I full understand your frustration with what has happened to you, you are not alone.
Here's what I can tell you:
1) While they claim they are a Non-Denominational Christian University, they are operated and owned by Mormons. (nothing against the mormons, but they work very hard at keeping this a secret)
2) Since going public back in November, 2008, they have been working very hard at covering up the violations of laws and policies as quickly as possible.
3) The main people who run GCU now are the former employees of University of Phoenix who are still attached to some of those lawsuits.
4) Those University of Phoenix lawsuits have the same premise of those accusations now against Grand Canyon University. (how ironic is that)
5) There is currently a subpoena and a whistleblower lawsuit filed against Grand Canyon University involving several issues, including possible documentation altering. (they create fraudulent documentation)
6) Enrollment Counselors are allowed to lie to perspective students to get them enrolled.
7) You are correct that the "instructors" are actually called "facilitators", they don't need a teaching degree, only a Masters Degree so its the luck of the draw at the qualifications of your "facilitator".
8) They actually got rid of the lopes card several months ago and nevered told the enrollment counselors about it until students were calling in having issues.
9) The enrollment counselors do not have the authority to pursue answers about perspective students issues, they are required to only tell their immediate manager. (that manager trys to "satisify" the issue so it does not go anywhere)
There is so many other things I could list it is amazingly sad that these individuals have taken a Christian University and are now deceptively using the "Christian" aspect of it to rip students off. It is so important that more people start to speak out about Grand Canyon University and the things they are doing wrong to people before it balloons into something bigger down the road.
The reason I can share this information with such certainity is due to me working for them and witnessing all of these things. Hearing enrollment counselors and managers come up with ways to lie to perspective students is sickening. Brian Mueller wants Grand Canyon's stock price much higher by the end of the year and is supportive of the suppression and abuse the employees take in order to hit the "numbers" to get this stock price. They will also try to keep anyone and everything silent about the wrong doings that have occurred in order to keep the positive momentum going for the stock price. Basically if you want a quick resolve and have any sort of evidence to your issues, threaten a lawsuit, then you will get helped. Lawsuits are something they are really trying to avoid right now or bad media, again because of trying to get stock prices up.
Good luck in getting resolve and if you would like any specific information or help please let me know
I completely appreciate your situation as that there are many others who are going and have gone through what you have. As I responded to another complaint in this same forum I will keep this one shorter, but please check out the other response I posted.
While GCU uses the "Christian" aspect as the front to sell their school, they are far from that when dealing with customer service. They will do everything to ignore your complaints and don't care if you have any of them. Only if you really keep pursuing them will they eventually respond and the only reason why they would want to conference call you is to see if you have enough evidence to sue them. If you don't they will continue to treat you poorly because they just don't care. Brian Mueller, former President of University of Phoenix runs GCU now and only wants to see stock prices go up. If someone has something legal or damaging to their image they will resolve it right away to make sure it does not get traction and ruin the stock opportunity.
GCU is still under investigation for possible violations of policies and laws and unless more people like yourself continue to speak up, their money will probably win. It is so important that people start to rise up against GCU before they become another company like the ones on Wall Street who screw people over who put their trust in them.
The reason I can say these things with certainity is due to working for them and witnessing everything first hand. I am hoping to continue to start helping others join together and make sure others are not hurt by this company who cares more about stock prices than the students.
Hello Helpless,
Yes, it is sad, but true on what you are saying about the "Facilitators", not "Professors". It is important to distinguish between the two because the majority of the "Facilitators" are in no way educated or experienced "Professors". In fact some of the enrollment counselors I worked with were finishing up their Masters Degrees and then planned on becoming "Facilitators" themselves with GCU. That is why you will receive a message of having too many grammatical errors but still get a 90 on your assignment.
It is important to note that while some of the "Facilitators" may be actually qualified to teach, there are many others that just have a Master's and don't truly know what their doing. This unknowing difference of the qualification of the "Facilitator" is one of the difficulties of going online and should be factored in when making the decision to go online.
Yes, it is also true that they have trained people to lie. (they have since changed their tactics to be less brazen) I was specifically told to lie to students in order to get them enrolled by my manager. This is why it is so important to keep all documentation, emails, paperwork, even screen shots of your account online. The other aspect for those who may not have been specifically told to lie, is that they were pressured to lie and compromise to get the application. GCU is for profit and the pressure that is put onto the enrollment counselor is beyond moral and ethical reasoning and I also believe that this will eventually boil over.
With regards to your tuition and financial aid, get copies of the breakdown of everything from GCU and your lender and compare the both of them. Also verify the amount you received in student loans versus grants, this is important because people forget that they will not receive anything from a lender about the grants because they are not paid back. The other thing to remember about financial aid is that even though you can start online school pretty much whenever you want that does not mean financial aid works that way. FAFSA is the best place to call to get more detailed information, but in a nutshell financial aid goes from July to July every year. This is something that people are usually not informed about or don't know about and it ends up screwing them up in getting all the monies they need each year.
When I speak with the attorney again I will ask him what the best way for you to handle things and let you know. In the mean time I would suggest filing complaints with the BBB and the Department of Education. The more complaints received the more people will start to take notice.
Well "willubeleft", you sound like the attorney from GCU that I had a meeting with. I do agree people should not make up stuff and post it, but that is certainly not what I have done. I do challenge you though to take a closer look at what you wrote and do some more home work yourself.
1) I do have evidence that will prove my accusations.
2) I did check the BBB and you are correct that they are rated A+, but did you also see that the University of Phoenix is also rated A+ and they have paid out millions of dollars for similar issues that people are now complaining GCU is doing. (how ironic that some of the people who ran U of P when they got sued are now the ones running GCU)
3) You say "according to them there is no governmental action against them". However...
..the results of the ongoing investigation by the Department of Education's Office of Inspector General and the pending qui tam action regarding the manner in which we have compensated our enrollment personnel, and possible remedial actions or other liability resulting therefrom...
I pulled this information directly off the GCU website and I do believe that the Dept of Education is part of the government. Also, if you look up what a qui tam action is you would also see that it involves the government.
I am glad that you had a good experience with GCU and I am sure many others will also, but that does not mean GCU is immune from the free will of people who do not necessarily follow the same morals and values you or I have.
Well "willubeleft", you sound like the attorney from GCU that I had a meeting with. I do agree people should not make up stuff and post it, but that is certainly not what I have done. I do challenge you though to take a closer look at what you wrote and do some more home work yourself.
1) I do have evidence that will prove my accusations.
2) I did check the BBB and you are correct that they are rated A+, but did you also see that the University of Phoenix is also rated A+ and they have paid out millions of dollars for similar issues that people are now complaining GCU is doing. (how ironic that some of the people who ran U of P when they got sued are now the ones running GCU)
3) You say "according to them there is no governmental action against them". However...
..the results of the ongoing investigation by the Department of Education's Office of Inspector General and the pending qui tam action regarding the manner in which we have compensated our enrollment personnel, and possible remedial actions or other liability resulting therefrom...
I pulled this information directly off the GCU website and I do believe that the Dept of Education is part of the government. Also, if you look up what a qui tam action is you would also see that it involves the government.
I am glad that you had a good experience with GCU and I am sure many others will also, but that does not mean GCU is immune from the free will of people who do not necessarily follow the same morals and values you or I have.
