Grand Canyon University’s Return To Nonprofit Status Approved
Grand Canyon University’s year of very good news continued last week when the U.S. Department of Education affirmed the school’s nonprofit status, which will increase its access to private scholarships and various partnerships.
“This decision removes the cloud of confusion over our nonprofit status and allows us to put our complete focus and resources on our mission to provide affordable Christian higher education to students from all socioeconomic backgrounds,” said GCU President Brian Mueller. “We are excited to move forward with clarity and purpose.”
The decision puts an end to the second of two major challenges the school faced throughout the past few years.
In addition to challenging the school’s nonprofit status — GCU went from a private school to a for-profit school and then back to seeking nonprofit status — the Federal Trade Commission also claimed in a lawsuit the school knowingly misled grad students about how much their degrees would cost. That suit was dismissed in August.
In May, the Department of Education rescinded GCU’s $37-million fine for lying to grad students. That followed the first meeting of President Donald Trump’s newly formed Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias. During that meeting, participants claimed Biden-era “lawfare” against GCU and Liberty University.
“The Grand Canyon University fine was dismissed not because the facts changed, but because the administration did,” said the Freedom from Religion Foundation, which claimed the decision to rescind the fine “reeks of religious favoritism and political interference.”
GCU has claimed the Biden-era investigations of the school “were a coordinated effort by former officials within the Biden administration to undermine a thriving Christian university,” according to Baptist News Global. GCU called the Biden-era efforts “persecution” and “lawfare.”
GCU started out in 1949 as a nonprofit Baptist-affiliated school. It changed its status to for-profit in 2004 when it says “financial hardships required the university to take on an investor to avoid closing its doors.”
The following years saw enrollment skyrocket “from fewer than 1,000 students in 2009 to over 24,600 campus students in 2024,” university publicity says.
With its financial hardships solved, GCU changed its status back to nonprofit in 2018 and entered into a partnership with a for-profit company called Grand Canyon Education that provides services to GCU. Mueller is president of both entities. The IRS questioned those arrangements.
GCU says its restored nonprofit status could bring many benefits:
— Expanded access to private scholarships restricted to students at nonprofit institutions
— Increased access to partnerships with school districts, hospitals, donors and organizations previously hesitant due to uncertainty around GCU’s status
— Eligibility for future government relief funds and benefits, which have been disproportionately distributed to nonprofit over for-profit institutions
— Access to ED-recognized nonprofit-specific grant funding
— Solidification of GCU’s standing as a voting member of NCAA Athletics
— Significant reduction in legal expenses associated with defending GCU’s lawful status, which has cost the university millions of dollars per year.
GCU says the DOE decision affirms “GCU’s mission as the largest Christian university in the country.” However, numbers posted by GCU and Liberty University show Liberty remains the largest in total enrollment.
GCU projects a 2025-2026 enrollment of 133,000 students, with 25,000 on its physical campus locations and another 108,000 studying online. Liberty says its total academic year enrollment exceeds 140,000.
This article was originally published by Baptist News Global.
Steve Rabey is a veteran author and journalist who has published more than 50 books and 2,000 articles about religion, spirituality, and culture. He was an instructor at Fuller and Denver seminaries and the U.S. Air Force Academy. He and his wife Lois live in Colorado.