Grand Canyon University [GCU]
Reviews and Complaints

I was unable to find a place to do my Clinical Field Experience Hours because my Field Service Counselor refused to give me proper paperwork to show proof that I am doing Clinical Field Experience Hours. Therefore my education has been put to a stop. I have called for two months now and they will not allow my to talk to a Dean or anyone else and will not allow me to take any more classes. I am on my 3rd year. No one can help.

I have been forced to put money on my lopes cash dining dollars and it is one of the only ways I am able to eat here. My counselor is really taking her time to activate or get my card working. Every time I try to active my card your website tells me my card can’t be activated but you had no problems putting my own money on it. My balance is over $1500 and I am unable to spend a dime of it due to the slow nature of the counselors and lack of communication and understanding of the situation.

Given the challenging nature of Doctoral studies and the dissertation process, it is inexplicable to have had so many challenges with receipt of my Graduate Plus Loan funds literally every semester. However, my dispute this time centers on amount and not timing. On 7/21/2023, Graduate Plus disbursed $10,555 to my account, the remaining amount of Graduate Plus loan funds available to me for this academic cycle. I am reapplying for Graduate Plus in October, so that would work out. I should have received a check for $8380 — enough to cover my educational expenses until mid-October when the new Graduate Plus Loan can kick in. However, I only received a check for $6205, as GCU unilitaterally and without my permission paid for the next class. The next class won't start until mid-to late October when the new financial aid cycle already kicks in. I am not rich, do not come from an affluent home, so these loans are the ONLY way I can complete my education. I was depending on that extra $2175 to carry me over until new loan funds become available. I am not thrilled to have to rely on these loans, but I can only work a limited amount of hours as I complete my dissertation. GCU should have sent the complete amount that was left after the current class was paid for and not unilaterally pay for the next course that will occur after a new cycle of financial aid begins.

I enrolled in Sept 2020 and was thrown around across four different advisors, had my financial aid distributed inappropriately, and falsely accused of still owing them money in order to actually get my transcript and diploma. I had COVID during the program on 5 different occasions and I am disabled, and had to retake some of my courses. One of the courses, I was told by Geoff Thomb, would cover one retake and he would cover the other course retake. He inadvertently was removed and I was given my fourth advisor, who continue to argue with me, does not allow me to audit my account, and ended up charging me an additional $1803.90 in order to graduate. I paid in Student Loans over $24,000 per year to attend this university and still paid out of pocket. My funds were misused and misappropriated and I want a refund of my money and a forgiveness of my loans. They had a disbursement of $10,142 each semester, but continued to charge me for withdrawals, and held my stipends after the first year. They were going to credit me two retakes and use one stipend to cover the other one. Then, before being allowed to get my transcript or graduate, they billed me for an out of pocket amount of $1803.90. They are crooks and need to refund me.

I’ve been waiting on my financial aid for over 6 weeks. They seem to always have a problem within their system and because of that it has cost me my grades because i am an online student. There’s NO COMMUNICATION unless you reach out. I really wouldn’t recommend going here if you have other options and are in need of financial aid to help with your educational journey seriously.

There was a code of conduct GCU stated but I was unaware that I had done anything wrong because I had a provider sign it that worked at a YMCA that worked with children!

I stated in my letter I should not be extra penalized due to me having a disability and as far as the grades that I received was pretty outrageous because I worked really hard and did not fabricate that in those areas only thing that I was not aware of is not using the proper student teaching field experience person to sign! And it's really upsetting that I had to be out of school for 15 weeks. That was all I had to motivate me to become depressed to seek counseling.

Hello everyone, my name is Kenya. I completed my Bachelor degree in 2023. The SSC would tell me that “ i don’t know what else to tell you” oh I am so sorry to here that”. This is what I would get from my SSC. I noticed that they toked a lot of my financial aide, I was pissed 😠 about that. I found out about this, and I am going through so much in debt and my debt is 26K. And where the heck I am going to get that from? I been looking for work, and I am on a fixed income. I called the loan people and they told me that I have to pay all that money back, like people just don’t make any sense. Like are you serious? Where I am going to get that from? And I am on a fix income, the SSC doesn’t care about my situation because you know why? Because GCU college runs like a business SCAM they don’t care your education. All they cared about is those dollar 💵 signs, I paid 150.00 dollars for a diploma, I told my SSC that why do I have to pay for a diploma for? Especially if I worked hard for it, you know what the SSC told me that it’s their policy, I told my SSC that when I attended Boricua College in the Bronx, I got my Associates of Arts and I never had it to pay for no diploma, I got a lot of scholarships at boricua college and not once I had that issues. It’s my fault that I didn’t do my investigation on this College, so now I know now it’s very important to read your stuff carefully, don’t rush yourself into going back to college if you don’t know the facts. If the school is trying to pressure you to signed some forms, RUN AS SOON AS YOU CAN, they just wanna get you in the door. These for-profit colleges runs like a business, and they like to pray on individuals such as low income families, and the veterans, because they get some type of money 💰, I really wanna go to Arizona to see what’s going on at GCU, I wanna see for myself and observe on what’s going on in that school. I wanted it to do my MSW at GCU, because I like to keep myself busy, and then it has me thinking on not to rush myself to go back to college where I am in student loan debt. I did some investigation about The NYS licensure, and when I did my research, it popped up and it says no results about GCU meeting the NYS licensure, I am so blessed that I didn’t register for the MSW degree at GCU. Because god forbid that the degree is unaccredited, and I don’t waste anytime on anyone. This is why I am not rushing on going back to school, because if you rush yourself you not going to get a great impact on the school. And plus they also told me that if I was to go to a CUNY college I wouldn’t get the same support like GCU, my sis told me that of course they going to tell me that, because so they can take money from you. My sis had dropped out of GCU, she had a meeting with her instructor, let me tell you that her instructor toked points off my sisters assignments just because she’s black, Man I got so pissed about that, I told her to dropped out that school, you don’t need that energy around you, go to a school where they are going to help with your needs. Make sure that your credits will transfer to the college you wanna go to, because colleges out in NYC is very strict, especially when it comes to accredited college and program, and even jobs would look into if your degree is from a accredited university, they are big with that. And GCU would always ignore all of my questions, they not trying to hear about no education, just talking about money, and I thought GCU is supposed to be a Christian university. Smh people can say anything. I want to file a complaint with GCU.

Back in 2020, I got accepted to CUNY Lehman college for BSW major, and my sis got accepted into Hunter college, we were both so-happy, because it’s hard to get into CUNY colleges, especially SUNY colleges. See your not going to see those adds about SUNY and CUNY, because it’s a legitimate college and they been around for years. We both had some college credits from Boricua college and that was only a full time college, we both had it to transfer to another college to just be PT student, the real reasons why they toked are credits from Boricua college, it’s because its an accredited institution and program. You must read your stuff carefully especially when it comes to colleges, don’t jump into anything always ask questions from a close friend or family member. Do yourself a favor, go to a community college when it’s more affordable especially with people living in low income housing, and being on a fix income without being in debt. And just find schools in your local area, just stay away from those for-profit colleges, because it runs like a business and always talking about money.

I do not know if it is because GCU does not have a financial aid office, but I received the most ridiculous misinformation today. My financial aid disbursements are chronically late, so I no reference the Federal loan disbursement forms. My disbursement date is 7/20 and the loan people say that is the date that the school disburses funds to the student. Well, 7/20 passed and nothing has even posted to the account, let alone been mailed out to me. Here is th ridiculous explanantion I received this morning from some counselor at GCU unknown to me as mine is AWOL:

I apologize, but that is not accurate. 7/20 is the eligibility date. It may take 1-2 weeks at most for funds to post to your file after that date. Once the money is on the account, a check is mailed within 1-2 weeks after the date that the funds are posted to the ledger. I am sorry if you understood incorrect information in the past that led you to believe that a stipend check could be printed on 7/20 – this was not possible. However, you will receive your check soon, within normal, acceptable federal financial aid timeframes! Take care!

First of all, there is no such thing as an eligibility date. Most schools disburse funds to students as early as 10 days prior to class. I would told months ago by Sarah Davis that my funds would hit my account by 7/20 and would be mailed out then. This is a chronic problem with this school and should not occur at the Doctoral level where students are already stressing over dissertation work. Moreover, when the funds actually hit the account, GCU does not mail them out right away. They sit there for days on end doing nothing as the student worries about how to cover expenses. GCU must do better!

I attended Grand Canyon University for several years as a Licensed Clinical Counselor. I expected to end with a license secured by my state and to be active in the career I deeply desired. When it came to the practicum hours it was impossible to secure out-of-state overseers to complete this important step, let alone an internship which would have had to be paid $3000 for someone to supervise me as an intern. My career choice was destroyed without the ability to complete the courses at the end of 4 years and the important steps to becoming a licensed clinical counselor. I ended up with a lot of student loan debt that the lack of that career will never be able to pay off. I feel ripped off and upset. I put so much time and effort into my education and classwork to discover it was all going to end up never receiving my degree or license as a counselor.

I singed up with student aid everything going ok I had withdraw and Kristen who is manager of student services sed math withdraw would not affect me in pell grant and loans at all so I took in June 2023 and my mom has to go to er and be amited 2 times dew to breathing so i failed 2 time dew yo this, and we talked to Kristen sed would help pay in full, so took agen 3rd time and passe, come to fnd out she telling me i got no pell and loans,I like to stay with grand canyon university online for rest of classes and then master. I did look at invoice that chewed up my loans and pell Grand with non pass fund on classes I took and passed there charging me wrong I like it fixed so it right and when go into masters I get right pell snd loans not taken away for something that was in emergency fir my mom's breathing going into hospital name is raymond toth 772 e 5th ct apt d desplaines il [protected] [protected]@gmail.com

Hi, I received a Bachelor's from GCU, all online, they encouraged me to continue on with my Master's in Counseling, online . It was brought to my attention, that my degree may not be CACREP ACCREDITED in my state of Michigan. I spoke with my advisor and they assured me that GCU was. They hounded me to continue with education, I feel like I have become a cash cow, never understanding how the student loan really worked or how much it would cost me. I also had tuition assistance from my job and was told by GCU that, it would mess up my student loans, if I used it. Well I have recently found out that GCU has never been CACREP ACCREDITED in Michigan and now I am unable to work as a licensed Counselor in my state. I have debt to 100,000 for Student loans. The school advertised as a non-profit Christian School, when in fact, they are profitable to the turn of billions of revenue. I am devastated, since counseling was going to be my retirement career and now close to retiring from my current job, I feel like all my years of school and my traveling to GCU for my graduation, was a loss. I was deceived in a big way.

I reenrolled to finish 2 classes for my master's. I was told I needed a student loan to finish my master's degree.

I had to pay $2034 for the class I didn't pass the first time. I had to get a loan to retake the course and the Capstone!

I had withdrawn from the capstone the first time.

I passed the class I had to retake with an A. In the Capstone class, I was having issues with the professor. I contacted my counselor about my concerns with the processor. I was ridiculed each time I made a post, I was accused of not writing as a graduate college student. I was accused of using Artificial Intelligence, and plagiarism. The school sent me a letter stating there was not enough evidence because I used the World JOB website. I received a letter stating they would pursue allegations of plagiarism.

I was told by the counselor I would be moved to another professor's class, but they had to wait till they received my loan from FASA.

Fasa came in an the school got paid, but I was not moved to another class. I was told they could not move me. The end result was I was unable to finish school and am unable to get my master's.

I sent all my proof of harassment from the professor but nothing was accepted. The school is not what it seems .

I was enrolled in UNV 103 and while in this class it came on the discussion form that you can disenroll for a class and take it on a later date. I was very grateful for this information because I was coming up on a time where I was going to be deployed for training with the Coast Guard and didn't know if I could complete MKT315 for the dates of the class. I went ahead and took the class and after the first week I knew that I needed to drop the class because the training for the Coast Guard was taking most of my time and mental energy. I emailed my student counselor, and then I called my student counselor and left a voicemail. I was told that she was out of the office when another student counselor, Christina, called me back one day later. She said I was not allowed to drop the class without paying for the class. I mentioned what I had learned in UNV103, and she said that was incorrect and not a GCU policy. She said she could do nothing and even though I was deployed for training she said that was not reason for dropping the course to take at a later date. She said that I would need a command letter, and since I am at training and not at my regular post and couldn't get a letter there was nothing that she could do. This whole situation had me in tears and incredible frustrated because I took two classes and already paid $500 for a class that I didn't need for my degree for GCU to completely and utterly fail me when I asked for assistance.

Faith Reyes

I'm taking CNL-505-0501. The professor posted a video for the discussion post assignment requirements the day they were due. I could not fix what I had submitted as my posts were locked. I reached out to the professor that same day and was given options that were not possible. I was given a poor grade for not meeting the requirements. Requirements that were provided the day they were due.

To whom it may concern:

As a former graduate student at Grand Canyon University, [protected], I received my Master’s in Psychology. Since I graduated, I have applied for jobs and am trying to apply for other educational programs to further my education. I understand there is a $138,500 lifetime aggregate limit on school loans to be taken out. GCU has placed me in a $41,000 debt for a Master’s degree that is not applicable to help my future. In doing so, I’ve been told by multiple organizations, individuals, and boards (Kentucky Board of Examiners of Psychology, Licensed LPC and MSW from both the state of KY and AZ, etc…) that my MA in Psychology from GCU is not CACREP ACCREDITED nor is it CHEA, Council for Higher Education Accredited.

When first applying and being assigned to my academic advisor, Megan Roberts, who no longer works at GCU, she informed me that GCU was accredited. This was obviously misleading information. Due to this deception, it has placed me in an unfortunate position that has caused a lot of financial hardship and unnecessary school loan debt. With GCU having a class action lawsuit against them for aggressively marketing academic programs to potential students using fake advisors who push prospective students’ to take courses even when the programs will not meet the students’ needs due to the lack of accreditation, which have resulted in myself not being accepted into my own state. I feel entitled to voice my concerns about the financial distress and useless debt it has caused in my life as a student.

My degree from GCU is of no worth to me and cannot be used to further myself in a career or other academic programs. With this being said, I'm asking for the debt from GCU to be eliminated from my student loans so that I can enroll into an accredited program that will allow me to be successful in my career path or educational journey. I would also expect to be compensated for all out of pocket fees and costs, and compensation for all of the time I wasted on such coursework.

You may contact me at:

Alexa M. Wilson

1600 River Shore Drive APT 3026

Louisville, KY 40206

[protected]

[protected]@gmail.com

I graduated from GCU on 6/29/2022 with a master’s in professional counseling with an emphasis in trauma. When I applied to the California BBS, for the APCC License, it was found that I was 20 hours deficient of the required face-to-face hours. Per the BBS letter, “The deficiency must be completed within the degree program.”

After several options were considered with my counselor and field counselor, it was decided by the school with my agreement, that I personally paid for and took a single course practicum for the hours that would be submitted to the BBS and included within the degree program. Unfortunately, the hours were NOT included in my degree program with the resubmission, and I continue to have a useless degree. I have been open to various options to having this situation rectified; including updating/amending my graduation date to reflect the additional practicum class that was taken January 12, 2023 – March 8, 2023. I am given excuses by my student counselor and practicum field counselor that there is nothing else that can be done and they don't know who else to contact. They don't return my phone calls and their supervisors are not available to contact.

I am in the Dissertation phase in the College of Doctoral Studies. On April 6. 2023, I reviewed my loan disclosure form from the Department of Education and it stated that my second disbursement should occur that day. I had to repeat a course and requested that Sharon Davis postpone that course by two weeks. She TOLD me that this would NOT affect the disbursement. After a week, Mr. Rentzell in student services stated that I needed to be enrolled to receive a disbursement, so I then pushed up my enrollment to the 13th. We are now at the 19th and Mr. Rentzell today states that it will be another 30 days before my disbursement hits. I have been through two prior Master programs and I received disbursements within days of being in class. Meanwhile, as I write my dissertation proposal, I am forced to look at the financial aid screen to see if my money has posted. This is stressful and completely unfair. Meanwhile, I have signed a lease that needs to be paid for this weekend. What am I going to do? A Doctoral student DOES NOT deserve this stress.