Grand Canyon Online University Requires Useless Classes, Says Class Action

UPDATE:

• A judge dismissed this case Dec. 19, 2019.

A class action lawsuit claims that Grand Canyon Online University forces its online doctoral students to take unnecessary classes by way of extracting more tuition money from them.

The Grand Canyon Online University class action lawsuit was filed by Eileen Carr, Samuel Stanton, and three anonymous students who say they all enrolled in GCU’s online doctoral program, in various states around the country.

The three anonymous students say they wish to protect their identity because they fear retribution by the university against themselves and their degree. 

The students say that Grand Canyon Online University is a for-profit school, that is allegedly “rapidly growing.” The students claim that the university gains significant income from students’ enrollment and the tuition they pay.

Allegedly, Grand Canyon University has created a scheme that requires students to take more classes than advertised. The Grand Canyon Online University class action lawsuit says that the school advertises that its online doctoral program can be completed in 60 credit hours, which includes three dissertation courses. 

However, the students claim that the school does not provide the resources necessary to complete the dissertation, and therefore the doctoral program as a whole, while taking the three dissertation courses.

Allegedly, students must then enroll in additional “continuation” courses to complete the dissertation, though the school advertises that only three dissertation courses are required. 

The students claim that “while at first blush it would appear that these courses are likely to be necessary for only a few students, [the university] utilizes these courses as a way to unnecessarily extend a student’s dissertation process and to assess additional tuition.” 

The Grand Canyon Online University class action lawsuit says that the university has intentionally designed the program so that it is very unlikely that a student can complete the dissertation within 60 credit hours. The students say that effectively, the continuation courses are required, but the school does not represent this reality.

Allegedly, the continuation courses are worthless to students because by the time they need to complete the continuation courses, they have already completed the 60 credit hours that are advertised as necessary for the degree. Allegedly, these continuation courses do not give credit hours. 

The Grand Canyon Online University class action lawsuit goes on to say that students are charged a total of $1,950 per research continuation course.

According to the students, those who take all of the continuation courses will have paid an additional $9,750 in tuition above their advertised tuition cost, for classes that they claim are useless.

Have you been charged tuition fees that were not advertised to you? Share your experience in the comments below.

The students are represented by Jonathan A. Dessaules, David E. Wood, and Ashley C. Hill of Dessaules Law Group and E. Adam Webb and G. Franklin Lemond Jr. of Webb Klase & Lemond LLC.

The Grand Canyon Online University Class Action Lawsuit is Eileen Carr, et al. v. Grand Canyon University Inc., et al., Case No. 2:19-cv-05214-MTL, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

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