After a $37MM fine in October, the FTC announces lawsuit against GCU
Grand Canyon University, the nation’s largest Christian university with over 120,000 students is back in the news this week after the Federal Trade Commission announced a federal lawsuit against Grand Canyon Education, Inc, Grand Canyon University, and Brian E. Mueller, its CEO for deceptive practices in advertising.
In late October the nation’s largest Christian university was fined $37.7MM by Biden’s Department of Education for what they call “lies” to students regarding the cost of the University’s doctoral program.
“GCU’s lies harmed students, broke their trust, and led to unexpectedly high levels of student debt,” Richard Cordray, COO for Federal Student Aid, said in a statement. “Today, we are holding GCU accountable for its actions, protecting students and taxpayers, and upholding the integrity of the federal student aid programs.”
The fine comes as the Department of Education claims GCU’s claims were false and misleading. “GCU’s statements about the total cost to complete these programs were false and misleading because, based on GCU’s own data, less than 2% of graduates completed within the cost that GCU advertised. For the vast majority of graduates, “continuation courses”—which added extra costs—were necessary to complete the dissertation requirement in these doctoral programs. GCU’s data further shows that 78% of the graduates in those programs had to pay $10,000 to $12,000 more in tuition costs—roughly a 25% increase, depending on the program—than GCU explicitly advertised.”
FTC alleges deceptive telemarketing by GCU
Now on Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission announced a lawsuit against the Christian university alleging the University marketed itself as a non-profit organization, though it was not at the time, and further that the telemarketing practices of the school violated the law and included those on the National Do Not Call list.
The lawsuit states, ” In numerous instances, in connection with the telemarketing of educational services, Defendants have misrepresented, directly or indirectly, expressly or by implication, material information regarding GCU and its services.”
Grand Canyon University issued a statement in response to the lawsuit, stating this is yet another example of the weaponizing of the federal government. “Unfortunately yet another example of the Biden administration weaponizing federal government agencies in a coordinated effort to target institutions to which they are ideologically opposed.”
Trump vows to protect Christians
The lawsuit comes on the heels of President Trump announcing he will never allow the federal government to persecute Christians and Catholics as the Biden administration is doing right now.
“Catholics are being targeted and surely evangelicals are on the watch list as well,” stated Trump in a video released on Truth Social last week. Trump announced a new federal task force he will deploy as president involving many agencies and departments to investigate all forms of persecution and harassment against believers.
“Americans of faith are not a threat to our country. Americans of faith are the soul of this country.”
( @realDonaldTrump – Truth Social Post )
( Donald J. Trump – Dec 21, 2023, 6:56 PM ET )Stopping the Persecution of Christians! pic.twitter.com/wCDiPgHtd1
— Donald J. Trump 🇺🇸 TRUTH POSTS (@TruthTrumpPosts) December 22, 2023
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