First appearance on Fox: The Arizona Department of Education is pushing back against the U.S. Department of Education’s (DOE) threat to close Grand Canyon University, calling it “the latest episode of federal harassment” against the school.
“It’s unjust and unjust,” Arizona Superintendent Tom Horn told Fox News Digital on Friday. “In the United States, anyone accused of wrongdoing is presumed innocent and entitled to their day in court. Secretary Cardona’s threats violate constitutional guarantees and are unworthy of his position.”
Horn said he wrote a letter to DOE Secretary Miguel Cardona last year about GCU’s “excellent” reputation and urged him to speak with GCU leadership to resolve the issue.
“That’s a reasonable request, but right now he’s making an irrational choice,” Horn said.
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The president of Grand Canyon University told FOX News Digital that the university is being targeted by the Department of Education. (Fox News)
The university’s president says the Biden administration is trying to destroy the largest Christian university because of “ideological” differences, even though the university has been audited multiple times by multiple state agencies. .
“We are very widely loved and respected in the state of Arizona on both sides of the aisle,” Grand Canyon University (GCU) President Brian Mueller told FOX News Digital on Thursday. “This is not political at all for us. We have a small number of people at the Department of Education and the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., but the claims that they are lobbying are completely unsubstantiated elsewhere.” It has not been done.”
GCU will first try to appeal within the DOE, but Mueller said he believes “the Supreme Court will hear this case.”
“There’s so much at stake here,” he said.
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Education Secretary Miguel Cardona accused GCU of preying on students. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
GCU’s accreditor, the Higher Learning Commission, also described GCU’s doctoral disclosure as “robust and thorough” in its 2021 comprehensive review of GCU’s admissions practices, GCU executives said on FOX He told News Digital. The Department of Veterans Affairs’ Arizona Authorization Authority (SAA), which recently audited GCU specifically to investigate DOE’s claims, also concluded that there were “no substantiated findings.”
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A letter from SAA to GCU in March stated that “SAA Arizona was unable to obtain any substantiated findings based on our investigation into Grand Canyon University.” “At this time, there are no findings that would impact Grand Canyon University’s continued approval. There are no follow-up actions requested by Grand Canyon University at this time.”
Mueller’s comments came as DOE Secretary Miguel Cardona vowed to close the school as a “predatory, for-profit school.” House Appropriations Committee Last week, we heard about the crackdown on GCU and other similar universities.
GCU President Mueller | Secretary of Education Cardona (Fox News/Getty)
The DOE alleges that GCU “lied to students” and “falsely advertised” the cost of completing the doctoral program, which GCU denies. A GCU spokesperson responded that in higher education, the number of continuing courses varies from student to student, so doctoral programs that include a thesis rarely have fixed costs.
Cardona made the comments at a press conference. House Appropriations Committee On April 10th, I heard about a crackdown on GCU and other universities similar to it.
Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) asked Cardona how the administration is working to close GCU, which she called a “predatory for-profit school.”
Cardona openly accepted this method of execution.
“Last year, your department complained to Grand Canyon University, a predatory for-profit university, that the school did not accurately disclose costs to students, that students’ actual costs were inflated, and that they were forced to pay for continuing courses before enrolling. “The fraudulent course will increase the cost of these children’s education by about $10,000 or more,” DeLauro said.
“We are going after predatory schools that prey on first-generation students,” Cardona responded. “They have flashy marketing materials, but the product is not worth the paper it’s printed on. We’ve increased our enforcement budget to track down and crack down on these people. They lie about the cost, We imposed the largest fine in history for a school that suspended us from a title.” IV. We’re cracking down not just to keep them out, but to send a message not to prey on students. ”
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GCU has appealed a $37.7 million fine imposed by the department in November on allegations that the Arizona-based higher education institution misled students about the cost of its doctoral programs over several years.
The station said: In October, a press release announced that an investigation conducted by the Federal Student Aid Agency (FSA) found that GCU “lied” to more than 7,500 former and current students about the cost of its doctoral programs. The release also said GCU was “falsely advertising” the low costs of its doctoral programs, adding that approximately 98% of students ended up paying more than the advertised cost.
Fox News’ Joshua Q. Nelson contributed to this report.
