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The largest Christian university in the country is projected to have record-breaking enrollment for the 2025-2026 school year after years of legal battles with federal agencies under the Biden administration, which recently ended when charges were dropped.
“Our growth never stopped… we just grew right through it,” Grand Canyon University (GCU) President Brian Mueller told Fox News Digital.
During the Biden administration, GCU faced numerous federal probes into their operations.
“As a result of our growth… we plowed right through it because we have something that is a big part of what America wants,” he said. “The largest private university in the country now is a university that teaches from a Christian worldview.”
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The university announced on Monday that it is projected to have record-breaking enrollment this fall. The university expects enrollment to reach 133,000 this fall, drawing students from all 50 states.
GCU was recently cleared of federal allegations after university officials said the school was unjustly targeted by the Biden administration. In 2023, the FTC under the Biden administration filed suit in federal court against GCU, claiming it used deceptive advertising and engaged in illegal telemarketing. The complaint was the Arizona-based school misled prospective doctoral students about the amount of time it would take to finish its accelerated program, deceptively marketed the school as a nonprofit, and illegally called prospective students who submitted their contact information on the school’s website but requested not to be contacted. The Biden administration denied GCU’s nonprofit recognition after it was approved by the Arizona Board for Private Postsecondary Education, the Internal Revenue Service, the State of Arizona, and the Higher Learning Commission.
“They launched five investigations between the FTC, the VA, and the Department of Education… it became obvious… that it was the process that would be the punishment,” Mueller told Fox News Digital. “They said that the Department of Education and the Federal Trade Commission and the VA would combine efforts to crack down on for-profit institutions.”
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“They wanted to target us… They wanted to include us in that targeting. And that’s why they denied our non-profit status,” Mueller added. “It’s a little worrisome when… lawfare can be practiced as openly as it was practiced during that time.”
Last week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted unanimously to drop its lawsuit against the school.
“This case, which we inherited from the previous administration, was filed nearly two years ago and has suffered losses in two motions to dismiss,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said. “These losses are compounded by recent events: Grand Canyon secured a victory over the Department of Education in a related matter before the Ninth Circuit; the Department of Education rescinded a massive fine levied on related grounds; and the Internal Revenue Service confirmed that Grand Canyon University is properly claiming 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation designation.”
Mueller, who maintains that GCU was unjustly targeted, highlighted that the federal investigations under the Biden administration were revealed to lack substance once President Donald Trump was elected into office.
“The administration changed and the Department of ED looked into the things that led up to the fine and said there is absolutely no substance to this accusation that they misled students. Their disclosures are incredibly robust,” Mueller told Fox News Digital. “When the department came out with a fine, it was $37 million, which was the largest fine ever given to any institution.”
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