Grand Canyon University (GCU) began as a nonprofit, changed to a for-profit university for a time, and has since returned to nonprofit.
The Department of Education took issue with the reversal and that led to a lengthy legal battle between the Department and GCU.
"It's been a long process, and it's been a completely and totally unnecessary process," GCU President Brian Mueller told American Family News (AFN). "It was a complete waste of time and money."
In November 2024, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Department of Education wrongly denied GCU's nonprofit status.
Following the Ninth Circuit's ruling, a bipartisan group of 10 Arizona Congressional members sent a letter of support urging the Department of Education to recognize GCU's historical nonprofit status.
The decision brings the Department of Education's classification into alignment with every other governmental and accrediting authority that previously affirmed GCU's nonprofit status — including the IRS, Higher Learning Commission (HLC), State of Arizona, Arizona Board for Private Postsecondary Education (AZPPSE) and the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA).
This dispute was playing out during the same time that GCU was challenging a record $37.7 million fine from the Department of Education for allegedly misleading doctoral students about program costs. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also filed a lawsuit against GCU for allegedly deceptive marketing of doctoral programs.
The Department of Education rescinded the fine in May 2025.
The FTC voted to dismiss the case in August 2025.
Grand Canyon University (GCU) grew enormously in the years before and during federal scrutiny. As of the 2024–25 academic year, the university reported about 25,000 on-campus students plus more than 98,000 online, for roughly 123,000 total students. That marks dramatic expansion from under 1,000 traditional-age students in 2008.
Projections for 2025–26 showed record enrollment of about 133,000 students -- an increase of roughly 8% compared to the previous year, with about 25,000 on campus and about 118,000 online or hybrid.
When the fine was announced, Mueller said that GCU had done nothing wrong. He added that GCU would not pay the fine even if it was for one dollar.
"Everything is now over," said Mueller. "The last shoe to fall was officially recognizing our nonprofit status. That’s now happened, and so we are looking forward to the future and what we can do cooperatively with the Department of Education going forward."
