Grand Canyon University

I have been attending GCU for almost a year in their online program. You have two people that assist you continuously through your study: your academic adviser and school counselor. In my experience, they both are pretty consistent in their availability and promptness in responding to any of my needs. Classes are through Loud Cloud, which is an easy program to use. The books are predominately an e-book that you get free through the class site, but those not covered are easily purchased as an e-book through online vendors (thank you Crtl+F for quick searches btw). To be brutally honest, some of my classmates have been clearly academically disadvantaged and are probably getting their grades at a steal... reading their posts hurt my feelings at times because I am producing college level work and theirs resembles a high school students challenged attempt at sentence structure and spelling. That being said, the course content is very strong and the class format has a higher focus on comprehension of the content rather than just a study and test format. Papers are required, but they are rather short (less than 2000 words) and geared at helping you show what you've learned. If you take the online program, you can guaranteed do well as long as you consistently meet deadlines and follow the grading rubrics. The teachers are very hit or miss, but I have had a couple that were awesome. Some professors were clearly just there to grade and post bogus responses though. I have been just ignoring the negatives and focusing on my own work and learning the subject. Hope this helps! :)

I have read a few negative reviews about GCU and that may be their experience but it is not mine. I have attended the Bus Adm. program online for 3 years now and I absolutely love it for the most part. I have gained a wealth of knowledge that I can use in the corporate world. There is a ton of work and some of the assignments are very challenging so you really have to work hard in order to be successful. If you do not have any experience in classes like accounting or marketing, I would suggest getting a tutor because they can be really hard. I am excited because in 8 more weeks I will receive my BS in Bus Adm. and I have a 3.0 GPA. Since I have attend GCU I have had maybe 3-4 Advisors but for the past 2 years, I have had the same one and she is very helpful and she always return phone call. One time I had to call the top person over the program that I am in and I received an immediate phone call back and my problem was resolved. In order to be successful at GCU or any online school you have to stay on top of your work and put forth a lot of effort but in the end, it is truly worth it. I will say that they can afford to charge less for the classes because I think they are to high. Yes, you may come across an instructor that is not so good but that happens at any university. What I would say if that happens, stay in touch with your Advisor or someone higher and keep notes of the issue, I did and it worked to my advantage. GCU has one of the best online setups and I would not change that at all.

Do yourself a favor and STAY AWAY from Gran Canyon. First off, they have about 300 potential students (mostly Seniors in High School) assigned to what they call an Admissions Representative. This person is actually a COMMISSIONED SALES REPRESENTATIVE assigned to a region of the US. They are very difficult to reach and difficult to get answers from. You find out very soon that everything goes through them - I MEAN EVERYTHING! You cannot contact anyone at the University for real, only your representative. If you want to talk to someone at GCU, you have to wait until your representative gets you an answer (in our case it was sometimes weeks). We missed a deadline and were not told by our Rep that there was a fee associated with it. When our child decided not to go to GCU, and told them we were unaware of any fee, we were repeatedly billed for the fee. They would not cancel the fee regardless of our struggling financial circumstances. We also found out that the school has a pretty low reputation across the board and yet the tuition and fees for GCU are among the highest for a Christian school in the nation. Overall, the lasting impression is that this is a BUSINESS first and NOT a ministry. They are not interested in helping mid to lower income families get a degree at a Christian University - they are mostly interested in making money, building their facilities so they can compete with Liberty University (which is very similar by the way). There is no financial assistance for those in need of help, no compassionate response to those who cannot pay their exorbitant tuition, and no access to department heads, faculty, staff, student information representatives for parents who want direct answers to questions in a timely manner. It's kind of like the whole goal is to get your kids signed up for a program, get them to sign a contract (PLEASE DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING!), and then gouge you for fees if your child withdraws or decides not to attend. Advice: Send your kid to a junior/community college the first two years and then let them finish at a reputable university so they have a degree that is worth something! This will save them about half of the total cost of a college degree! Be advised, the directors who run GCU are hard core businessmen, living lavish lifestyles, building their financial base, and living large under the covering of a "Christian University". That's not right! As Christians, we are supposed to help those in need, provide assistance to those seeking education, making Christian Education accessible to everyone, not just wealthy parents who want to send their kids to a "Christian" baby-sitting school with bed checks and separate dorms so nothing bad can happen. WAKE UP PARENTS, get smart and skip GCU!

If you have apprehensive about joining a school 100% of the time it is not worth the heartache. It is one thing to to be a fake, and straight blasphemy to use religion as a cover up.Leave Christ out of the phony formula. Anyone can go online, and study , without pay, noble articles and learn with out wasting hard earned money.

I have been a student at GCU for almost 2 years and I have had the best Counselors in every areat from enrollment to financial. I get at least 1-2 follow up calls per class. If I make a call to them I ALWAYS get prompt returned calls back from them. I will have to say that I have had at least 1 or to poor instructors they did not seem to care but most of them give you good feedback and sometimes they call you or email you. I have friends and family that attend GCU and most of them have nothing but good things to say about the college. They actually believe that the work is a little more challenging than most other online schools that some of them have attended. A few have complained about a Counselor or instructor not calling them back or not being concerned but not as bad as some have made them sound. I would recommend this college for anyone interested in taking online courses because I believe that the school is fair and have good people working for them. Yes, they probably do have a few bad apples but they don't spoil my entire view of the school. I am thankful for the education that I am receiving at GCU

I am a Junior at GCU getting my Bachelors Degree in Business Administration online. I started out in the Education department and I have always had excellent support from counselors both in the Business and Education colleges. I think college is what you put in to it. If you are dedicated and determined to make it a great experience, then it will be. Sure, there might be problems on the way, but you have to learn to overcome them. Nothing in life is perfect. I have really enjoyed my time at GCU and look forward to graduating in the next few years! My advice to anyone learning online is you have to be dedicated to it and want it bad enough if you are to succeed.

As a recent graduate and former employee for over 3 years I suggest you consider looking at other options...the campus is run as a Christian Univ but online is far from it. The compelling motivation is money, bottom line, profits for their investors and succeed at all costs. This Univ is not authentic. The employees are a good group but the management team comes from other online for profit schools and almost all of them are frauds. There is no integrity here I am considering mailing back my degree I am so disgusted in the way they treat their staff and their students. Financial aid counselors have little empathy and believe all students want money (stipend) not a good education. The full time faculty are instructed to pass every student in the early courses. The CEO recently joked "how do you kill a frog? Throw him in a pot of cold water and turn on the heat" HA HA Enrollment counselors are referred to as "monkeys or dogs"... My advice, go to community college for 2 years, look into Western Governors Univ or Liberty if you want a "Christian" school, less money and better value. The school is corrupt and rotten at the top level, unfortunately most of the staff are really good people who care. The good ones eventually get fired if they do not "produce" which is to sell...and that means enroll students at all costs. Grow the school and increase profits and make the stockholders happy and earn the CEO his $ 1 million annual Bonus. What a crock. If I can sway one student away from here I believe I have been successful and cost the school over $54,000 in lost profit for their bogus bachelor degree. By the way they claim over 40,000 online students per year X $2000 per class X 6 classes per year = $480,000,000 over 90% of which comes from loans guaranteed by US taxpayers and lining their pockets. Jesus would be ashamed using his name in vain, "Christian University" no way.

This so called accredited school was horrible. I took one semester of classes, only to be charged more money than if I was to attend a truly accredited school. They never take your calls. Every time you call you get transferred to a voice mail, and surprise surprise never get a call back. The instructors are rude, and not understanding. My grandmother died while I was attending, and not one of my instructors could have cared less. They would not accept my assignments late. NOT EVEN FOR HALF CREDIT!! You get made fun of both by the instructors, and the counselors. They put you in teams in the classes for some assignments. The members of your teams are always in time zones that make it near impossible to do work together. You can do the best work in the class, and get the worst grade. This is because the instructors play favorites. I would never ever suggest this SCAM of a university to anyone. They are out only to take money from people!

I began in the Finance and Economics degree plan in Jan of 2011. So far I have found the plan challenging and the staff to be helpful when I had questions. I have an academica counselor who contacts me at least once a month and respons to all of my calls and emails. Same for my finance counselor. In only one class did I have a CLC and it was for only 1 project, my entire grade did not rely on it. I have run into people that should not have been in college level courses but that was in the two basic courses everyone has to start in. So far in the upper level courses I have not run into that problem. I am in the military and would recommend this school to anyone. I attended Chaminade University Online and when compared to that GCU doe a much better job.

I work at GCU and if it were not for the free classes I would not be attending. I definitly wouldnt suggest someone I love to go! I see people stating how hard it is to reach a counselor but that is BS because all you have to do is press 2 and you will be transferred to the next available one if your assigned is unavailable. Most schools don't offer a personal FC/AC so quit complaining and quit worring about when your refund check is coming and concentrate on the school work you are there for. As far as the ethics of the school...this is where the problem comes in... they will financially screw any student that doesn't understand they have the right to go to the top if needed. Some instructors offer little instruction, but there is still the select few that do, as with most online schools. My suggestion would be to do your research before going to this school and make sure you are going for the education and not the check that comes...

The entire college experience is all based on the premise of: you get back what you put into it. I am student that started my career at the University of Louisville which has a top tier business program. GCU may not have the greatest system in place but as far as the material, it is of the same you will cover anywhere else. I graduated with honors and have recently been accepted to law school in the fall.

I am an online student at GCU and have found that the admissions standards for adult students is laughable. The grades for each class rely, in large part, on CLC (team) projects. I have been on many of these teams and have found that students do not know how to write college-level English, much less how to construct simple sentences with the right words. The result of these "team projects", is that I lost a 4.0 average, because my teammates, who were purportedly skilled enough to continue with college-level courses, could not grasp the concept of the project, did not know how to follow the basic instructions of the project and abjectly refused any idea that did not align with theirs. GCU faculty advocates that more proficient students take the largest burden of these class projects and make sure that the team receives a high mark for the project. This is absolutely unfair to students with appropriate skill sets. If you have the opportunity to go to a different school - GO and don't look back. I wish I had. The "professors" are, with few exceptions, inept, especially if students who are woefully lacking comprehension and writing skills continue to pass classes. GCU is very vocal about not tolerating plagiarism. Really??? I caught another student copying my work word-for-word (he didn't even have the brains to change it up a little). I brought it to the attention of the "professor" who did not follow the protocol posted on the university's website. Yes, I am incensed, but because I am close to graduation, I am putting up with these shenanigans. I will be starting my MBA right after I finish my Bachelor's and I will not even consider GCU as an option.

This school is a joke. The teachers are not available when you need them and the counselors take forever, if at all, to respond to questions. This school needs an overhaul.

I started attending GCU online because I accepted a job that required me to work long hours and not attend the traditional classroom setting. At first it was great and only needed 30 hours to graduate. I loved the classes and learned a lot. I improved my writting skills and enjoyed the learning process. The problems started in March 2010 when I requested a degree audit because I knew I was getting close to graduating with just a few classes to go. At the end of the semester I still did not have a degree audit. My academic advisor ( the 5th in less than a year) informed me that I still needed 28 hours to graduate. I knew this was wrong and asked for another review. In June I finished another sememster and still there was not a audit. Finally in september I was informed that I was right and did not need anymore classes and that I had taken 2 classes that were not even need!!! ( at 1500 a class) I have not taken clasess since then and on October 10th I finally recieved my diploma and transcripts. 4 months of calling almost everyday and talking to at least 20 different people on the academic and finance side. I forgot one thing that is very important it took tham 4 weeks to fix an accounting error that in the end was prohibiting me from recieving my actual transcripts. Classes great. Staff morons. If you expect to speak to the same person more than once good luck. My stepdad just completed his Masters of Education and long story short same problems. He was told he needed one more class and all the sudden dimploma was in the mail with transcripts. Really.

Do not attend this school. There is no support by the staff. When I first started attending this school, they provided books. They changed their policy when I started taking my core courses and required the use of an e-book, which is a PDF document. If you don't have the money to buy tones of paper and toner, then you are out of luck. I started failing and asked for help and was ignored. They took all of my financial aid, while encouraging to keep attending, knowing that I was failing. Now, I cannot attend school for another 8 months and my loans may go into default. It wasn't until after all of this started happening they suggested a leave of abscense, but by then I had already failed a course. I begged for help but was ignored. After setting up payment arrangements for a failed course, they sent me an exit counseling interview letter. I'm so mad! I did everything I could to stay with this school and was totally ignored.

I'm currently 7 courses deep in the Applied Management program. It is great for the working professional / family man (or woman) / and Christian. I will agree with the critical posts in regards to the support from administration. Aside from my enrollment counselor, it is nearly impossible to reach someone to assist you. In regards to the instructor staff, it has been hit or miss. Two of the seven courses have had instructors who responded only with canned answers, if they responded at all. Three were stellar. The other two were very similar to other mediocre professors I've encountered in the past. It seems that the Christian focus is slipping a bit, and I hope that aspect rebounds soon.

I would not recommend this university to any military personnel taking online courses. This institution claims to be "military friendly" but is only friendly with your funds. Obtaining a degree online is essential for military personnel who are always on the go, but if the university that you are attending doesn't show you the support you need in order to obtain it; if they are unreachable and not dependable; if they only show interest in you, just to get you through the door...you might as well save yourself the time and search somewhere else, because GCU will give you just what I described and nothing more. Do your research before you spend your hard earned money a college that looks at you as just another $.

Once their counselor showed me how to log in and post my bio I never heard anything further, and was unable for various reasons to get back into the class site. Support was slow; be prepared to spend a lot of time listening to elevator music while waiting on hold. They were able to bill me $1500 for that one visit and for not properly withdrawing from the class within 1 week. Their financial department is darn near unreachable. Avoid these people. Local community colleges are much cheaper and easier to deal with than these thieves.

DO NOT GO TO THIS SCHOOL UNLESS YOU PLAN ON WASITING MONEY!!! Especially if you are a online student they will OVERCHARGE YOU on classes and say you signed up and didn't cancel until after the cutoff date ( WHICH FOR ME WAS LESS THAN 24 hrs FROM ORIGINAL REQUEST) WHICH NOW IS GOING TO COST ME MORE THAN $ 3,000.00 !!! I DIDNT KNOW LESS THAN 24 HRS COSTS $3,000!!!

Prior to actually being enrolled at GCU; whenever I call, I always get a voice mail. It has gotten to the point that I don't leave voice messages any longer. I send an e-mail for two reasons; so I know how many times I've attempted to get a response on that particular question and because it takes so long to get in contact with anyone, that more questions arise. The program is great and courses are very mind stimulating, but it is the lack of support. Aside from your "team" consisting of 1 enrollment counselor, 1 academics counselor and 1 finance counselor, nobody can answer your questions.

I stumbled upon GCU. At first I wondered if the cyber expereince would be challenging. Well I can tell you it is! Some have written that there is a lot of work. I would say there is work to do, but what do you want? Do you want a piece of paper that has no meaning, or do you want to gain knowledge that will help you in your career and in life? I can say that my like both personally and professionally has changed a great deal. I have never worked harder in school and I have never felt so rewarded. Yes there is a religious studies component, but that is only a couple of classes and there are options other than pure Christianity. This has been agreat experience for me.