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Message: [QUOTE="Bone Dog, post: 5123153, member: 12088"] GCU is a mystery to me. It was floundering in 2004, was purchased by a for-profit education corporation and was turned around. Enrollment went from around 1,000 to something more like 17,500 in just a few years. Apparently it’s been really good for real estate values in its neighborhood. But, like many for-profit schools, has run up huge loan debt to the tune of $5.9 billion for its students many of whom are veterans. More recently, they tried reclassification under non-profit status to reduce property taxes that were strangling the overall budget. The Dept of Veterans Affairs opposed this, being a major funder of all the student loan debt. Their accreditation agency also refused on the grounds that its academic programs are largely purchased from outside vendors. The courts recently ruled in GCUs favor and they are being reassessed. Sorry for dumping so much information but this is the history of GCU’s recent emergence as an athletic power. It also says something about ASU’s refusal until recently to schedule any games with them. As for me, as a college professor I am wary of for-profit schools. But GCU seems to be something more than the typical vo-tech and may offer some real value to students and student-athletes. It’s just really hard to read what’s going on there from a distance. [/QUOTE]