On May 24, 2018, the National Advisory Council on Institutional Quality and Integrity (“NACIQI”) convened a hearing on the topic of “Oversight of For-Profit Institutions’ Conversions to Non-Profit Entities.” As subsequently reported in various media accounts, the hearing quickly devolved into a one-sided, partisan attack on the for-profit education sector, promulgated by a lineup of more than 20 witnesses that included a number of well-known opponents of for-profit education. Given the personalities involved, the lack of balance among panelists, and the repetitive positions staked out by these panelists, we ordinarily would choose to move on.
Unfortunately, the hearing also included witnesses who focused their testimony on specific institutions, including Grand Canyon University. Even more unfortunately, this testimony was rife with inaccuracies, faulty conclusions, and opinions masquerading as legal analysis, and summaries of this testimony made its way into the public media accounts. As an institution with over 90,000 current students, over 140,000 proud alumni, and over 10,000 employees, we feel it is our obligation to respond in order to set the record straight and ensure that our students, alumni, employees and other stakeholders know that we will fight on their behalf so that Grand Canyon University gets the recognition it deserves for its specific record and its specific accomplishments.
We agree that higher education should be regulated and fully support measures that ensure regionally accredited educational institutions are meeting recognized standards – particularly as it relates to student support services, academic integrity and financial transparency – and believe those regulations and measures should apply to all institutions (for-profit and nonprofit). We have been complimented frequently when GCU representatives make presentations on those standards at education conferences across the nation.