just GCU taking criticism right now. It's many of the for-profit schools in the United States. They've created a negative perception because of some money-motivated decisions on how to run the programs. If for-profit schools do succeed they'll still have a negative stigma from many onlookers because of bad business practices. To me, I don't see how for-profit schools can continue doing what they're doing without some backlash. There needs to be changes. I, as a tax payer, don't want to be filling Grand Canyon and other schools' pockets with my money to feed a corrupt practice.

I am a neutral observer as well. The way I see this forum's 'discussion' is simple. There is an alum that makes his points about GCU with some stats which I have checked and verified. GCU has received it's share of praise! On the other hand, the gentleman that posts as 'Former Counselor in Utah' has also raised his concerns about enrollment practices and  problems and irregularities in financial aid. He offers an e-mail address and offers proof. I think they are discussing different aspects of the university. One is discussing curriculum and instruction while the other is speaking about administrative issues. I hate to be the one to tell you guys that they are not the same. So, I believe that both people have made their points and should just respect that fact!

I happened to stumble upon this website as I look into online schools and I am a bit disturbed by a lot of the comments I see.  Bickering, arguing, and name calling.  Is that how the students are at this school?  I think after seeing much of the same on other sites, I will look elsewhere.

If you can't defend your GCU facts, then just admit it.  I can say TIME magazine published an article stating GCU sucks, but without giving proper references its safe to say it doesn't exist (just like your fake stats).  If you want to attack me and not defend your posts, then meet me by the bike racks after class.  Seriously grow up...

Once again you prove your GCU degree has little value if you rely on such a source over the Free Application for Federal Student Aid website.  Wake up and smell the coffee, your sources are fake and you cannot provide any citations to prove your stats.  Anyone visiting this site won't find them either.  Must be part of your GCU recruiting script you have.  I don't think you are going to make your quota this month buddy or the next as long as I am here.

Why is it that people are really leaving GCU?  It can't be because they are world renowned for their academia (think Harvard, Yale).  These government stats speak for themselves!

ARIZONA STATE UNIV (ALL CAMPUSES)
STUDENT FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
TEMPE
Federal School Code: 001081

Graduation Rate: 56%
Retention Rate: 81%

UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
PO BOX 210066
TUCSON
Federal School Code: 001083

Graduation Rate: 58%
Retention Rate: 78%

Here's some more stats:

GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY
3300 WEST CAMELBACK ROAD
PHOENIX
Federal School Code: 001074

Graduation Rate: 42% :(
Retention Rate: 39%  :(

I approve of this institution!

1. OEDb’s Online College Rankings 2009

For each college, we gathered data for eight different metrics — acceptance rate, financial aid, graduation rate, peer Web citations, retention rate, scholarly citations, student-faculty ratio, and years accredited. The overall ranking, shown below, ranks each college by its average ranking for each metric for which data was available.

GCU #7 score: 15.5 (Top 15% Ranked 7th out of over 40 universities that were rated).

2. Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges 2011 Edition

GCU Ranked: Very Competitive (Top third)

3. Onlineegreereviews.org 
New - Best Online Colleges for 2010
Ranking of top online colleges based on over 2,000 reviews, find the best online universities
TOP 2% : GCU Ranked: 6th

4. Princeton Review: Rank Top 40% of all universities ranked.

We get that you work for GCU as a facilitator.  I'm guessing you were a former enrollment counselor and completed your Masters at GCU because of that.  In fact it is quite common for employees to also be attending GCU, so its only natural that you would continue to spit the same posts over and over and over gain.  You got your Masters in Education, which is honestly quite useless anywhere or for anything but teaching at the university in which you earned it.  You obviously have no sense of business and how that is what GCU is first and foremost now that it is for-profit.  Other universities may have legal issues as well, but the fact remains no public university has scammed students for their financial aid money and then provided them a poor excuse for an online learning environment.  You really give no examples of how this university operates or how classes are laid out, other than that two professional organizations rated the school high but probably never attended the school directly.  Check my post in the Bachelor section for Accounting, I think I summed it up better than anyone here.  Those are the real facts.  I had doubts back in March about this college and they are now confirmed by the employees who have posted here.  

Public university with an online extension is the way to go!

I'll post on multiple for-profit school's forums. I, personally, have issues with the 'for-profit' structure of post-secondary learning. I think a lot of people do...I watched the Frontline video and it made me want to study more of the for-profit universities.

Why did you not post the link to the article on Everest college in that forum? It seems very strange that you would pick the GCU forum to do so.

They offer an educational opportunity to those that cannot attend a traditional B & M. Any problems in that area will be addressed and corrected. By the way, as I pointed out in comments about the University of California at Davis, pretty much all universities and colleges in this country (non-profits) have been or are being currently sued. Should we close down all of them as well?

I appreciate your response but I didn't see where you wanted me to answer a question. It seemed more like a rhetorical question to me. 
I've been researching some schools and according to my searches, the schools with the majority of the legal problems are the for-profit schools.... Grand Canyon University included.
And no. I have not posted under multiple names. My agenda is not to smear GCU... It's to openly discuss a problem we're seeing at multiple for-profit schools.
Should Federal Aid money be allowed at these schools, including Grand Canyon University?
My question is to anybody who views this site...not only to the person to which I'm responding.

1. OEDb’s Online College Rankings 2009

For each college, we gathered data for eight different metrics — acceptance rate, financial aid, graduation rate, peer Web citations, retention rate, scholarly citations, student-faculty ratio, and years accredited. The overall ranking, shown below, ranks each college by its average ranking for each metric for which data was available.

GCU #7 score: 15.5 (Top 15% Ranked 7th out of over 40 universities that were rated).

2. Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges 2011 Edition

GCU Ranked: Very Competitive (Top third)

3. Onlineegreereviews.org 
New - Best Online Colleges for 2010
Ranking of top online colleges based on over 2,000 reviews, find the best online universities
TOP 2% : GCU Ranked: 6th

4. Princeton Review: Rank Top 40% of all universities ranked.

You really didn't respond to my post. Rather you decided to post an article about Everest College. I wonder why you didn't post that in the Everest Forum.  I think we would all enjoy hearing an answer to that question. You see, every time I present a logical post explaining to you why you are wrong about GCU, you counter with the same thing. I can't help but feel that you have an agenda. Could your agenda be revenge? Your posts make no sense at all. Why post an article about Everest here? Are you that fired GCU employee that has been posting here under more than a dozen different names? You know, the guy that has been smearing the university as a way of 'getting back' at them.

sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50363247-76/everest-miller-students-college.html.csp

These for-profit schools will lie and deceive to hit numbers. It's pretty sad because that's a lot of money.
Read the article about Everest College, a for-profit college. Many students finished associates degrees but couldn't transfer their degrees to reputable universities. So a group of students filed a lawsuit against the school. 
I think you're going to see many more of these lawsuits because many universities don't accept transfer credits from online, for-profit schools... That's a lot of money to pay for something that's not valid to other schools.

I agree to a point with what you have said. GCU has received high marks from several university rating organizations whereas UoP has not. I however disagree completely that there are more similarities than differences. A financial model is far different from the curriculum and instruction that takes place as well as the quality of the programs. That is exactly what the evaluating organizations look at as well as a variety of other facets. GCU is clearly head and shoulders above the other for-profits. The university has grown very quickly and that has caused some difficulties. I believe they will be resolved. 
UC Davis was sued for admitting students on the basis of skin color rather than academic merit. Are they dishonest? Should they be labeled a horrible university? Every academic institution has made mistakes. Your point of ‘dishonesty’ is not well made since that would exclude pretty much every university in the country since they have all made mistakes at one time or another. As far as having a choice goes, since I am a graduate of a large public university (UCLA), I would choose ASU or the U of Arizona if they had the program I was looking for. However, I did my master’s at GCU because they did not have the program I was looking for. Taking that into consideration, I feel like I made an excellent choice! In addition, being an out-of-state student, the tuition at those two universities would have been sky high! Students pay $30,000 a year to attend UCLA if they are out-of-state. The comparison between a university’s tuition and a community college’s tuition was not a good comparison. You are comparing apples and oranges. In summary, some of what you said is true and fair, other points are not well made.

I agree that GCU may be better than the University of Phoenix but they were recently sued and they settled for millions of dollars. This was a very similar lawsuit to the one the University of Phoenix lost a while back. I believe there are more similarities than differences. 
GCU was a not-for-profit university for yrs but most of the complaints and lawsuits have occurred after they became for-profit. If I'm looking at going to a school, I'd want to attend a school known for honesty and integrity. I just don't see much of this at most of the for-profit schools. 
Plus they cost about 4 to 5 times the amount of a community college. If you had the choice of doing a completely-online degree from Arizona, Arizona State or Grand Canyon what would you chose? For me, I'd definitely chose Arizona or Arizona State first.

Just as with non-profits, some are terrible and some are wonderful! Since I am a product of both systems, I can tell you from first hand experience that this is absolutely true. There are too many people out there that want to paint all of the non-profits as being great and the for-profits as being terrible. They really don't understand that (as the PBS Video points out) the financial model for many institutions needed to be changed from non-profit to for-profit in order to financially survive due to the horrible economic situation in the country. Since you posted this question in this forum, let's take GCU as an example. For over 55 years, it has been operating as a non-profit. Recently, they have had to change the financial model. The effect has been a positive one since more financial resources are available. The university is currently investing tens of millions of dollars in building projects on campus and on improving their programs. The PBS video points to GCU, as one other poster mentioned several times, as a 'model university' (for-profit) with a School of Nursing that is 'state of the art'(they chose to focus on the School of Nursing). They showed the impressive facilities and interviewed students etc. On the other hand, they also focused on the other side; the University of Phoenix. They were created as a For-Profit university. The negatives are clearly established in connection with UoP.  Therefore, in answer to your question, it depends on which university we are talking about.

monstersandcritics.com/smallscreen/news/article_1552504.php/PBS-Frontline-College-Inc-rips-facade-off-degree-mania-May-4

This is some very informative. Who's for for-profit schools? Who's against them?

huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/05/frontline-for-profit-coll_n_564585.html

Here's a synopsis of what the hour-long video is about. There's a huge debate right now about for-profit universities.
What do you guys think?

On September 24 @ 11:15 pm when you were posting as a 'former student' and carrying on a conversation with yourself as the times clearly indicate, you said "Sadly, being in the top third and top 40% doesn't tell you much as this is probably based off a large number of colleges." This is exactly why you shouldn't be commenting on something you have no idea about! The top 1,000 out of approximately 3,400 four year colleges and universities were studied. Being in the top 40% means you are in the top 400 of this total. That translates into the top 12% of ALL FOUR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES IN THE COUNTRY (based on 3,400 schools). Again, in your zeal to discredit and smear GCU you will go to any lengths, including lying and twisting the truth. Here are some of things you have done:

1. Posted over 11 times now under different posting names including posing as a 'former student' when in fact you are a fired (clerk) employee. 

2. Carried on 'conversations' with yourself as seen on September 24th between 11:15 pm-11:39 pm. How stupid can you be thinking we wouldn't notice the times.

3. Twisted the facts about published results of education/university evaluating organizations. I wouldn't expect a drop out to understand them anyway.

4. Twisted the facts presented in the PBS video on FOR-Profit university. In fact, GCU is praised as a 'model university' and the school of nursing was called 'state of the art'. You obviously have not seen the video or you would know that I suppose. Possibly, given your inferior intellect, you did not understand what they were presenting which is a distinct possibility. 

5. You have presented GCU as a university establish as a For-Profit when in fact the university was established in 1949 as a Non-Profit and operated as a Non-Profit for over 55 years. The financial model was only recently changed.


6. You probably have lied about your education as well. It seems very hard to believe that a person with 'two college degrees' (I am sure you won't disclose you name, your degrees and what university you graduated from so that we can verify that)would have such a low paying lowly clerk's position. I believe you have lied again given #1-5 above!!

Given all the above outlined lies, I believe everyone coming to this site and reading this post will understand where you are coming from. You have disgraced and discredited yourself!!!!!

If you had seen the video you would know that GCU was called a model university and the  school of nursing was called 'state of the art'. However, since you have not seen it, you are indeed speechless and you cannot deny that this was said. 
Secondly, if you had seen the video you would know that the shady business practices were in the context of comments about UoP. Since you did not see the video you don't know that.
You are fooling not a single person. They see through you and your attempt to blame GCU for firing your sorry ass. Your parents have obviously failed with you as well. They failed to teach you to take responsibility for your actions and failures. If you are looking for someone to blame, look in the mirror!

I watched the PBS video twice. It talks about a few benefits of for-profit schools but the majority of it is about shady practices.
Why were they just sued by the Federal Government? That sure sounds model-like to me. Their CEO is Brian Mueller. He was the former CEO for the University of Phoenix. Don't you think they're run similarly? Yes! The testimonials about some other for-profit schools about shady recruiting tactics fits exactly what GCU was doing. Listen to the testimonials! Employees forced to hit numbers or their jobs were terminated. This was always a threat to Enrollment Counselors at GCU. Also, listen to the people stuck with huge amounts of student debt because of the corruptness of schools like GCU. I've got the documentation if you'd like to see it. Maybe I'll contact PBS and some other media outlets and give them the documentation I have. It would make some of the other schools mentioned look stellar. 
My objective is to help people from making mistakes they'll regret in the near future. If I can even help a few handfuls of individuals, I feel good.

Who's making who look stupid? Now you're calling me jackass. My IP address proves it? Wow, now I know you graduated top of the class at GCU. It doesn't show IP addresses here... Plus, if it did you'd see we're different people posting. I live in Utah. I have no idea where Former Graduate lives. If you're reading this Fromer Graduate, where are you from?
I am not Former Graduate. I never attended GCU. I could have because it was offered to employees after 3 months of employment. I chose not to because I made some calls about transferring credits from GCU to a the University of Utah and to BYU and was told a large portion of the classes would not transfer. I didn't want to bother because it was too much of a hassle and I knew I wouldn't stay at the school long enough to finish an MBA. 
Did you watch the ever-informative video on PBS? What do you have to say about that? For-Profit schools rape the public and they prey on lower income and on individuals who have issues getting into credible institutes of higher learning.  Did you read about the lawsuit? It's funny because you scold others for not looking into your "only four sources" but you don't ever comment on other facts which are posted here. Tell us what you think about these other sources!
You sure do get angry easily. I can tell when you're ticked off because you lash out at others. Maybe you should look inside yourself. You've got some issues of your own to deal with. Go to the corner, put your time out hat on and count to 100.... You should have learned that from your teachers growing up. Well, some people don't retain knowledge very well so I'll forgive you. As for the name calling, I'll overnight you a couple bars of soap if give me your address.

Now we're getting some dialog. I wonder how long it will be before GCU employee will call you a loser, sour grapes,janitor, or a clerk. I've started my stop watch...lol
I'm going to watch the pbs video and post my comments after.
Thanks!

pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/collegeinc/view/

WOW! WATCH AND READ THIS ABOUT GCU AND OTHER FOR-PROFIT UNIVERSITIES.
THEY ROB STUDENTS AND POCKET ALL THE EARNINGS! IT TALKS ABOUT GCU FIRST. YOU DON'T HAVE TO HAVE A COLLEGE DGREE OR HS DIPLOMA TO RUN THESE SCAMMING SCHOOLS.

The only two creditable sites are numbers 2 and 4 on your list.  Sadly, being in the top third and top 40% doesn't tell you much as this is probably based off a large number of colleges.  Additionally, both of those sites require you to pay a fee for their publishing.  Once again, profit influenced ratings.  Who's to say the CEO of GCU hasn't made a significant contribution to them?  While this site has rated this school high in the past, it's quite evident that it has gone down hill.  It's evident with not only the lawsuits, but now even former employees telling what I had suspected about this school.  Honestly, if I could do it all over again I would have found a state school with an online extension to complete my degree.  My bachelor's may have got me a job, but its only with the federal government who shows no bias towards where you get your degree as long as its accredited.  My chances are much slim on the outside, due to the reputation online colleges have been receiving.  

These are the facts!  GCU's owners, by the way, inherited their regional accreditation from its non-profit years, which probably is why they have decent rankings compared to other online universities who are typically nationally accredited.  The new trend for these fat cats is to buy out near bankrupt colleges, bring in students who use financial aid and probably are not even prepared for college, and capitalize off them.  They don't care if you graduate or not, they collect the tuition and their pockets get fatter!  The academic counselors will auto-enroll you into courses well in advance and usually will not tell you unless you do a search 2 or 3 semesters in advance.  No public university does this!  This is their trick I suspect, as uninformed students suddenly have charges if they decide to attend another university or take a break for the summer session.

You still have not come up with a reason for the high academic ratings of GCU! Why not? You contend that GCU is a terrible university. It should be easy for you to disprove the ratings. You simply cannot!! That is why you have no answer!!!! Getting fired is one thing! Smearing the good academic reputation of a university is another.

It must be tough being out of a job in this economy! I don't blame you for being pissed off. However, you are blaming the wrong party here. You should be blaming yourself!!!!!

1. OEDb’s Online College Rankings 2009

For each college, we gathered data for eight different metrics — acceptance rate, financial aid, graduation rate, peer Web citations, retention rate, scholarly citations, student-faculty ratio, and years accredited. The overall ranking, shown below, ranks each college by its average ranking for each metric for which data was available.

GCU #7 score: 15.5 (Top 15% Ranked 7th out of over 40 universities that were rated).

2. Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges 2011 Edition

GCU Ranked: Very Competitive (Top third)

3. Onlineegreereviews.org 
New - Best Online Colleges for 2010
Ranking of top online colleges based on over 2,000 reviews, find the best online universities
TOP 2% : GCU Ranked: 6th

4. Princeton Review: Rank Top 40% of all universities ranked.

I'm one of the former employees but there have been two other ones which have posted here.I think one of the former employees worked in Arizona...I worked in the former Utah enrollment center. All employees were asked to leave with our belongings without notice one day in November of 2009. I don't think the University wanted people to know about their "other" location closing. A lot of interesting stuff went down there.
 Go check the IP address info yourself. I can assure you I have not posted under Gary Gambino, Mick Thompson, Rolly Tolleson, etc... If you're one of those individuals, come back and let this goober know.

I thought you had finally gone away. You are still posting under different posting names. You have now done so under 11 different names. I invite anyone to check your IP address as proof. 
Everyone; this is a former employee that has been released from the university by his own admission. He has also posted under a variety of other names such as Gary Gambino, Former Enrollment Counselor, Mick Thompson, Rolly Tolleson, etc., etc. etc. 
It is a shame that this individual wants to smear GCU as a form of revenge. That is his motivation. It is clear to all! I, in turn, have posted the facts about GCU as a counter measure to this individual. 
I invite everyone to check these sources yourself. Do not confuse the rants of a 'pissed off' former employee with what professional education rating organizations say. I am a graduate and not a paid employee as he claims.

azcentral.com/business/articles/2010/09/20/20100920biz-lawsuit0921.html

REVIEW ALL FACTS AND DON'T ONLY BELIEVE THE ONLY 4 RANKINGS GCU EMPLOYEE KEEPS REPOSTING DAILY.

1. OEDb’s Online College Rankings 2009

For each college, we gathered data for eight different metrics — acceptance rate, financial aid, graduation rate, peer Web citations, retention rate, scholarly citations, student-faculty ratio, and years accredited. The overall ranking, shown below, ranks each college by its average ranking for each metric for which data was available.

GCU #7 score: 15.5 (Top 15% Ranked 7th out of over 40 universities that were rated).

2. Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges 2011 Edition

GCU Ranked: Very Competitive (Top third)

3. Onlineegreereviews.org 
New - Best Online Colleges for 2010
Ranking of top online colleges based on over 2,000 reviews, find the best online universities
TOP 2% : GCU Ranked: 6th

4. Princeton Review: Rank Top 40% of all universities ranked.

If any of you have questions about anything I've said you can email me at zoneblitz8@gmail.com 
I have some scripts used while I worked at GCU and I also have some other info that may be helpful to some of you. 
Good luck to all of you in your decision to chose a school to further your education goals.

1. OEDb’s Online College Rankings 2009

For each college, we gathered data for eight different metrics — acceptance rate, financial aid, graduation rate, peer Web citations, retention rate, scholarly citations, student-faculty ratio, and years accredited. The overall ranking, shown below, ranks each college by its average ranking for each metric for which data was available.

GCU #7 score: 15.5 (Top 15% Ranked 7th out of over 40 universities that were rated).

2. Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges 2011 Edition

GCU Ranked: Very Competitive (Top third)

3. Onlineegreereviews.org 
New - Best Online Colleges for 2010
Ranking of top online colleges based on over 2,000 reviews, find the best online universities
TOP 2% : GCU Ranked: 6th

4. Princeton Review: Rank Top 40% of all universities ranked.

You made several inaccurate statements. To begin with you said "There was no testing process to be accepted into the university. As long as they had a HS diploma or a GED, they were accepted." That is completely false. GCU has both a minimum GPA for undergraduates and for graduate students. The entrance GPA for the master's program is 2.8 which is very much in line with other graduate schools around the nation. I suppose you have known that if you truly were an enrollment counselor at GCU. You also said "
I don't believe in getting an education without having to take tests. Writing assignments are not tests." That is very funny. Tests and research papers are both valid assessment tools. The difference is simple. Frequently tests such as the SAT, ACT and even college class exams are multiple choice which allow for the student to guess the answer. Research papers on the other hand are considered to be a more rigorous assessment tool since they require more time, effort, higher order thinking skills as well as removing the element of guessing. This is what experts in the area of education say. Not a clerk that knows nothing about this area. You really shouldn't be commenting on something you know nothing about. The problem with websites and forums such as these is that schmucks, such as yourself, can say anything they want even if they know not of what they speak (such as yourself). 
I will not be leaving. I will continue to debunk individuals such as yourself. It is important to get as accurate information as possible about GCU and I plan to give it to people. You still have no answer for why 4 education evaluating organization give GCU such high praise. The problem is that you do not have an answer for it. It is outside of your area. Why do you think for a second that a 'business major' can evaluate a university? You know nothing about curriculum and instruction or any other facet of a university. I also feel that you are full of crap with your statements about recruiting. My enrollment counselor was great. He allowed me the space and time to do my research about GCU. He never 'pushed' or 'rushed me'. There was no 'script'. 
People that visit this forum are not stupid. They understand human nature. Any failed individual, be it a failed student or failed employee, is obviously not going to speak well of GCU. After all, they failed!! It is just human nature. My advice remains the same; just get over it and move on!!!

Don't get me wrong... I loved helping people who were trying  to change their current situations but the problem was that the majority of the people I spoke with on the phone were not honor students. 
There was no testing process to be accepted into the university. As long as they had a HS diploma or a GED, they were accepted.
The big sales pitch was the academic scholarship we offered the potential students. It was a sales tool but they had to finish a certain amount of credits with a certain GPA before they received the credit to their account.
Like some people posted above, I saw far too many problems with students having financial aid issues. It was frustrating because I wasn't a Financial Advisor... I was only an Enrollment Counselor. Some of the Financial Advisors were really good! Some of them were very bad and contributed to many students having financial aid problems. I could not believe how many students I saw that had to stop attending school because of financial mistakes or miscommunication. 
In my opinion, I think GCU could be a much better school if money wasn't the key motivator. At state schools, people still deal with financial aid problems but it's completely different when it's not a for-profit outfit. I was always able to get things resolved when I was in college with a few conversations about my tuition and about my loans.
When I was in college, I was paying about 1200 dollars per semester. I could take 12-18 credit hrs and the price was the same. When I worked at GCU, it was 415 dollars per credit hr for an undergrad student. For 12 credit hrs that's $4,980.00.... And the student had to pay extra to take more than 12 credit hrs... It was way different from the state university I attended. 
You tell me if nearly 5k dollars per semester, excluding books, is a good value for an online education. To me it's not.
If you chose to attend GCU, make sure you're supppppppppper comfortable with your Enrollment Counselor and with your Financial and Academic Advisors. Also, I would recommend speaking with a few employers in your own state that accept college grads. Make sure they value GCU's degree. I've met a few and I've spoken with a few students that had issues.
Whatever you do... Don't be pressured into attending GCU! Look at all your options. Go to some community colleges and state Universities before you jump in... If you are happy with Grand Canyon University, Great. Good luck to you. If you're like me and many others... it's not high on our list for a highly valued education.

First of all...I never said I don't have degrees! I have a Bachelor's degree in Business and I also have a minor. Please don't try to twist the truth! I mentioned in a previous post I have two degrees.
I think you were probably beat up a lot growing up. You're about as obnoxious of a person as it gets. Grow up and let people post their experiences without using your trickery defamation. You think you can defame people and make their opinions seem invalid. 
This forum is not to attack people. It's to share experiences about the school in question. Please leave if you're going to continue to attack every person that makes a comment you don't like. 
Let's face it... GCU is not for everyone. Good luck to the people who chose to pursue their degrees there but quit bashing people that are trying to warn people before making their decisions.
As I said in a previous post, I worked as an Enrollment Counselor at GCU. We all had to be completely familiar with all items related to the classroom and enrollment structure. 
From my experiences with students and with the school in general, I would steer clear. I don't believe in getting an education without having to take tests. Writing assignments are not tests. If you're an employer, wouldn't you want to hire an employee that was tested and challenged before he/she graduated?
Also, the enrollment process at GCU was very shady! We had a script we used and our main objective was to find the person's pain or failure in life and make them believe that GCU was the bridge to get them from failures to fame. 
It was encouraged by some managers that if we could make a potential student cry, we were doing our job. I understand the sales process but it's going a little too far to dig for pain and then act like the school is THE remedy.

You are the one with the agenda. I am here to set the record straight and to debunk terminated employees and failed students (such as yourself). Once you weed those fools out you see that over 80% of all students that have succeeded at GCU love the university. You have already stated that you are a (disgruntled) former employee looking for revenge and that you have no credentials at all. These are your words!

Now you state "I have two degrees from state Universities and they're valued much more than a degree from Grand Canyon University to employers I've had. I had one employer tell me he doesn't accept degrees from schools like GCU and the University of Phoenix. He thinks they're jokes." 

This is a completely new version of your lies! You suddenly go from no degrees to two degrees over night. In addition, you also suddenly start telling more lies about you going out on a job interview (which is another lie). 

I have told you several times now.....it is ok to fail as you have obviously done. Just get over it and move on.

1. OEDb’s Online College Rankings 2009

For each college, we gathered data for eight different metrics — acceptance rate, financial aid, graduation rate, peer Web citations, retention rate, scholarly citations, student-faculty ratio, and years accredited. The overall ranking, shown below, ranks each college by its average ranking for each metric for which data was available.

GCU #7 score: 15.5 (Top 15% Ranked 7th out of over 40 universities that were rated).

2. Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges 2011 Edition

GCU Ranked: Very Competitive (Top third)

3. Onlineegreereviews.org 
New - Best Online Colleges for 2010
Ranking of top online colleges based on over 2,000 reviews, find the best online universities
TOP 2% : GCU Ranked: 6th

4. Princeton Review: Rank Top 40% of all universities ranked.

Again, it is ok....you are not a college graduate. Don't worry about it...just get over it. As I have said, you need to stop posting here every day with your uneducated garbage. You admitted to us earlier that you not have a degree and that you are a mere clerk. Go back to what you do best :-)

I am not in here everyday. You're lumping multiple posters into one person. 
If you're telling me it's not healthy for me being in here, then what about you? You're insulting and ripping people apart because they post comments about bad experiences with the "wanna-be-university"...
I have two degrees from state Universities and they're valued much more than a degree from Grand Canyon University to employers I've had. I had one employer tell me he doesn't accept degrees from schools like GCU and the University of Phoenix. He thinks they're jokes.
It's pretty obvious you're being paid by Grand Canyon University to post in here. Why else would you waste your time every day responding to every negative review.
When looking through this internet page, I can see you've spent a lot more time here than I have. I've posted like 3 times. You've responded to every single person in an attacking manner and then you tell us that we're not wanted here.
Please go back to scrubbing toilets. They miss you!!!!!

You said "Seriously, I think people are more sick of you than of the people sharing their experiences with the university.' I feel the exact same way about you! You need to get over your failure and move on! It is not healthy for you to be in this forum almost every day posting garbage about GCU. Your comments have nothing to do with the university. I am sorry that you got fired or failed to graduate (which ever it is) but for everyone's sake, stop posting please!!!!

You said "If critics say a movie was horrible and you go see it and state otherwise, does that mean your opinion means nothing since you are not an official film critic?" This is second silly analogy you have given. Making a decision on where to go to college is not like buying a product or being a film critic. It is something completely different. Both analogies are inappropriate. I have given a much better analogy liking it to going to a doctor for a diagnosis. Would you want your diagnosis from the doctor or hospital janitor? That is why you do your research and 'believe the experts'!!! Otherwise I would say you are suffering from FAT HEAD SYMDROME!!!

You said "Instead they opt for sites such as this in order to hear it from those who ACTUALLY have experience with the school. Whether or not they were successful at GCU or not, makes no difference."

It actually does make a difference. Individuals that have been fired from their positions have no business posting here. They are indeed 'sour grapes' since they have been fired and are now 'seeking revenge'. It has nothing to do with the university's academics. As for failed students, the same goes for them. The academic rating agencies are an important part of making a decision on where to attend college. Anyone would understand how important it is to do sufficient and complete research into the schools ahead of time. Are you saying you would base you decision on some 'sour grades' former employee or some failed student? Who would do such a thing when it comes to making one of the most important decisions of your life??????