Complaint Review: Grand Canyon University - Phoenix Arizona

I have been a student at GCU since December of 2011. I am now only 7 classes from getting my Bachelors Degree and all of a sudden my schedule, classes, everything went blank and no disbersement was sent to me last month that was supposed to be sent to me. I have called, emailed, and nobody will speak to me in regards to why they cut me off.

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Hello Katie,

I am definitely on board. The school has been taking me in circles. I am ready to take things to the next level. I sent you an email. Thanks for reaching out.

Kind Regards,

Tara

I am looking into suing GCU, but we need to recruit more people that have been screwed over by them.  If you are interested, please email me at [email protected]

If interested, please contact me.


Regards,
Katie

http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/2010/08/18/20100818biz-grandcanyon0819.html

After months of disappointment with the educational quality, actually the lack of, at GCU; and now 3 months of dealing with the system in releasing me from the hold of the facility to pursue my education at a university that can meet my educational needs and standards, resulting in serious questions regarding institutional integrity: I can only warn you Beware. 

Or as two professors said to me directly in telephone calls, "Run, don't walk, as fast as you can away from this school."  They each said that classes at GCU are, as I was questioning run according to the needs of remedial students (and these were upper division classes).

Apart from the lack of educational quality is the issue of institutional integrity; of which I found little at GCU, a self described Christian University.

My recommendation is that students be required to read and sign the Annual Report of any university they are consider attending.  I, despite having been an award winning Investigative Journalist, did not do that until today.  Boy is that document full of interesting information.  Did you know that GCU has only "Conditional Approval" of it's programs by the Department of Education; or that the Liberal Arts Degree, of which I was an unknowing student, may not even qualify for approval for Title IV funding from the Federal Government since it does not prepare the student with any "occupational training". 

Quite an interesting document.

All in all, it's a sad state of affairs...

That would be a negative. The student resolution team is not new. Rather, it is a group of haphazard organizational employees put in place by GCU to prevent the ongoing and recurring lawsuits from growing into something they cannot handle (settle out of court for....which they often do). The school is under constant duress because of the constant turnover of their enrollment counselors (because nobody in their right mind wants to work for them) who suffer at the hands of a turnover rate that isnt surprising.

Turnover at this institution is widespread and growing because of the type of managers and assistant directors they have in place. Nearly all of them have ZERO postsecondary credentials and are in the positions they are in because they have just stuck around for years with no real inner drive to excel or move out of the fruitless capacity they serve in. Pete Martinez, for example who oversees the southeastern division (among others) that you speak of has his hands filled with a director out on maternity leave and an assistant director Ben people call him Gentle Ben because this f*cktard is in the assistant director position because he drank the most beers in his frat and most likely paid his professors to give him a worthless masters from Devry or Argosy or some other random. All the managers kiss his worthless a*s and that translates into poor management because what kind of manager is going to have a good day when Ben is the kind of guy you have to answer to and his sh*tty cubicle job is all you have to spire to (in some cases) after ten plus years. *Shudder* no wonder you Southwest students are so frustrated. The turnover rate is suffering because the school is filled with worthless, incompetent morons selling a sh*tty product. Good luck with that.  

Upload supporting documents to back up my complaint. A few people on here, employees or happy students don't think the school is capable or would do the things myself and some of the other people have reported. Well they have, can and they will.

Today I just forwarded a another piece of info that was emailed to me from Jessica Berno, my financial counselor at the time. It was a Stafford Loan Limits Chart that shows how much undergrads and graduates students can borrow at the different grade levels they are at. It also shows attendance patterns and interests rates. This is for the 2009/10 school by the way.

Under the attendance patterns section it has a chart that shows what credit hours are used for putting together loan packages. Under the graduate section it reads as follows: full time 9 + credit hours (9 for loan packaging), 3/4 7-8 credit hours (7 for loan packaging), 1/2 5-6 credit hours (5 for loan packaging). Chris Linderson has been sticking by her story saying that the school uses a 5 minimum credit hour tuition component. That is true, but I was taking 7 credit hours which falls under the 7-8 3/4 therefore a 7 credit minimum was supposed to be used in packaging my loan.

Her response was that she will review and get back to me later on today. My other issue then and now is the tuition that I'm being charge. I am an online MBA student. Therefore I believe the school should be charging me the tuition for online and professional studies and not the tuition for a traditional business graduate student which is what they have been charging me all along. This information is in the handbook. I've asked my current acadmeic counselor Chris Connor to verify that I'm being the correct tuition he can't seem to do that. I've asked my current financial aid counselor Bridge Burgess won't even return my phone calls or emails. My financial aid counselor as well as my academic counselor should be able to verify that I'm being charged the right tuition amount. I admit this situation is frustrating and a little confusing, but I didn't create it the school did. So if anyone deserves to be frustrated it's me.

I hope I am nearing a resolution with the school if not I am ready and willing to take it to the next level. There is no chance of me backing down. I think the school is starting to learn that I have things in writing and that I have documentation to back up what I'm saying. I purposely hold back information that I have so I can catch the school in lies. I will not be taken advantage of.

Also I stated in my last post that the Ombudsman hasn't been a lot of help; I still think it is important to use every source available to you to get your situation heard and hopefully resolved. Just because the Ombudsman hasn't been much help to me doesn't mean they won't be able to help you.

Since I posted my initial report; I have been working with Chris Linderson from the school and Pat Green from the office of Ombudsman. I still have not gotten any where. Chris Linderson is standing by the COA that she recalculated recently and not the one corrected one I received 4/30/10. The Ombudsman is agreeing with Chris because she works for the school's financial aid office and is totally disregarding what is in writing. Ironically it is in my notes that I was over awarded but notes are missing from where Jessica Berno corrected my COA. If you are looking to resolve any kind of issues don't waste your time with the office of Ombudsman. Pat told me she can not make the school stand by the COA that I was given last year so basically the school the school can come back and change your COA from a previous school year to whatever they like. I am currently seeking legal representation. I will keep every1 updated.

for the encouragement and information. This situation has been really frustrating. I have not just been having financial aid problems; Ive also had academic problems with this school.

For those people who have had a great experience at GCU; I am happy for them but they should respect that I have not. I am not trying to
bad mouth the school or tarnish its reputation they are doing that all on their own. In reference to financial my job as a student is to fill out my FASFA the school is suppose to handle the rest. My situation didnt arise from me making any mistakes the school has been making multiple and continuous mistakes. It is not my lack of knowledge of how financial aid works, this is not my first time receiving financial aid; Im a grad student. It is my knowledge financial aid that has enabled me to catch the schools mistakes and bring it to their attention. Other than my COA from 09/10, which they still cant get right, they have never made any attempts to correct mistakes on their own without me bringing it to their attention. I requested an audit on my account one was never done. This is not free money. I have to pay it ALL back so yes Im going to make sure every dollar is accounted for.

I dont know if all the reports on here are true but a lot are identical and similar to mine. Whether I believe or agree with someones report; I respect their post and do not judge them or their situation.

Is this a new team? Ive have contacted everyone under the sun at this school and Ive never come across this team. Ill go along with it though. Its great if you can help me but Ive been given the run around for the past two years. I keep getting passed along from this person to the next. Im surprised my situation hasnt already been escalated to the Grand Canyon Universitys Student Resolution Team considering the nature of my situation and the length of time it has been going on. Ive sent mass emails. Ive reached out to at least 15 people at the school, including the dean and the assistant dean. I honestly dont think this situation
can be resolved on the school level. I think two years is long enough. Ive reached out to outside sources such as the Ombudsman, BBB and the Arizona State Board for PrivatePost Secondary Education. I am not backing down. I will not allow this school to steal from me whether its unintentionally or intentionally.

 Ive been reading some of the reports on here and my situation is not an isolated incident. It seems the school has made a habit of over awarding students and doing creative math. The heart of my situation is my COA. My COA was corrected back on 4/30/10 thats what the school needs to go by not one that that they changed recently. The school needs to hire better qualified and trained academic and financial aid counselors.

 You have my education in your hands you cant afford to make the monumentally mistakes that youve been making. I have lost all and complete trust in this school. I cant attend a school I dont trust. I want my issues resolved so I can move on. My intentions are not to bad mouth this school or tarnish its reputation. I want my issues resolved therefore I am going to use all the tools available to me to do so. I dont believe everything I read on the internet but the reports I read on here have identical or similar issues to mine. Everyone cant be lying and making things up. Something shady is going on at this school and it needs to be exposed.

there's alot of shady stuff going on with your money.  It's pretty obvious that this finaid dept has divided up and pocketed quite a bit of your award.  A common practice at many schools.  You need to get people involved at higher levels.  Start by calling 1800 4fedaid and see what records they have for you.  If they have ANY conflicting information its time to start bicching bigtime to various agencies, maybe even try and get some media attn on this.  Your goal here is to get people fired and/or serve jailtime!

Good luck!
 
Also as far as your other problems with the school, you should know and will learn eventually that alot, if not all, school employees are just there because they simply could not make it in the real world, they would just die.

This report has tested positive for a high level of Shill/Lackey activity.  Please read with scrutiny. Have a nice day.

Grand Canyon Universitys Student Resolution Team works to facilitate resolutions for GCU students. To report an issue or complaint, you can reach the Student Resolution Team directly by emailing [email protected] or calling 602-639- 8035 with the details of your issue and someone will reach out to you via phone or email within one business day.


Thank you for giving us the opportunity to resolve your issue.