Grand Canyon College mentioned Wednesday it plans to enchantment a $37.7 million high-quality issued by the U.S. Division of Schooling.
The college of roughly 118,000 college students mentioned it’ll notify the Schooling Division on Thursday that it’s interesting the choice. The company levied the high-quality towards the college final month, saying an investigation decided Grand Canyon had falsely marketed the price of its doctoral packages.
Grand Canyon has refuted the Schooling Division’s findings. In an announcement final month, it mentioned the college “will take all measures essential to defend itself from these false accusations.”
The college’s president, Brian Mueller, plans to carry a press convention Thursday explaining the establishment’s enchantment and subsequent steps, in response to a media advisory. Mueller additionally plans to share data that the college says contradicts the Schooling Division’s findings.
Grand Canyon has accused the Schooling Division and different authorities companies of retaliating towards the college over an ongoing lawsuit.
The authorized problem hearkens to 2019, when the Schooling Division refused to approve Grand Canyon’s bid to develop into a nonprofit. On the time, the division pointed to an ongoing monetary relationship between the college and its former proprietor.
Though the IRS permitted the change, the Schooling Division nonetheless treats Grand Canyon as a for-profit for the needs of Title IV monetary assist, subjecting it to stricter rules. The college sued the division in 2021 over the company’s choice.
A choose upheld the Schooling Division’s choice in late 2022, however Grand Canyon appealed. Oral arguments are scheduled for December.
An Schooling Division spokesperson mentioned Wednesday the high-quality will likely be efficient Nov. 20 except the college requests a listening to earlier than the company’s Workplace of Listening to and Appeals or sends supplies to the Federal Scholar Support workplace explaining why the penalty shouldn’t be imposed.
