Grand Canyon Education

This article is about the educational services company. For the University, see Grand Canyon University.

Grand Canyon Education, Inc.

Formerly	Significant Education, LLC
Company type	Public
Traded as	Nasdaq: LOPE
Industry	For-profit education
Founded	2003;21 years ago (2003) [1]
Founders	Christopher C. Richardson Brent D. Richardson [1]
Headquarters	Phoenix, Arizona, United States
Key people	Brian Mueller (chairman, CEO) W. Stan Meyer (COO) Daniel E. Bachus (CFO) Dilek Marsh (CTO)
Number of employees	5,800 [2]
Subsidiaries	Orbis Education Services
Website	gce.com

Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (GCE) is an American for-profit corporation that provides services to universities, specializing in program development, online education, and operational support. Formerly affiliated with Grand Canyon University (GCU), a Christian university in Arizona, GCE became a separate publicly traded company (NYSE :  LOPE) in 2018.

Origins

Grand Canyon Education was originally founded as Significant Education, LLC and was based in California as a subsidiary of education entrepreneur Michael K. Clifford's company. ^[3] Clifford became managing director of Grand Canyon University when Significant Education's 2004 acquisition of the, at the time, financially-struggling University was approved by the GCU Board of trustees. After the acquisition, the former board of trustees served Clifford in an advisory role. ^[3] Significant Education was incorporated in 2005 and became publicly traded under Grand Canyon Education, Inc starting in 2008. ^[4] GCE trades on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "LOPE". ^{[4] [5]}

Controversies

There have been growing controversies regarding Grand Canyon Education's relationship with Grand Canyon University as it has been widely believed that the two entities are too intertwined. ^{[6] [7]} One frequently cited reason for said belief is because Brian Mueller, the President and CEO of GCE, concurrently serves as the President of GCU.

It was alleged that GCU attempted to switch from for-profit status to non-profit status via its relationship with GCE to reduce the burden of its yearly $9.2 million property tax bill. ^[8] Some critics of for-profit education criticized the relationship between GCU and Grand Canyon Education, Inc. as being too intertwined. ^{[6] [9]}

Although some organizations have approved this transition, the U.S. Department of Education still classifies the university as a for-profit university. The government specifically stated that GCU is a captive client of Grand Canyon Education, and the college is operating for the benefit of shareholders of a for-profit company. ^[10]

Grand Canyon Education has also been accused of securities-law fraud due to its relation to GCU. ^{[11] [12]}

Subsidiaries

In December 2018, Grand Canyon Education announced it acquired Orbis Education Services, an education services provider that assists universities with pre-licensure healthcare program management ^[13]

References

1. "Grand Canyon Education Inc. LOPE (U.S.: Nasdaq)" . Retrieved December 12, 2022.
2. "Grand Canyon Education Inc. LOPE (U.S.: Nasdaq)" . Retrieved March 17, 2024.
3. Ledbetter, Tammy Reed (February 10, 2004). "Grand Canyon Univ. sold; trustees in advisory role". Baptist Press . Archived from the original on February 25, 2014. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
4. "Form S-1 Registration Statement: Grand Canyon Education, Inc.", EDGAR Company filings database, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Notes to Financial Statements page F-7, May 13, 2008, retrieved 2020-12-17
5. Grand Canyon Education, Inc. Common Stock (LOPE)
6. Moody, Josh. "For-Profit University Giant Goes Nonprofit Amid Questions And Concerns". Forbes. Archived from the original on February 12, 2019. Retrieved February 12, 2019.
7. "Letter to National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity" (PDF). ed.gov. 7 May 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 7, 2019. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
8. "How the only for-profit Div. I school is building a monster in the desert". ESPN.com. February 21, 2018. Archived from the original on April 7, 2019. Retrieved February 5, 2019.
9. "Letter to National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity" (PDF). ed.gov. 7 May 2018. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 7, 2019. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
10. Leingang, Rachel (November 13, 2019). "GCU a 'captive client' to for-profit company, feds say". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
11. Wiles, Russ (February 5, 2020). "Grand Canyon Education's stock price drops after critical report from investment firm". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved September 2, 2020.
12. Grand Canyon Education: The Educational Enron (PDF) (Report). Citron Research. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 7, 2020. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
13. Unglesbee, Ben. "Grand Canyon Education buys Orbis Education Services for $362.5M". Higher Ed Dive. Retrieved 17 March 2024.

External links

• Official website
• Business data for Grand Canyon Education, Inc.:
  • Bloomberg
  • Google
  • Reuters
  • SEC filings
  • Yahoo!