The Biden administration’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is taking aim at the largest Christian university in the U.S. in a new lawsuit.
Grand Canyon University (GCU) is the largest Christian university in the U.S. with over 100,000 students enrolled and over 85,000 online students as of fall 2022, according to their website. The FTC alleges that GCU engaged in deceptive business practices with its doctoral programs and that it also engaged in illegal telemarketing practices, according to the federal complaint filed in the District of Arizona.
“Grand Canyon deceived students by holding itself out as a non-profit institution and misrepresenting the costs and number of courses required to earn doctoral degrees,” Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a Wednesday FTC press release. “We will continue to aggressively pursue those who seek to take advantage of students.”
GCU’s “marketing activities have also resulted in millions of abusive telemarketing calls to consumers who have specifically requested that Defendants not solicit them, and to individuals on the National Do Not Call Registry,” the lawsuit alleges.
The FTC also alleged that GCU misled potential doctoral students about the time required to finish the accelerated doctoral program and illegally called prospective student applicants who submitted contact information to the website but had requested not to be called, according to the complaint. GCU is accused of violating the FTC Act and Telemarketing Sales Rules and requested the U.S. District Court in Arizona to rule that GCU must pay prospective students for the alleged violations.
The Department of Education (ED) fined GCU more than $37 million in October after an investigation found the school “consistently misrepresented doctoral program costs,” according to an ED press release.
Grand Canyon University and the FTC did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
Brandon Poulter on December 28, 2023
