Grand Canyon stands as an oddity in this year’s NCAA people’s hockey game, and not just because of its primary- around upset over Saint Mary’s.
The personal Christian university is located in Phoenix, though the vast majority of its students take courses online. It claims to be a nonprofit—a important designation for its NCAA status—but is now at odds with various federal agencies about that statement and its continuing relationship with its previous owner, publicly traded Grand Canyon Education ( Nasdaq: LOPE). GCE has since 2018 continued become a vital service provider for the school while enjoying a significant part of its monthly income.
According to the NCAA, for- income people are certainly eligible for the group’s “revenue distribution, grants or scholarships”. In the 2022 fiscal year, the governing body distributed$ 642, 985 to Grand Canyon University.

The complex dynamic between the business and the school is at the center of a Federal Trade Commission (FTC ) complaint filed in December against both parties and GCU president Brian Mueller, accusing the accused of engaging in aggressive marketing practices and deceiving individuals by fake advertisements GCU’s nonprofit status. The college, the FTC argues in the national civic coat, may make this assertion since it generally operates” for the income of GCE and its investors”. Among other evidence, the agency notes, is that GCE receives 60 % of the revenue it derives from its athletic arena, though it provides no related operational services for the building.
In a motion to dismiss filed last month, the defendants doubled down on GCU’s claim to nonprofit status, noting that the university continues to be recognized as such by the state of Arizona, the school’s accrediting agency, The Higher Learning Commission, and the Internal Revenue Service. Asked this week about the allegations, a university spokesman provided a timeline of five different federal inquiries since the start of 2021 and reiterated that they” completely lack merit”. He also referenced a recent decision from the Arizona State Approving Agency for the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs, which closed a risk- based audit of GCU with no findings.
The FTC’s civil complaint cites a 2019 decision made by the Department of Education that GCU failed the “operational test” for nonprofit status. GCU subsequently challenged that determination in a 2022 lawsuit it filed against the ED, the university is currently appealing a district court’s ruling against it.
The FTC action is just the latest legal challenge for Grand Canyon, which has a total enrollment of about 118, 000 students–25, 000 students on its physical campus in Phoenix and another 92, 000 online. The university was owned by GCE until 2018, when it was sold for more than$ 870 million to an Arizona non- profit set up by Mueller in 2014, when he was then CEO of GCE, according to the FTC suit. The move is the basis for the university’s non- profit claim, and it coincided with the establishment of a master services agreement stipulating that GCE would continue providing many of the school’s essential operations in exchange for receiving 60 % of GCU’s tuition and fee revenue.

All of this happened one year after GCU’s athletic department transitioned from Division II to Division I, and the Antelopes have found quick success the NCAA’s top level. The school reported$ 6.8 million in men’s basketball expenses in fiscal 2022, a budget more than 50 % larger than its next closest peer in the Western Athletic Conference ( Seattle,$ 3.9 million ). Coached by former Valparaiso legend Bryce Drew, Grand Canyon has reached March Madness in 2021, 2023 and 2024. However, Friday’s 75- 66 upset of Saint Mary’s was GCU’s first tournament win. The 12- seed Antelopes are now set to play Alabama, the 4- seed, Sunday night in Spokane, Wash.
In March 2021, ahead of GCU’s first March Madness appearance, Sportico reported on how college sports fit into GCE’s financial agenda. Chicago Bears president Kevin Warren, the former Big Ten commissioner, served as a non- employee director on Grand Canyon’s corporate board from 2012 to 2019, receiving nearly a million dollars in cash and stock rewards.
For years, market analysts tracking the publicly- traded GCE have looked for a potential March Madness bump. As of close on Friday, the stock was trading at$ 133.30 per share, down from its 12- month high in$ 142.67 in December before the FTC sued.
Filed in U. S. District Court in Arizona, the lawsuit alleges that in addition to deceiving the public over its nonprofit status, GCU also misled prospective students about the course requirements –and, therefore, the tuition costs –of its doctoral programs.
In October, the Education Department fined GCU$ 37.7 million after an investigation determined it deceived more than 7, 500 former and current students about the cost of its doctoral programs. GCU, in a statement, denied the allegations, claiming that it was being unfairly targeted by the federal government. It later appealed the fine.
More March Madness stories: –JuJu Watkins, Hannah Hidalgo Lead Next Wave–Ivy League Basketball Is Peaking During the Transfer Portal Era–James Madison’s Record$ 53M in Student Fees Tops All Public Schools–First Four Team or Normal 16- Seed? NEC Commish Prefers the Former–Kentucky’s Dillingham in March Madness as Ex- OTE Mates Sue NCAA