For-profit universities have been criticized nationwide for their 90/10 rule outcomes and loan default
Five Senate Democrats accuse Grand Canyon University (GCU) of trying to avoid regulatory scrutiny, saying that’s the reason the school wants to go back to its nonprofit status, Phoenix Business Journal reports.
GCU, owned by Phoenix-based Grand Canyon Education Inc. announced earlier this month its intent to revert back to nonprofit status — a status it held from 1949 through 2004 when it was on the verge of bankruptcy. Taking the company public kept it from closing.
These five senators from the East Coast and Midwest have submitted a letter of concern to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity to call attention to for-profit universities’ attempts to convert to nonprofit status.
In their letter, the five Senate Democrats Elizabeth Warren (Massachusetts); Sherrod Brown (Ohio); Patty Murray (Washington); Richard Durbin (Illinois); and Richard Blumenthal (Connecticut) accuse universities of trying to avoid regulatory scrutiny.
Brian Mueller, president of GCU and CEO of Grand Canyon Education, sent a letter today to the five senators to explain why GCU is requesting a change in its tax status, inviting them to visit the campus.
For-profit universities have been criticized nationwide over the past several years for their 90/10 rule outcomes and loan default rates, but GCU’s numbers are an anomoly.
The company’s stock closed at $94.11 a share, closer to its 52-week high of $96.15 than its low of $56.52, the Journal reported.
