By Steve Burks | AzBigMedia
A new era for Grand Canyon University (GCU) and Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (GCE) was ushered in on Monday.
Under the terms of a transaction that closed on July 1, 2018, Grand Canyon Education sold Grand Canyon University to a nonprofit entity that will retain the GCU name. The transaction returns GCU to its historical roots as a nonprofit university and ensures the long-term legacy of both GCU and GCE.
“We are incredibly proud of the journey that has helped us get to where we are today,” said University President and GCE Chief Executive Officer Brian Mueller in a press release. “We have taken a university that was on the brink of bankruptcy and created a higher education structure that has greatly benefitted thousands of students and families, the inner-city community in which we reside and U.S. businesses that covet the graduates we produce. That is a testament to the free market system and an American success story that should be celebrated.
“Today, GCU is on solid footing financially and it is time to change that structure again by reverting to the nonprofit status that the University held from 1949 to 2004 – a status that puts us on a level playing field with other traditional universities with regard to tax status; that ensures our students and faculty have the same access to research opportunities and grants as other universities; that opens up the world of philanthropic giving to GCU; that allows GCU to participate in NCAA governance at the Division I level; and, most importantly, that better enables us to continue to freeze tuition, which we have done for 10 straight years on our ground campus.”
