By Nathanael Gabler | ADI News Services
Facing bankruptcy, $20 million in debt and an enrollment of fewer than 1,000 traditional students, Grand Canyon University took on investors in 2004, making it the nation’s only for-profit university to compete in NCAA Division I athletics.
On Monday, an $875 million sale returned GCU to non-profit status, raising questions about the future of athletic competition between the school and Arizona State.
“The higher education landscape in greater Phoenix continues to evolve with ASU emerging as a major, international research university and Grand Canyon University emerging as a nonprofit Christian college,” ASU President Michael Crow said in a statement. “As each of us evolves, we see opportunities to work together across a spectrum of activities in academics and athletics.”
GCU joined the Western Athletic Conference in 2012. It’s for-profit status was met with criticism, including from Pac-12 university presidents, who wrote a letter to the NCAA questioning whether for-profit schools should be granted membership into Division I.
