GCU Class Action Says Doctoral Students Must Take Worthless Courses

A class action lawsuit recently removed to federal court claims that Grand Canyon University requires its online doctoral students to take continuous courses that have no value.

Plaintiffs Eileen Carr, Clayton Kolb, Samuel Stanton, and three unnamed plaintiffs filed the class action lawsuit against Grand Canyon University. The six plaintiffs say they were online doctoral students at GCU.

The Grand Canyon University class action states that GCU is a for-profit university, and has mostly online students.

Allegedly, the university uses numerous tactics to get as much money as it can out of its students, including requiring them to take classes that provide no value to them.

Allegedly, GCU represents that an online doctoral program can be completed in 60 credit hours, which include three dissertation courses worth three credit hours each. However, the university allegedly does not provide the resources needed to complete the dissertation courses.

The students claim that the result of this is that GCU doctoral students must then enroll in additional courses to complete their dissertation.

According to the students, the university has designed its dissertation program and requirements so that it is highly unlikely that a student could complete the program within the advertised 60 credit hours.

The GCU class action goes on to claim that the dissertation courses are not actual academic courses, but are mechanisms by which students receive individualized support in their “dissertation journeys.”

Allegedly, if a student does not satisfactorily complete the dissertation at the end of the dissertation courses, they are then required to take what is referred to as “research continuation” courses.

The students and their attorneys claim that in reality, the programs are designed so almost all students are required to take “research continuation” courses, though this is not advertised to students.

The GCU doctoral program class action lawsuit argues that though students receive credits for the continuation courses, these classes are basically worthless because by the time a student has to take a continuation course, they have already completed the required 60 credit hours to complete the doctorate, though they cannot receive the doctorate until they have completed the continuation courses if they are deemed necessary.

Allegedly, these courses are designed to enable the university to maximize the profits it can gain from students, because doctoral students are charged $650 for each credit towards the first five continuation courses, for a total of $1,950 per research continuation courses.

So, if a student took all five continuation courses, they would have allegedly received 15 unnecessary course credits, for which they paid the university a total of $9,750.

The students claim that the university knowns that these courses provide no value to students and only uses them to maximize profits.

The students are represented by E. Adam Webb, Matthew C. Klase, G. Franklin Lemond Jr., and D. Grant Coyle of Webb Klase & Lemond LLC.

The GCU Continuation Courses Class Action Lawsuit is Eileen Carr, et al. v. Grand Canyon University Inc., et al., Case No. 1:19-cv-01707-MLB, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division.

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