Grand Canyon University [GCU] review: Rip off!!! 20

Hi Diva2011,

The Student Handbook, located at http://my.gcu.edu/SiteCollectionDocuments/Policy/201011CSpringUniversityPolicyHandbook.pdf, details the requirements for Satisfactory Academic Progress (pg 28) and lending.

If you have further questions please feel free to reach out to the student resolution team at resolutionteam@gcu.edu or calling [protected] and we'll be happy to assist you.

Diva, Hi you do not have to pay for the class out of pocket. The class was already paid for by Federal Aid you should re pay them. Federal Finical Aid will not pay for you to retake the class, so if the school is telling you that you need to pay them make sure the money was returned to the Department of Education. You can call or check your account on line. If the school did not return the money and is telling you to pay for a class you failed then report them. You only have to pay to retake the class. If you do not plan on going to the school again you do not have to pay for the class through them. Re-pay it to your lender, Great Lakes if you have federal aid. I went a year before I discovered that GCU, a school I never attended took federal funds under my name, I found out when I checked my account, so I can’t stress the importance of checking your account.

I go to GCU, and this has happened to me. EVERY university has a policy that if you do not pass a class, financial aid will not pay for that. Since the funds are paid by financial aid before you take the class, if you don't pass you have to repay that amount, or pay for the next class, in order for financial aid to take effect. This has happened twice to me and the first time GCU was awesome enough to apply a credit for the class I didn't pass so I didn't have to pay for it. Unfortunately due to my workload, I did not pass another class, and now I will have to pay for the class. I am being given 6 months to pay for the class, and I feel their policy's are very fair and have never, never had any problems with the financial aid department or the academic counselors; in fact they have done what they could to help me as much as possible. GCU is a great university and I think that before you complain about their policies, check into other universities because I can tell you that University of Phoenix, Walden, Capella, Kaplan, Ashford, etc. as well as UNLV, ASU and NAU ALL HAVE THE SAME EXACT POLICY! Suck it up and pay for the class you are only going to hurt yourself by not doing so and blaming them for YOU not passing the class.

This school is committing fraud and is being investigated by the Department of Education for it. They charged the Department of Education for classes I never took and refused to repay them. I had to get the Office of Inspector General involved. Tell me, where is that in their policy book. I know that this is probably one of the GCU spies on this site, trying to stave off negative publicity, but the matter is with the Government now, please stop harassing me.

You don't have to pay huge amounts of money for an online degree. You don't need to take out massive loans for an online degree. See American Military/Public University - you can complete an entire Bachelors or Associates degree with them, for $250 per semester credit, with book costs included in the tuition. They also accept everybody with a GED or high school diploma, in fact that is all they require for admission (not even an interview). So why would you even bother with places like Grand Canyon University in the first place?

Also, you can consider doing CLEP, DSST and Excelsior examinations - 3 semester exam credits through these sources can be cheaper even than community college courses. Many online and on-campus programs accept credit from these sources, the most liberal being Charter Oak State College, Excelsior College and Thomas Edison State College. Charter Oak State College and Excelsior College admit anyone with a GED or high school diploma again. You could do 117 credits through exam and get a degree from Excelsior College, just taking 3 hours with them as an online capstone course (Charter Oak State College needs 6 credit hours to be done online with them). You can also transfer in regionally accredited courses from anywhere else to Excelsior College or Charter Oak State College (and I do mean from anywhere else, they accept even for-profit college credit). You could take extension certificate classes from places like Berkeley Extension or UCLA extension at a very low cost (all you need is a credit card to take classes at these non-degree granting extension programs), online community college classes (though almost all community colleges will accept you for their 2-year programs with just a GED or high school diploma, at most of them you don't need to do anything except pay for an online course you want to take with them as a non-degree seeking student). You can do credit from all these places (credit by examination, community college courses, online or distance courses at non-degree granting programs offered by state universities), and transfer all the credit to Excelsior College and Charter Oak State College if you wanted to (just needing to take 3 hours online with Excelsior, and 6 hours online with Charter Oak State College). You could end up saving unimaginable amounts of money, the cheapest ways to get credit being in increasing order - credit by examination, community college online courses, online courses through non-degree granting extension programs offered by 4-year universities (See Brigham Young, Berkeley Extension, Louisiana State University's distance courses, UCLA extension among many many others), and online courses at American Military/Public University. Everything I mentioned has no entrance barriers, anyone can sign up for a CLEP, Excelsior or DSST exam (note you do not need to be an enrolled Excelsior student to register for an Excelsior exam), anyone can sign up at classes for the extension programs I mentioned with no GPA screening whatsoever and no pre-requisite screening or admissions process - just be ready to pay a relatively very low amount of money, and while you cannot take online courses at American Military/Public University as a non-degree seeking student, admission just needs a GED or high school diploma and you can always transfer out of there later.

Please note that I have never been to Grand Canyon University, and I hope my points above will convince anyone that there are better options that can save lots of money and time, be online, and not be a hassle (oh yes, and where you are guaranteed admission).

I already have a B.S. and an M.A. I'm now working on my second M.A. now and considering either Law school or a PhD program.

LavLis, American Public University has some masters programs that admit everyone with a bachelors degree. They cost about $335 per semester credit. Their teacher certification program is not valid for every state though (they do mention this fact honestly on their website), and their MBA degree is not AACSB-accredited. They are the cheapest non-selective granter of graduate degrees, I could find yet. Depending on your accomplishments, you can aim for the online masters programs of state schools, that are harder to get into and have GPA cut-offs. Most graduate programs online, selective or not, are expensive. You can consider Chadron State College's online AASCB MBA for a cheap deal if you have the qualifications to apply. There are many other programs out there if you google distance learning masters or something like. Many state schools will show up in the results. Good luck!

I mean APU/AMU cost about $335 per graduate semester credit ($250 per undergraduate semester credit).

I owe money now too because they messed up, but they will have to wait to get it back. I used it for my other school because they screwed up my finical aid. The department of education did get the school return the money though and I believe that they are still being investigated for fraud.

that last comment was emnt for another post. Thanks believe-in-your self, I'm already a teacher though, and I'm very happy with the on-line school that I take classes from now.

GCU has a policy in effect since February 2011 if you fail a UNV class and retake the class again then pass the second time you will only be charged one time for the class even though you technically took it twice. EVERY school you attend has a refund policy and if you have failed the class you will NEVER be refunded anywhere you choose to go. Your Finance Counselor is paid to go over these policies with you after you enroll. AMU is a Diploma Mill I would not suggest going there at all. GCU is a great school. It is not one of these corporate online schools and you are part of an Alma Mater when you graduate. No other schools besides Pepperdine and Villanova offer the 4-credit model like GCU. I would suggest you call Federal Financial Aid, they will tell you that they DO NOT pay for failed or withdrawn classes. This is why you complete Entrance Counseling interviews with Financial Aid before you sign a Master Promissory Note so that you can be a responsible borrower. GCU does not reward bad student behavior or study habits besides they have free tutoring there is no reason why you should fail a class online. Maybe re-assess your time management skills, this is the #1 reason why students fail classes online. Maybe it will be better for you to go in person on a campus near you.

People, do you not understand what fraud is? This school intentionally took federal money for people that were not attending. I cannot testify to the quality of education this school does or does not have, I never attended. My only complaint with this school is that they charged my federal financial aid account for class I did not take. That is a crime. If I was the only person that this happened to and it was an honest mistake I would have understood, but I was not and I do not believe it was an honest mistake. Furthermore, it took over two years to get this money returned, and I had to get the Inspector General for Federal Finical Aid involved to have the money returned. So for over two years money that was not theirs sat in their accounts and earned interest while my account was charged interest on money I did not authorize them to take. Stop trying to defend this school and look at the facts.

I have had the same sort of problem wih GCU they say I failed a class they keep my money and charge me for the class as well and what I want to know is how these people at this christian school can sleep nights knowing that they have lied to all these people ...I spent alot of time and loan money here and want proof of the money that was sent to them...I think that they have taken money that they weren't suppose to and now they say I owe them almost 3000 well I hope they don't hold there breathe. When I tried to go back to school I found out that they can't certifiy people from Georgia to teach now...very interesting...I hope someone sees this and does something about this school it should be against the law to take peoples money like this.

Wow, Now I'm really gald I didn't go into the program. They probably couldn't certify people from NC to teach either. The fact is they are in for the money only. They wanted me to pay to get a background check done for the state of Arizona, the didn't care already had a federal security clerance, and was working for DoD school system. My suggestion to you, if you had federal aid, get intouch with the inspector general, ther are new laws in place to prevent the mismanagement of federal funds. What ever you do do not trust this school, dont answer their calls, and get a lawyer if you feel that will help.

Anyone considering attending GCU should be Required to read the University Annual Report. It is only after tremendous disappointment with the quality of the education and now questions regarding basic institutional integrity that I did. It is truly scary. For instance, did you know that GCU only has "Conditional" Certification from the US Department of Education. Or that those students in, for instance the Liberal Arts Programs, could be taking a course of study that may already been deemed to have little if any worth, by the Department of Education. This is based upon the fact that it does not prepare students for any employment setting. Please, if you are considering GCU make sure you understand what you are getting yourself into as education is not only a commitment of time, but also of money.

This may or may not be a university fault. Looking at this objectively it is true that payment for the course is made by financial aid funds, and is received whether you pass the course or not. If you fail a course then it was an investment without a return, but still paid for. Also, I am not aware of any laws that prohibit financial aid paying for repeating a course so long as you haven't reached your LML (lifetime max on loans). HOWEVER, because of financial aid SAP (Satisfactory Academic Performance) requirements, you may lose financial aid funding because of your GPA. If this is/was the case, and if the course is required for completion of degree curriculum, you WOULD be required to pay for it to bring your GPA up high enough to get financial aid reinstated. I've seen this in both B & M and Online institutions. While I'm certainly not attacking anyone who misunderstands the entire financial aid process (because it can be confusing, especially for those who transition from one school structured a certain way, to another differently structured school), it's important to do "extra homework" if you plan to fund your education through federal grants and loans.
Unfortunately, there are so many mediums influencing the federal funding of education (laws changing, organization and structure of school, etc), that students are required to be experts on funding their educations before they enroll in any university. Experience has taught more people than not that trusting "organizational financial aid experts" often doesn't end well. Work on Murphy's Law (If you give something room to happen, it will) and and things seem to be much less frustrating. In this case it is financial aid misconduct. If you give others enough room to manipulate your financial aid in a way that inconveniences you immediately or in the long run, they will certainly do so. Expect that it will happen, but appreciate it when it doesn't. Good luck in your future educational endeavors.

I earned my BSN through GCU and I will finish my MSN on February 28th. My experience with them has been very positive. The coursework was fairly rigorous, I have learned a lot and my degree has enabled me to advance in my career. I have read the concerns notes above and while I am sorry these folks had a bad experience I have to say that my experience was very different. If I had to do it all over again I would certainly go to GCU. Students who struggled with the online classes may be better suited for an on-campus classroom setting. Taking classes online requires a level of discipline and the ability to self-learn. There is no hand-holding or spoon feeding in most online courses. A couple of the above rants rambled and even after reading them a few times I am still not sure what their issues are. Most of the coursework at GCU in both the BSN and MSN involves writing papers, so if you do not have strong academic writing skills then you may benefit from taking an academic writing class. just a thought... Good luck to all wherever you choose to continue your education.

For those who have been ripped off by GCU -in any form. File a report through the Borrower's Defense program at studentaid.gov. You should be able to locate it, when you login for your fafsa. Just look at the top of that page and Seek the option Borrowers Defense. There are many reasons, you can file this and it is one way, to make a complaint and make it matter, along with potentially getting some of your loans back. However, if you do some research, this Grand Canyon Education Inc., is Grand Canyon University, but Inc., is a for profit. Some will understand and those who think, will do research because yes, there is a reason this is being stated. Also GCU has been sued for many horrific acts against students, which increased after 2012 and even more-so after 2018, about the Time of placing their sister company, with the NASDAQ. Again- research, some will understand. This is not a Christian university, but more-so, commercialized christian, and basically uses HIS NAME for selfish interests. I realize, there are some people, who are not fake, attend there. But if you think some at GCU, who scream they think- they should be treated as a non-profit (which they profit much- See above notes) are walking in Faith, you would be wrong. If you don't agree, pray The Lord, Bless you with discernment and Sight because something is very wrong and based on our research, Mr. Mueller's (other associates) intentions/motives, should be reviewed as well. However, do your own research and again, those who have been done wrong, file that complaint, where it matters and can potentially, benefit you. Nothing beats a failure, but a try. As well, GCU has been/is in trouble for doing some serious unethical/unprofessional actions and currently has 4 lawsuits, pending against them. Thank you to those who posted their experiences. Those of you, who did not have a bad time. I am glad you were treated with respect, but just know, not everyone has had the same experience.

Hi I've been taking classes at GCU myself and my problem was is that I would notice I mean I was doing all my assignments right and getting A's and then all the sudden I would be getting enough and I did nothing different so then they had failed me on my first class and then they put me back in it which ate up my rest of my money that I was going to use for personal stuff to get to school so I'd have money for school they've just eating it up now I build this class twice how do I go about doing something about this

No I understand what the handbook said this has nothing to do with that I was making all my assignments and getting A's in it and then when I went back to look at it again it said I had enough so they were going to fail me anyway