Grand Canyon University

My experience at GCU was excellent. From my initial counselor who enrolled me, to my final experiences on campus for graduation, I recommend this school. My initial counselor provided his cellphone number, and it was very easy to contact him and he always returned my calls quickly. I had no problems with classes, as once one was finished the next in line would show on my portal. My professors more often than not held doctorates, and were generally very helpful and communicative. I did not care for one professor's style, but that is bound to happen and does not reflect on the University as a whole. The classes were challenging and I was required to do a ton of research papers. The other people in my classes were very professional and a joy to do projects with. Never at any time did I have any type of financial discrepancy with GCU. However, I have seen many people on this particular review site whine and complain about things that were their own responsibility to take care of, not GCU's. They blame GCU for not being accredited, or they blame GCU because their degree did not lead to certification/licensure. Really? The blame lies solely with them for not verifying these things up front. With anything in life, do your research and make an effort to get a positive outcome. Be proactive, not reactive. I am glad I did!

This University is 100% about money and doing whatever it takes to get your money in their pockets. One of their enrollment counselors visited my school and completely lied about the cost of tuition for a degree. I enrolled at the school and was about to begin classes when I read over some fine print that the counselor had glossed over and discovered that I didn't actually qualify for a grant he has promised me and guaranteed me I would qualify for. This doubled the cost of tuition and I was so outraged that I called his boss to report this. She didn't seem bothered at all that he had directly lied to me. Needless to say I dropped out as fast as possible and began attending a real school where counselors were very honest and helpful instead of salesmen trying to close a deal. Also, you will never ever be able to reach you student service adviser. I called this person often and she never answered the phone or returned any of my messages.

I started my degree back in June. It took a lot of work on my end but the support I received to get into GCU was wonderful. There is a lot of work that goes into getting any degree. I am learning so much about different techniques to use in a classroom. The instructors do a really great job with feedback and taking students through assignments that can be confusing. If you are looking for an easy way to get a degree this is not the program for you.

I live in Illinois and was assured by the recruiter that the University's program would be accepted. I contacted the state, they never responded to me. I completed the courses and earned me masters...then months later, Illinois tells me they do not recognize them. Have a masters I can't use now. Online teachers were not bad, but it became frustrating that my counselor always changed and no one had direct answers for me.

This program is really overpriced, you can get the same instruction at any other school for about half the price. The philosophy aspect was interesting, but is it really all that relevant when there are so many other issues facing education today? Instructors will not hesitate to give you a bad grade because this school can make more money off those who are forced to repeat a class. Not very ethical. This school is run like a business. They spend all their money hiring Dan Marjlee to coach B-ball and on expensive commercials instead of hiring good teachers.

I cannot believe what a joke this university is....they use Christ to get money. There is no standard, ethics, rigor. Everyone has a 4.0 grade point average and it is a total diploma mill. I earned a 4.0 and did minimal work. The Master's programs do not even have a research component....what a JOKE!!!! I am going to get another Master's because this degree does not have any value and people are realizing that GCU is not what it used to be...it is truly a University of Phoenix wanna be school....very sad for those who worked so hard in the past.

The teachers are outstanding. The classroom content is excellent and the learning environment inspiring. I have one class plus student teaching until I complete my degree. Which I will not be able to this year because of the less professional side of this university, the non-academic or business side. Dealing with the business office / non-recruiters or academic advisers is excruciating. They do not return phone calls, emails and have no stake in your future, only their bottom line. Which is to be expected because they are not service providers to the students, they are there on behalf of the university's stake holders and the bottom line. (This is consistent with all private businesses.) I am a good student, and I have a family to support and I have to work. I tried to re-enter school and I was passed through many academic counselors.Finally I was enrolled in a class I already took as the second week had started. The day I realized it was a repeat, I left a message for my adviser, I left messages for the instructor, and could not drop the class. I am now financially responsible for a class I was enrolled in for 3 days. The financial aid office, the business office were excruciatingly difficult to navigate. In retrospect, I should not have allowed them to enroll me in the second week, and I should not have settled for leaving voice messages and emails that same day and the next day to the adviser. I read that others had terrible experiences with the non-academic side of the university and I brushed it aside because my experience to that point was absolutely excellent. If you are aware that this may happen and you are OK with potentially owing an extra 2000, then you will have a good experience too.

I am only 3 classes in and my gripe with the class is there is a lot of busy work!!! I thought this was geared towards students who already work and lead busy lives. I put in about 30+ hours a week into this class. I am lucky I own my own business or I would have to drop out due to the amount of work. My wife recieved her M.Ed from a brick and mortar college and I have done more work in these 3 classes then she did in all of her Masters programs. 2 of my friends also are in this program and they are on the verge of dropping out due to the BUSY work. One of those friends already has 2 Masters and she also says she puts in more work into this program then the other programs she took. On a positive note I feel I am learning things, but as a non teacher I feel I get discriminated in the program. It seems all the other students are teachers already and the assignments require you to draw on experiences in the classroom. Well I don't have those experiences and I get knocked in the grading. Its not a bad program, but dont believe the 20 hours a week they tell you it only takes. Try more like 30-40 hours a week. Also, you really cant do the work when you are free. You have to log in and do posts 3-4 days a week and if you don't they will knock you. They do not care if your working, pregnant/had a kid (in the case of my friend), etc. I remember one week I was traveling and my tmobile hotspot wouldn't work where I was at and the professor didn't care. Even though I did the work when I got back i was docked points and failed my participation grade. If you can, I recommend going to a brick and mortar college. The price is right.

I am attending this “school” and have just about completed my courses. I have paid cash for the courses and only on rare occasion have their calculations been correct. The “professors” are nothing more than elementary school teacher rejects. Even though this is a Master’s class, any questioning of the curriculum content has been frowned upon. Records from two of the classes I took were inexplicably lost (I had the official transcript to the contrary). They will never disclose the name of the Dean of the college and will refuse to provide you supervisor contact information should you encounter problems with the aforementioned reject teacher. Only when I show up at their campus (I live 45 minutes away) do I get any reaction. Local court records show they tend to sue a lot of former students in collection disputes. Had I the chance to do it all over again I would never have signed up with GCU. It’s been a waste of my time and money.

If I could rate it a ZERO star I would. These people are frauds. We paid cash for the tuition. The university took a Sallie Mae loan for $7000.00 and refuses to correct the situation. VERY POOR support from financial. We can't even get a receipt for reimbursement. Poor support. A student got very sick and was assured she would be allowed to submit her work, which was complete. They then issued an F and kicked her out. This is Christian behavior? I hope God strikes them with a bolt of lightning! Counselors don't call back, are unresponsive. Generally not fit to be called a university. PATHETIC!!

Not a bad elem. ed program...I have only completed 10 credits (4.0 GPA)so far but from what I've experienced I can only say good things about GCU and I would recommend this school aspiring teachers. I have decided to drop out of the master's for personal/financial reasons but not because of the academics. I must warn you - be prepared to write plenty of papers/essays on a weekly basis (1000-1600words)...there are no exams built into the curriculum in my program (MS elem. ed). Other online teacher cert. programs (Western Governor's, etc.) have plenty of exams and they use webcams/proctors to prevent cheating. My academic counselor was great and so were my instructors contrary to what most GCU students are saying in these reviews...I hope to get certified to teach through an alternative certification route in my home state and then return to complete my master's at GCU within a few years...

This school used me for my GI Bill benefits. They claim to be a Christian school, but they use that as a shield to hide their malfeasance. I had my enrollment counselor lie to me, and it cost me $6000 in benefits. She had the nerve to say that it was MY fault that she lied, and they have sent me to collections for $90 in undefined charges. They don't know why I owe them that money, they just know that I do. The classes were ridiculously bad. The "lectures" consisted of "read these websites", and then "read the following chapters in the incredibly bad textbook that we had you download from out site, which is down for maintenance 40% of the time. The teachers do not respond when you ask for help. When they grade your papers, they'll mark you down but not tell you why you didn't get full points. The best was the teacher who gave me points off for grammar but was herself unable to form a complete sentence. DO NOT attend this college.

This is the worst college I have ever gone to. I got my bachelors at University of Iowa and I wanted to get my Masters online. The online program is horrible! My counselors have changed on a monthly basis for the entire 2-year program. They don't have their act together -- and often times know nothing about student problems. They were supposed to submit my Financial Aid to my lender and they forgot! They said I got "lost in the system." And guess what -- the U.S. Department of Education has a policy that I can't resubmit until next year!! Now I have to pay my tuition out-of-pocket (which I DON'T have). I'm screwed, now I can't graduate. Their response, "well there's nothing we can do about it, sorry." Also I felt that I was smarter than my professors.... they could never offer me any type of advise or constructive feedback on my essays. All they said was "good job." Seriously? I'm paying $20,000 for a "good job". That is not my definition of a teacher. These people have NO idea what their doing. Don't start an online school if you don't know how to run one.

Do not put yourself through this drama.GCU is a mass call center targeting student eligible for financial aid.The instructor are not equipped to access assignment material that student turn in and some of the instructors are actually student's themselves. I would not recommend this nightmare to anyone.I have taken three classes at this school and frankly there needs to be an investigation to address their accrediation.The customer service and communication is a joke.

THe financial aid and accounting departments are a mess. You are unable to speak to anyone (even in person) to get clarical or other errors corrected. A true nightmare. The academic side ofthings is only marginally better. My first regret in life was choosing this school over a public university.

If there was a 0, that would be the score I would give. I have had three e-mails stating I have completed my degree and now I am having to take two more classes. They are saying the reviewed by classes and now some that did count do not anymore. This is causing me 6 extra weeks of classes that are already completed and they will not release the grades. I am now forced to turn down my dream job due to the way GCU works. Also, this school will not work if you life in Oregon! The tests to not match! TRUST ME!!!!! $800 in tests and none work. Avoid!!! There is a reason they may be cheaper than other schools.

As of today, the 31st of May, I have not received any response to my emails to my academic or financial counselors. I emailed them on five separate occasion since the 8th of April. This includes emails to an employee whose job it is to fix the screw-ups from GCU. This has been an ongoing problem since I started in 2009. I am on my last class and I am tired of having to add to my busy day and hunt these people down on the phone. No where on the website is contact information for someone over their head. So you as a paying customer are stuck with the yahoos that are peons just waiting for a paycheck and they do not give a darn about the students. I will not endorse GCU to anyone.

I am actually getting a Masters in Secondary Education. I am a cash paying student and have been through the first three classes. I found the teachers to be a mixed bag. I had two whom were very good but a third whom was just looking for extra money teaching as a second job at GCU. She rarely interacted with the on-line class. As other reviews have mentioned, you are supposed to "interact" with fellow classmates on a weekly basis. Believe it or not, this is about 10-15% of your grade. Frankly, its a joke and provides no type of educational enrichment. The administration is horrible. They churn through counselors and finance people like McDonald's churns through hamburgers. In the past 6 months I have had three counselors and 3 finance people. One would think that as a cash paying student I would not need a finance person but they keep putting "holds" on my accounts for no real reason. The on-line school has potential, but has a long way to go to be a well run organization.

I just finished my third class with GCU. I have three more to go. They allowed me to transfer in 12 units but only would accept 8 because they use a 4 unit class system. It did not make sense to me but I still only need to take 6 of the 8 classes to complete the MA. I started in June and will finish a year later in June. The first two classes I really enjoyed. I found the curriculum in the first class to be awesome and I learned a lot and developed a lot of new techniques for my class. It was a great introduction to an MA class. I could tell the difference than a busy work type of course. The teacher however was not very helpful and the syllabus is always difficult to understand what is being asked of you. The second class was on collegial coaching and I ended up being the only student. I really liked the professor and she was very knowledgable. The class was awesome. My current class has really left me annoyed. The syllabus again is absolutely terrible. On top of that the professor has been just as bad. She is not helpful in the least bit and I can tell from the discussion board that many students are having issues with her. If this had been my first class I probably would have not stuck it out with GCU. Regarding tuition and fees etc. I have found it a little frustrating trying to get "scholarships" applied to my account. They are supposed to be officially applied to my account after the third and fourth class, but that was not the original explanation. Workload has varied with each class. Like I mentioned earlier the syllabus is the biggest enemy. If GCU had someone go back and rewrite the syllabus it would take a lot of tension out of the learning process. You would think the teachers would help to interpret the syllabus for their students but not so far. Each week you have to answer and respond to online classmates. This takes up about an hour to two hours a week. Reading takes up another 2 hours. Projects very each week and can take 7-10 hours of work. So far I have a 4.0 but I have always been a perfectionist and have never been satisfied with anything less than A's. My wife tells me C's get degrees too! I will stick it out because I don't have to drive somewhere and I can work when I want and how I want. Timing is great and I will be done in under a year. It takes a lot of self determination and problem solving.

I have been in attendance at Grand Canyon University for about a year now. First of all, they do not inform you but a small percentage of classes come with an e-book. If you have an e-book you do not need to purchase the physical book for that class. Regardless they charge you a $65 Canyon Connect Fee for the e-book. I had 7 classes that DID NOT have an e-book; however, the University charged me the $65 Canyon Connect fee anyway. It has been six weeks of fighting with them over the phone for hours and STILL, I have not been refunded the Canyon Connect fees for the seven classes that Did not even have the e-book... thats $455 they had every intention of dishonestly stealing from me. Also, they are trying to say that I owe a balance, however, their accounting department never released my Pell Grant that the department of education has ALREADY paid out to them. Additionally, I've enrolled for classes, purchased the required books for said classes, and upon time for the classes to start I am suddenly not enrolled for them anymore and they are not available. The university is always "so sorry". This is a crackpot, degree mill, of a school. They care about your money and nothing else.

As stated in another review, please make sure you read all the reiviews because there are more positive reviews than negative. Do your research people before making a decision and read everything about the college before you submit an application. If you notice one negative feedback said the classes were too expensive and then another negative review said they had cheap tuition but the school was not good. My husband currently attens University of Pheonix and he has been with them 2 years now. They absolutely never call you back and their teachers are terrible(well some of them). If you want anything done their you have to call twice a day until you get someone. At this school I have had nothing but constant support from my admissions lady, teachers, and my financail aid person. I also love the spiritual support they offer and the way their online classroom is set up. I would definately recommend this college but please do you own research and keep in mind everyone is human and nothing is ever going to be perfect.

They are just out for your money, they are a FOR PROFIT school not at all like the christian school they once were. The "counselors" (enrollment, academic, financial) are almost unreachable and read from scripts if you ask them a question about an issue or challenge. It is like a giant call center, where reaching someone knowledgeable is next to impossible. I have been emailing and calling to find out how to dis-enroll before I am hit with new charges and no one replies or calls back. It is so sad! Go to a local community college or public university - they have on-line programs that are not just after your money.

For the most part I like GCU. As far as the curriculum, means of accessing the online class and other resources for class, I think GCU is great. Communication with the general staff for academic advisement and financial aid is absolutely horrible. I have called many times and never got a call back. Each time I call I have to call several times before I get in touch with someone who actually succeeds in helping me. It frustrates me, but eventually things get resolved. A few times I wanted to transfer to another school, but it would just be more of a pain to start over again. I plan on staying at GCU, because I have time invested there and I do really like the curriculum, for me it isn't an easy A, it is chalenging. Basically, the only big thing I find wrong is the poor response time of the general staff. If they worked on that I would think a little more highly of the University.

GCU has been very challenging with an extensive workload. I researched several online schools and this one stood out. My assignments are graded in a timely manner and professor feedback is most helpful. It is my intention to follow through and attend for my D.Ed in Instructional Leadership. If I must complain about anything, it is the support. The counselors are slow to return calls and get things done, there is absolute room for improvement here. I am sorry to here that some people feel cheated by the university, but going to school online takes a lot of commitment and gumption. The refund policies are clearly stated as are the school's expectations of their students. I will be done in a few months and because of the extensive field experience and practicums, I already have some interests of employment before I graduate.

It wasn't easy but I did it. I made it through two years of weekends and weekday nights of working online for my masters degree. It is a great university that cares about their students. I am not surprised by the infrequent bad reviews by those who did not or could not see it through. It is a university that requires a lot from their students and some just can't make it. That's life I guess. If you are willing to work hard and put in the time, you will get a great education at GCU!!!

This has turned out to be a wonderful program. My classes were excellent and the professors were great (expectations were high) I noticed complaints about the work load. I won't lie to you. It is very demanding so be prepared to do a lot of work.

This is a great program for education. It is very rigorous and challenging. I learned a lot from the course work and student teaching. This program gives you the skills needed to teach and manage a classroom. Curriculum is advanced and professionalism is incorporated to enhance you as an educator.