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Grand Canyon University Reviews
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Sort By Most Helpful Newest Bachelor Programs: B.S. Psychology (14) Accounting (6) Bachelor Communications (7) Business Administration (21) Nursing (33) English Literature (6) Masters Programs: Executive MBA (4) Masters of Business Administration with an Emphasis in Accounting (4) Master of Education in Special Education (8) M.A.T (11) ED in TESOL (22) MBA with an Emphasis in Leadership (6) Masters of Education in Elementary Education (27) Organizational Leadership (7) M.S. in Professional Counseling (12) Curriculum and Instruction: Reading (7) Educational Administration (4) MBA in Marketing (2) To link to this page:
Grand Canyon University Reviews at OnlineDegreeReviews.org - written by students. Get the real story.
Learn More about Grand Canyon University 4 of 4 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on December 9, 2017 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Bachelor of Psychology I have been attending GCU for almost a year in their online program. You have two people that assist you continuously through your study: your academic adviser and school counselor. In my experience, they both are pretty consistent in their availability and promptness in responding to any of my needs. Classes are through Loud Cloud, which is an easy program to use. The books are predominately an e-book that you get free through the class site, but those not covered are easily purchased as an e-book through online vendors (thank you Crtl+F for quick searches btw). To be brutally honest, some of my classmates have been clearly academically disadvantaged and are probably getting their grades at a steal... reading their posts hurt my feelings at times because I am producing college level work and theirs resembles a high school students challenged attempt at sentence structure and spelling. That being said, the course content is very strong and the class format has a higher focus on comprehension of the content rather than just a study and test format. Papers are required, but they are rather short (less than 2000 words) and geared at helping you show what you've learned. If you take the online program, you can guaranteed do well as long as you consistently meet deadlines and follow the grading rubrics. The teachers are very hit or miss, but I have had a couple that were awesome. Some professors were clearly just there to grade and post bogus responses though. I have been just ignoring the negatives and focusing on my own work and learning the subject. Hope this helps! :) Was this review helpful? Yes - No 7 of 9 people found the following review helpful Kkeltgen_20 (In Progress) on October 12, 2017 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Good luck I am still currently in the RN-BSN program. I did not do my research and now I am stuck in this program. It is not like a traditional university where you can withdraw at the beginning.... but they don't tell you that. When you sign up you are signing a contract!!!! They do not care about you. They care about getting your money. I have had a terrible experience with my advisor. I told her how I work full time nights and to please to to call me after 3pm, yet she calls me every single day at 2pm. The only way to get communication across is to email them because then it is a legal document. The tech support has been great. They are polite and prompt and very helpful so kudos to them. As for everything else.... When I signed up for the program they were very misleading and told me the program was set up so that I could work and go to school. I definitely got more than I bargained for. This program has been nothing but stress and I had the opportunity to talk to some of my other classmates during our CLC group projects and they expressed the same thing. I truly believe there are better schools out there. Make sure you do your research and read the fine print before you sign because otherwise you will be surprised by all the stuff they didn't tell you upfront. Good luck. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 3 of 5 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on August 18, 2017 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Stay away I am about 1/2 way done with the online portion of the Masters in Counseling program. That being said I also hold an MBA, a teaching certificate and undergrad degree in finance. (I'm not stupid). This is the most frustrating program I've ever worked with. The other classmates seem to be on a different level- a much lower academic level. There is a huge amount of copying that goes on for weekly question posting. Once your answer is posted its free game for anyone to copy and re-word as their own work, there is no recourse. I am also well versed in APA format, some facilitators (I hesitate to call them professors) give full credit on APA while others will take off points for APA formatting. I've been using APA for over 10 years and my format certainly doesn't change from class to class. Some assignments are pointless, I am currently in PCN-515 and most weekly papers are personal essays yet these require references? I've had classes where weekly 'papers' are simply outlines and the entire class focuses on how to write a research paper outline, rough draft, final draft etc- in a graduate level program I would expect people to know how to assemble a 'paper'. No assignment has required more than 2000 words. Other classes have multiple powerpoints and not papers. I also realize this is a Christian University but I am not in the Christian counseling program, many of the classes have a strong religious overtone to them, which is off-putting to a secular person. Honestly- this program takes very little effort- less than 3 hours a week and I have over a 3.8 GPA. If I had to do this over again, I would pick a different online program. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 6 of 9 people found the following review helpful Zlloyd1 (In Progress) on July 2, 2017
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: GCU Student Instructors are Terrible I have been taking graduate courses for Healthcare Informatics at GCU for the last year or so, and have maintained a 3.9 GPA.... Thta seems like it may be changing though as GCU has an annoying habit of randomly assigning "Student Instructors" to these courses in order to save money. This is a problem because these are just students as well, and oftentimes do not fully grasp what they are supposed to be teaching, and end up trying to overcompensate for this by pretending to be a Road Scholar, or something. That is fine by me, but becomes a problem when you get one that is overly harsh in their grading of your work. I realize that a strict teacher is not something that can really be complained about, in fact it might be a good thing, but it IS a concern when they start taking points off of your work for little things that you KNOW you did correctly because they don't even know what they are talking about. Case in point, my current instructor is constantly riding me like Seabiscuit about my APA formatting, and references for projects, but she obviously has no clue about APA formatting herself, and seems to be just making it up as she goes along. I KNOW APA format like the back of my hand, but she finds something wrong in almost every sentence of every paragraph of my papers. So, I submit a solid 'A' paper, and when she finally gets around to grading it, I end up with a 'C-' because she is confused. Also, there does not appear to be any recourse for an online student to complain about an instructor available from GCU, and their mentality is basically, Oh Well, we got your money so tough luck. Maybe you should have thought of that before you enrolled. As well, you are almost ALWAYS directed to contact your Student Advisor about troubles with the school, but they are really just a switchboard to direct you to somewhere else, and after a while you get tired of being ping ponged back and forth by people who obviously do not care at all. The "system" (stretching that word) in place at GCU seems to have ZERO to do with helping you learn, and more to do with getting your tuition payments, and I am seriously considering dropping out now, even though I am only 3 courses from completion.. I have to warn anyone who is considering this institution to BEWARE, once they get your money, they no longer give a hoot about you!! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on May 21, 2017 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Good learning experience I completed RN-to-BSN in GCU. Currently. I am working on my MSN. My experience with GCU is very positive. The course materials are up-to-date and related to my work. If you make your efforts in reading all materials and completing all assignments, you will learn a lot. I am very happy to have the opportunity to recharge myself. What makes my learning experience even better is that my company pays 80% of my tuition. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 5 of 8 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on March 30, 2017
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Lots of Better Options Out There The enrollment process was a nightmare. And then I was bounced between two different counselors who never told me the same thing. My professor was non-existent as he felt free to access YouTube videos were an acceptable substitution for teaching. Vague directions with specific expectations. Just not a positive support network. I stayed for one class and then left as quickly as I could. They charged me nearly $2,000 without applying financial aid for a non-education with an absent professor. Sounds fair, right? Was this review helpful? Yes - No 10 of 10 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on March 25, 2017
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: DNP Student Not Allowed to Graduate Since internal review board (IRB) approvals for each student's capstone project have taken such a long time for GCU to complete - many students in the DNP program have been forced to take additional extension courses in order to initiate, complete, write-up, and submit their Capstone projects. Extension courses cost almost $2,000 each. Additionally, the program now requires DNP students to have their Capstone project reviewed and edited by a professional editor which costs another $3,000 to $5,000. The DNP students are further required to stipulate that their editors submit an affidavit to the school attesting to what they changed or recommended be changed. Many students are stress out and contemplating leaving the program as many believe GCU will never allow them to graduate. Students considering this DNP program should do their due diligence, they may never be allowed to graduate. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 2 of 3 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on December 21, 2016 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Level of students is VERY low I had to take 3 courses in GCU to obtain my permanent license to practice since I wasn't trained in the US. I don't like online classes because I don't get half as much as I would attending an actual class. But I didn't have the time to go to a campus and this was more practical. The level of expectations from the teachers was very low - I could read the crap, non-sense, stupidity that most students would write and they would still get full points. No argument, proper reasoning and everyone sharing their own personal struggles to use as examples - who cares, this is not your personal therapy or space to vent! Not only that, a lot of times some students who were commenting just to get points and had no real clue about what they were writing, would basically repeat what I was saying in their comment - copy my ideas - and get full points. I don't know what kind of professionals these people will be but the intelligence/academic level of the students is VERY low and they still get the grades to pass. SO many times have I wanted to correct them or tell them off for copying my ideas, but I just had to bite my tongue. They are just dumb and some of their comments were just plain BS bla bla with no real content, bad writing skills (bad English as well), and no logic, and beneath any university-standard I have ever seen. Teachers in the 3 courses have been very nice, accessible and knowledgeable and admin in the university as well, very helpful and quick to reply each time. The actual content of the course is pretty complete and interesting. It's the type of students that bring the quality down. But if you make an effort and focus on yourself then it should be ok. The other day I met someone who was also enrolled in GCU with a different program who told me she felt the exact same way. I'm sorry to sound harsh but I wanted to be helpful to others by writing this review. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on December 7, 2016 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Awesome experience I graduated from GCU's online BSN program in 2014. My experience was great! It was very time consuming but I loved the shortened classes. I chose a different school for my MSN simply because I wanted a slower pace for a while. I am about to graduate with my MSN in education and will be returning to GCU for my DNP. I have found over the last few years that most of those who complain did not put 100% into the program. I had great instructors and my advisor was excellent. She was faithful to call me every 5 weeks and she also would change me out of a class to a different instructor if I wanted someone in particular. School is not easy and it is not a free ride. I spent upwards of 20 hours a week on school work during my BSN education but I learned so much. I know the DNP will not be easy and it may make me insane but I will dedicate as much time to it as is necessary to be successful. I recommend GCU. If you are having a hard time or don't have a great advisor, request another one. You are paying them so they work for you. Be sure and ask questions and make sure you understand the rules and regulations. This is adult education and we have to be responsible adults and own it. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 4 of 4 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on November 15, 2016 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: I/O PhD program I have been a student at GCU since the summer of 2015. With any school, it has its positives and negatives. I have two bachelors and two masters from different schools. At any rate, the campus is absolutely beautiful. I'm sorry that many of have not had a good experience with school; however, I have had just the opposite. The professors are like professors at any other school I've attended, the positive and the so-so. I have not come across any professors who wasn't there to answer my questions when needed. I have participated in 8 classes and 1 residency. I've learned a lot and all the classes are coming together to where I better understand what I'm shooting for in the program. Some of the material is slightly dated; however, we are research students and researching is paramount to our success in the program and completing our dissertation. The curriculum is spelled out and it's not difficult to understand, at least for me. There are two discussion questions, the first one is due no later than Saturday at 11:59pm (Phoenix time) and the second one is due no later than Monday at 11:59pm (Phoenix time). Three responses are due to fellow students and/or to the professors' questions on three separate days. I do not understand how confusing that process could be. Normally, the initial question response and response to either the professor or other students is between 150 - 250 word count with at least one reference and in-text citation. Again not difficult to understand. All documents state this school uses APA format and again, this is something that a student should have learned in high school, if not during their bachelors' program, especially if they had to write papers. Even with my most difficult class (Statistics), the professor provided great help and I pulled an A out of the class. I am not a numbers person. The professor provided his personal phone number and email for any of us who needed extra help. and boy did I need extra help. To be honest, when we enter college life, we should not expect a babysitter because professors are not there a day camp. Loud Cloud appears to be stable and since starting last year, I have run into only two problems. One were Turnitin was down nation-wide for a day or two; however, we were kept up to date of the process. And the second were, my assignments would not attach but we came up with a work-around to ensure our assignments was submitted in a timely manner. I cannot speak on student loans that some many others have spoken about because I have not used it; though, I was told that it was a requirement to submit the FALSA (or however that's abbreviated) paperwork even though I told them I wouldn't be using student loans. I have been paying every month out of pocket and hope at the end, the government will not chase me down to repay something I never used. I supposed I had better verify with my student advisor. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on November 14, 2016 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Grand Canyon University Masters of Science in Nursing I completed my BSN at Grand Canyon University this spring and entered directly into the Master's Program. If one attended the RN to BSN program prior to the Master's Degree program the Master's Degree program is much easier. The technology is great (major MSN with emphasis in healthcare informatics). There is some vagueness in curriculum, however, having taken other online courses this curriculum rates a 10 compared to what is out there. Questions are answered promptly and, for the most part, office hours of the instructors are reasonable. Some instructors provide better ancillary instructions for assignments than others do. The enrollment counselor and advisors are superb. The school tuition is prohibitively expensive. There are ample resources and instruction provided for any student who possesses a good mastery of English and wishes to succeed. Ample free tutoring is available for English as a second language students however, there are those who do not qualify or belong in the programs trying to make it through without legitimately doing the work. GCU has taken steps to address this issue. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on November 12, 2016
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: RN to BSN The RN to BSN program is pretty good for the most part. The instructors are pretty much hit and miss. Some of them are great and some of them are awful. They are either very easy and don't care about APA format or very strict and deduct for every little thing. There is no in between. The Capstone program has been an absolute nightmare so far. The instructor I have refuses to teach me. This is the last course I have in order to graduate. If you ask her a question she screams at you in all caps. It has been an absolute disaster. She has totally ruined the whole graduate program for me. I have hated every minute of this capstone experience. I sincerely hope they get rid of her. I have never had such a bad teacher. It is a shame someone gets paid to be this bad! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 14 of 16 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on October 11, 2016 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Excellent Academics - Questionable Entrance Requirements To obtain a college degree, any college degree, you have to want it. You have to be willing to put in the time and the effort to attain the level of knowledge that is associated with a college degree. The level of instructors is no better or worse here than at ASU, UCLA, or USC where I have obtained other degrees. That isn't the problem that I have with GCU. My issue lies in the competency of other students with whom I must converse via the online classroom. There are some students who are barely literate, let alone the caliber of student that should be required prior to admittance to a university. While my success or failure does not depend upon my fellow students on a routine basis, there are occasions when we must enter the Collaborative Learning environment. What a JOKE! On all but one occasion, I have written the majority, once the entirety, of the project while my team mates accepted the "A" grade. In one instance, four team members had worked fairly successfully together for the week. On the last day, the fifth team member took the finished product and submitted it as his own. I filed a complaint with the instructor, but I never got resolution on the matter. This is my biggest challenge with the university. I believe it is unnecessary to require people who have never seen each other, who are often employed full-time and have vastly different schedules and availability, to work together to create a cohesive, truly collaborative end product. GCU is no better or worse than any other institution with regard to finances and response from representatives. College is expensive. College should be challenging and the level of literacy and intelligence should rise accordingly. Students who can't form a complete sentence should not be enrolled in a university. They should attend a community college where they can get remedial help before moving on to attain a college degree. In closing, GCU is a good school with excellent programs and adequate instruction. Entrance exams should be mandatory however. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 9 of 10 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on September 30, 2016
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: An OK program Grand Canyon's DBA program is fairly new. I have been in the program 3 years now and have entered by dissertation phase. I do not believe I will complete my dissertation by the end of the dissertation courses and fully expect to use at least 2 or 3 extension courses. I have heard of people needing 5 + extension courses to finish in the program. The course part of the program is very soft skills heavy. There is not enough emphasis on accounting, finance, etc and too much on strategy, HR and such. What I liked: 1. The coursework was generally pretty interesting. 2. A few of the instructors were top notch and fully engaged. 3. The online classroom and resources seem pretty bullet proof. I can only think of one time that I could not log in during my three years in the program and it was resolved within a couple hours. 4. I like the idea of the residencies - however see my comments in don't likes. The residencies were great for networking with other students and honestly the other students were more helpful than the instructors. Feedback from instructors at the residencies was often contradictory. What I did not like: 1. 2/3 of the instructors are useless. They provide little useful feedback and are typically slow to respond if at all. 2. In the program, they state that you are working on your dissertation from day 1. However once I got to the true dissertation phase that was rubbish. What I thought I had was not fit for purpose or even truly useful. I more or less had to rip it up and start from scratch. 3. The residencies are disorganized and for the most part very little information is imparted to the students. They main problem is the student to instructor ratio. There are just too many students in each class during the residency and each student is working on a unique research proposal. Generally speaking the squeaky wheel gets the grease and the loudest student gets the most attention. I would have gotten more value from a solid 4 hours with an adviser one on one than a week at a residency. 4. No breaks in the program except for Christmas. It is a marathon that never ends. Classes are 2 months long and the day one class ends the new one starts the next day. It is exhausting. I would prefer a couple week break between classes even if that meant graduating later. 5. My dissertation adviser is new to GCU and has not a clue. Additionally as I mentioned before I had to pretty much start over from scratch. My adviser tries hard but just does not have the experience needed to support my needs in the program. My final verdict is that the program is average. I am not sure I would recommend it to anyone but I would not try to talk someone out of it either. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 16 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on September 10, 2016
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: DNP Program I may be wrong about all of this but online educators seem to get meaner at you progress through the program at GCU, especially those in the Capstone courses (DNP 955, DNP 960, DNP 965). I am beginning to wonder if they really want us to even graduate since so much minutia is required to moved forward. The program chair is particularly abrasive toward students. She has both a PhD and DNP but her arrogance toward students seeking the DNP is unbridled. I have been at GCU for many years and have been successful with several nursing degrees there (MSN, FNP, etc), however, there seems to be a cloud of animosity that nursing educators, retained by GCU, have toward to students. I believe much of that comes from the program chair. The Chinese say, "the fish stinks from the head down." I do not currently believe that I can or will graduate from the DNP program, although I've made almost a 4.0 average in the program. Of course, I will continue to strive ahead to meet the demands of the program. I've never failed at anything - but this may be a first. If you are planning to do the DNP at GCU - ask some hard questions first. How many DNP have they graduated? While this is a relatively new program, I know they have graduated one crop already - many of which are used as on-site educators. Honestly, I'm not a complainer - I understand how life goes, but I'm very concerned about the current DNP program chair at GCU and the contract educators that she uses. Regardless, I wish everyone the best ever as they seek out a DNP to move their career forward. Regard,,,,,,,,,,,Anonymous Was this review helpful? Yes - No 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on August 30, 2016 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: RN to BSN - Great Experience!! I completed the RN to BSN program in December 2015 and my experience with GCU was phenomenal! Everyone from the enrollment councilor to my last instructor was everything I thought it would be. The course work is all laid out for the entire course and it was all very well organized. It was a lot of work and required you to put in the time, but the end result was worth it. The best part was that all of the course work was applicable to the practice of nursing. If you are an ADN RN looking to earn your BSN I highly recommend GCU. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful Frazzledtripletmom (Graduate) on August 23, 2016 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Very good experience at GCU My experience at GCU was excellent. From my initial counselor who enrolled me, to my final experiences on campus for graduation, I recommend this school. My initial counselor provided his cellphone number, and it was very easy to contact him and he always returned my calls quickly. I had no problems with classes, as once one was finished the next in line would show on my portal. My professors more often than not held doctorates, and were generally very helpful and communicative. I did not care for one professor's style, but that is bound to happen and does not reflect on the University as a whole. The classes were challenging and I was required to do a ton of research papers. The other people in my classes were very professional and a joy to do projects with. Never at any time did I have any type of financial discrepancy with GCU. However, I have seen many people on this particular review site whine and complain about things that were their own responsibility to take care of, not GCU's. They blame GCU for not being accredited, or they blame GCU because their degree did not lead to certification/licensure. Really? The blame lies solely with them for not verifying these things up front. With anything in life, do your research and make an effort to get a positive outcome. Be proactive, not reactive. I am glad I did! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 2 of 3 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on July 31, 2016 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Very good program for online I have read a few negative reviews about GCU and that may be their experience but it is not mine. I have attended the Bus Adm. program online for 3 years now and I absolutely love it for the most part. I have gained a wealth of knowledge that I can use in the corporate world. There is a ton of work and some of the assignments are very challenging so you really have to work hard in order to be successful. If you do not have any experience in classes like accounting or marketing, I would suggest getting a tutor because they can be really hard. I am excited because in 8 more weeks I will receive my BS in Bus Adm. and I have a 3.0 GPA. Since I have attend GCU I have had maybe 3-4 Advisors but for the past 2 years, I have had the same one and she is very helpful and she always return phone call. One time I had to call the top person over the program that I am in and I received an immediate phone call back and my problem was resolved. In order to be successful at GCU or any online school you have to stay on top of your work and put forth a lot of effort but in the end, it is truly worth it. I will say that they can afford to charge less for the classes because I think they are to high. Yes, you may come across an instructor that is not so good but that happens at any university. What I would say if that happens, stay in touch with your Advisor or someone higher and keep notes of the issue, I did and it worked to my advantage. GCU has one of the best online setups and I would not change that at all. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 6 of 6 people found the following review helpful Enekemike (In Progress) on July 27, 2016 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: GCU review...Very Good School! I AM JUST ONE WEEK SHY OF OBTAINING MY msn from GCU. I have had a very good experience with the school in general, it is true that I went through a few lecturers who were awful but I also had lots of very good instructors . If you are disciplined, hard working and ready to study, GCU is a right fit for you. I will not hesitate in recommending this school to anyone. I was an online student with a bachelors degree from a different country, it is true that they will not spoon feed you but of course am used to not being spoon fed, therefore I have worked so hard to succeed and I will finally see the light at the end of the tunnel in a week's time. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 6 of 8 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on May 29, 2016 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Find another school Grand Canyon University does not require any sort of testing before being accepted into the M.S. in Professional Counseling program, and unfortunately, this shows in the quality of the many of my classmates. Some classmates are not able to form coherent sentences. Most are barely able to write at a high school level. The quality of the instruction is lacking in most cases as well. There have been times when I, and other students, have asked for feedback and the instructor is unwilling (or perhaps unable) to provide any insight into the topic. Other instructors have been so awful, I've lost my interest in learning in those classes. I've felt like I was alone. I am basically teaching myself and learning from textbooks. I listen to my coworkers talk about their counseling program classes, and I am envious. They're actually learning how to do counseling. I feel like I'm learning how to fake my way through it. If I were an employer, I would require some serious intelligence testing before I hire anyone with a GCU degree, simply because the program does not actually teach, but still passes out counseling degrees. It is not surprising then that GCU is not CACREP accredited. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 12 of 13 people found the following review helpful Mirandaaj35 (Graduate) on May 27, 2016 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Christian Views my ASS If you do not know what it means to pull they wool over someone's eye's, well then let me introduce you to GCU. AT first the state that they will do what it takes in making sure that all your credits are transformed over and that they will assist you in making the correct chose when attending GCU. Well the only thing they did was to pull me in to the school and about half way in turn around and tell me that the credits that I had would not be transferred over. When asked why it was that they did not meet their standards and that there was nothing anyone could do about. The Christian values that they announce and stand behind are not for them, but more of a line that is used to attract students. This school was all about money, money and more money. The instructors for the most part know how to read off a book and some do have experience but not in the field I needed. Most of their material was obtained from FEMA web-sites or other free sites that anyone can get at no cost, but GCU makes sure that they will charge you. My advice to students is make sure you research the school not once or twice but three times and have someone there with you so that they can bring you back down to earth when they try to paint a pretty picture. The values that GCU has are none, I would be a shamed if I were them to say Christian views and values. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 6 of 7 people found the following review helpful Kid (In Progress) on May 27, 2016 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Get ready to owe your soul to the GCU company store Really not what I thought it was gonna be. Lots of silly deadlines, group work sucks the most, and you all get graded for whatever free loader or should I say free loaders that fail to do their part. I am 45 years old A honor student even in nursing school so yeah I have no problem putting out the effort, but this school is terrible. Price is also very expensive, I was being told something different from my financial adviser when I found out I had been charged 4,000 more worth of student loans than I was made aware of. Honestly I would look into UTA they have one of the best ADN to BSN programs around. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 6 of 8 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on May 19, 2016 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Shame! Would not reconmend! Much like the majority on here have previously said, this school is just in it for your money. I was originally instructed to apply for a grant and was approved up until my first class ended. Then they continously called asking for $800 to pay for my "books" that I used in my online class and that I would have to continue to pay for the classes because somehow my "grant" readjusted itself and was denied last minute. Then, when I asked for my full course schedule, they kept running me in circles, telling me to check the website when I demanded to see my personal schedule. They were attempting to sign me up for fluff courses explaining it was all mandatory but yet I saw it nowhere on their website. Everything feels so insincere and it became clear to me this was a scam. Even now I have fully withdrawn from the school and they still try contacting me to see if I want to continue my degree. No thank you! Be honest up front and definitely don't tie religion into your lies. They should be ashamed.. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 9 of 11 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on May 6, 2016 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Run Away Everything was going well. I spent four months communicating with my contact at Grand Canyon University (GCU). I thought that I had asked every question imaginable. Once I made my first post as an online student, suddenly a wealth of information was provided. Much of the information would have influenced my decision to attend a different college. My biggest complaint is being lied to by the people at GCU. I started recording my phone conversations with GCU. It is only fair because they record all of the conversations that I have with them. As far as I can tell, I am within my legal rights as a first-person member of the conversation to record the conversations. I have caught them in several lies. I do not get myself involved with litigation, so these recordings are merely for my benefit. It took several months before I could get someone to admit the “mistake” that has cost me about $18,000. I could have stopped attending this university and gone somewhere else, but I had spent a great deal of time convincing the VA to pay for my classes and filling out paperwork. I am not sure that the VA would have continued to pay for a different school. I will never be proud enough to hang my diploma on the wall. I will be obtaining my master’s degree from somewhere else. This time, I will be sure to let the person know that I will be recording the conversation. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 7 of 8 people found the following review helpful Sheknowhownow (In Progress) on May 4, 2016
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: A shame before God. I am at the end of the first class that Grand Canyon University, said I must take and pay for. But, the degree I wanted was social work and I was told I could take the social work class, but I had to find somewhere to get the hours I needed as volunteer services which was 400 hours. I called the board for social services in my area and found out that GCU is not accredited for social work. So when I contacted my student adviser. She told me that the degree does not lead to a license. Of course I asked her what was the degree valid for if I can not get a license. This was something I truly wanted to do. To help many in the community who are less fortunate. Now, they are telling me that I will have to pay for three classes even though I have not taken nothing but one class. So, now I am stuck at their school that lied to me about having a relevant social worker program. I am so disappointed and I believe that this type of fraud to students who are receiving student loans that are guarantied by the US government should be looked into. They should not be able to commit fraud at their leisure. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on April 14, 2016
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: RN-BSN program I am in my third class in the RN-BSN program. I really enjoyed my first instructor but this last one has been a mess. She is very vague on assignments on exactly what she is looking for and takes off points for everything. I really try hard to make A's on my papers and she will demerit you to death. A lot of the problem is really her lack of clear instructions. Also, the group assignments are awful. So many people don't really care about them and they expect everyone else to carry their load. It really makes it hard to make a decent grade on them. I don't understand when they give you the end of course survey and you honestly tell them this stuff, nothing seems to change. It is still a mess on the next course. I am really not too happy with my experience so far. I will continue on but it has not been a very encouraging environment. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 13 of 16 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on February 18, 2016 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Poor Quality of Masters Students Let me start by saying this is part review and part frustrated vent. But please think twice before starting a Master's program here. My experience so far has been fine as far as the teachers, staff and curriculum. I have many years in the behavioral health field but need the Masters to get to the next level. I'm truly enjoying what I'm learning and have good experiences with my profs and their teaching. What is really starting to leave me utterly disappointed is the quality of students in my online classes. The majority of the discussion posts are written by students who cannot write complete sentences or critically think. Almost weekly 90% of my class doesn't read the instructions on what the discussion posts are about. Assignments are turned in that completely leave out the answer to the very specific question by the professor. They either don't answer the question at all, they don't cite their work, they call five sentences a solid post or they tell each other,"GREAT POST!" when the work is clearly below high school level. I just find it incredible that this is a Master's level class with the academic work being produced from students that are in these classes. They don't know how to comprehend the work or write at the graduate level. And like another reviewer wrote...it's the same people in every class! It's sad really, I'm paying a lot of money and spending all my time on these classes...which I should...only to feel like there's not a University level quality among the students. I'm getting A's so I know I'm doing something right, but my patience is wearing thin for what should be an vigorous academic environment and just isn't coming close to what I thought a Master's Degree would be like. If you're looking for an on-line masters program consider yourself warned. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 2 of 3 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on February 13, 2016 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Poor school, bad staff The platform they use for their online classes is horrible. You cannot tell what needs done and when - a due date for a discussion post versus when comments are due. The syllabus stinks. You have to go the student handbook for late policies and finding numbers for IT help is like wandering down a labyrinth. I wanted to talk with my program director and was told I could only talk with my adviser. The assignments are poorly written, the syllabus had typos. Stay away!!! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 5 of 6 people found the following review helpful J.yount (In Progress) on January 31, 2016 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Stay away In short I have never seen a more unethical University . I was billed for fees that I was not advised of and registered for a class without my knowledge or consent. I have complaints filled with both the BBB and Arizona Attorney General's office . I only wish I had done a google search I would never gone near GCU Was this review helpful? Yes - No 8 of 11 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on January 12, 2016 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Save your money and run! Do yourself a favor and STAY AWAY from Gran Canyon. First off, they have about 300 potential students (mostly Seniors in High School) assigned to what they call an Admissions Representative. This person is actually a COMMISSIONED SALES REPRESENTATIVE assigned to a region of the US. They are very difficult to reach and difficult to get answers from. You find out very soon that everything goes through them - I MEAN EVERYTHING! You cannot contact anyone at the University for real, only your representative. If you want to talk to someone at GCU, you have to wait until your representative gets you an answer (in our case it was sometimes weeks). We missed a deadline and were not told by our Rep that there was a fee associated with it. When our child decided not to go to GCU, and told them we were unaware of any fee, we were repeatedly billed for the fee. They would not cancel the fee regardless of our struggling financial circumstances. We also found out that the school has a pretty low reputation across the board and yet the tuition and fees for GCU are among the highest for a Christian school in the nation. Overall, the lasting impression is that this is a BUSINESS first and NOT a ministry. They are not interested in helping mid to lower income families get a degree at a Christian University - they are mostly interested in making money, building their facilities so they can compete with Liberty University (which is very similar by the way). There is no financial assistance for those in need of help, no compassionate response to those who cannot pay their exorbitant tuition, and no access to department heads, faculty, staff, student information representatives for parents who want direct answers to questions in a timely manner. It's kind of like the whole goal is to get your kids signed up for a program, get them to sign a contract (PLEASE DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING!), and then gouge you for fees if your child withdraws or decides not to attend. Advice: Send your kid to a junior/community college the first two years and then let them finish at a reputable university so they have a degree that is worth something! This will save them about half of the total cost of a college degree! Be advised, the directors who run GCU are hard core businessmen, living lavish lifestyles, building their financial base, and living large under the covering of a "Christian University". That's not right! As Christians, we are supposed to help those in need, provide assistance to those seeking education, making Christian Education accessible to everyone, not just wealthy parents who want to send their kids to a "Christian" baby-sitting school with bed checks and separate dorms so nothing bad can happen. WAKE UP PARENTS, get smart and skip GCU! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 13 of 13 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on December 31, 2015
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: DNP Program DNP Instructors mostly over committed adjunct faculty mostly from other institutions; as with many institutions (some with high ratings) these faculty in quality vary considerably Syllabi woefully poorly written especially discussion questions and have not been routinely updated throughout; it appears because they are seeking AACN accreditation for their DNP program that they do not want to draw attention right now to this problem. Typhon is not intuitive and poorly organized and explained despite several references or documents trying to explain it. When this program is advertised and listed as Self-Learning...believe it!!! An online fast paced self-learning format is not for everyone. GCU should certainly stick to the Post-MSN with an APRN certification for this program consisting of 12 eight-week courses. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 12 of 13 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on December 29, 2015 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great College I am a new student to Grand Canyon University. After taking two classes and passing both with an A I can say I would enroll all over again. There is a lot of work and research that goes into being an online student. One must be disciplined and dedicated. I will be graduating in 2019 and plan on obtaining my Masters Degree as well. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 8 of 10 people found the following review helpful Samuelc79 (In Progress) on November 18, 2015
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Derek Harada and Sheia Dwyer are wonderful I am an online student at Grand Canyon University. Advisor Derek Harada is wonderful. Professor Sheia Dwyer is wonderful. Love Grand Canyon U. I am an online student in the Master of Science in Professional Counseling program at Grand Canyon University. My enrollment advisor, Derek Harada, is a wonderful enrollment advisor who gives me a phone call every week to see how I am doing in my online class. My professor, Sheia Dwyer, gave me a phone call because she was concerned that I wouldn't successfully pass the online class. Professor Sheia Dwyer is very responsive and asks thought-provoking questions during the class. This is the final week of my online class, and I am sad that the class is coming to an end. My experience as an online student at Grand Canyon University has been very positive and wonderful. I highly recommend Grand Canyon University. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 14 of 14 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on November 8, 2015 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Good program but buyer beware. If you're considering this degree program, there are several things to consider: 1) If you want a government job in counseling, don't go here. The university is not CACREP accredited and the VA requires this. Unfortunately, no adviser told me this initially. 2)Very solid curriculum. I am licensed and working in the field but please see point #1. 3) Internships are required and must meet your own State licensing requirements in the end, though you can meet the State of Arizona's to get the degree. It's a great program for people working in the field who have a network in place and have a place lined up to intern or 'real' options lined up. The internship is the student's responsibility entirely. 4)Like most colleges, GCU is a for profit institution and the online programs are a 'cash cow'. As you can tell by other reviews, they will gladly take your money if you decide to drop out or not attend after classes have started. You better be a responsible individual to do the program and don't complain about not reading their refund policies. 5) IMPORTANT - I measured their curriculum against my peers in the field and GCU is solid. Spoke to two librarian friends at major universities (U of Michigan, U. of North Carolina) and GCU has exceptional library resources. They give you most tools to be successful but the lack of CACREP accreditation is problematic. You will be prepared for your State licensing exam coming out of here if you do the work but if you are planning to work for the Federal Government, go some place else. I imagine it is just a matter of time before individual states start following the Fed's lead, so beware. Hope this helps. I had a great experience here but trying to keep it real for potential students who may not be aware of Federal licensing standards. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 12 of 17 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on November 6, 2015 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: 1,495 dollars to drop a class within the first week During the first full week of online classes, I tried to drop my online class and withdraw from Grand Canyon University. I was told that if I dropped my class, that I would have to pay off a 1,495 dollar balance within 3 months. Most real colleges/universities allow you to drop a class within the first 2 weeks without penalty.... Now, I am stuck and have to take this online class, even though I have significant health problems....The Grand Canyon University Policy Handbook states that students are entitled to a 75% tuition refund during Week 1. However, Grand Canyon University is threatening me, telling me that if I don't pay my balance of 1,495 dollars within 3 months, my case will go to collections Was this review helpful? Yes - No 10 of 13 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on November 1, 2015 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Disaster I highly recommend not going into debt getting a degree from GCU and here is why. I am a foreign educated Elementary school teacher who was required to have an American degree to teach in my state. I hold multiple bachelor degrees from another country and have taught as a teacher there for 9 years. At the time I chose GCU because they were accredited and were available for online education. I was convinced by the financial counselors there that the cost of the student loans would be able to be paid back because of the teaching salaries I would earn. I was told that because I had foreign degrees that were accredited, I could achieve an American degree in 3 years instead of 4. The truth was that even though I was a student that achieved a 3.8 GPA, it still took 4 years, the student loan kept piling up to the tune of almost 50K. I constantly found my professors far from adequate to teach these courses and my experiences with GCU staff were horrible. It required intervention many times through the years by the Dean to get continuing messes they caused cleaned up. Although I have great American references from my student teaching and a good GPA it has been over two years with no job opportunities. Lots of substitute jobs which don't pay the bills. I have excellent reviews by teachers and students and their parents but no prospects for a classroom of my own. It seems that in this field it is so political and that nepotism is running rampant. My loan interests have risen beyond the point of no return. None of these issues in this field were ever brought up by GCU. They had an extremely hard time finding a school to take me in as a student teacher as most schools were looking for student teachers from more well-known universities. Bottom line is GCU Degrees in Elementary education are not the ones you want to present to a future school for a job. They are not well looked at unless you want a charter school or work in a risky area where they are desperate to keep teachers. Save your money and look for a better institution to spend the next 4 years at. These are my opinions but this mistake will affect me the rest of my life and the debt will stay with me past retirement. You need to consider all the facts from all sources before you make these types of decisions. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 5 of 7 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on October 13, 2015 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Master's in counseling Gaining internship is very difficult to impossible. There are too many counseling students per internships. I live out of state and the places I have tried to acquire an internship told me the school needs to first inquire for their students. The schools in this state set up the chance for the students. Now I have completed all my bookwork and received a 3.1 GPA and cannot find a place to work towards an internship. University doesn't seem to care and if they care too much they no longer work for the university. I owe all this money for schooling and do not a place to complete an internship. Be careful when you go to this school if you are looking for a counselor's. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 23 of 24 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on October 8, 2015 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great Experience! What a great experience! Approximately 44% of students starting a bachelor's or master's degree will not finish! That is a sad fact! It requires great effort, study and commitment to complete a degree program. Unfortunately, those who do not see it through need to vent. They use this website as an outlet for their frustrations. If you take the time to view many of the colleges' reviews (regardless of which college or university you choose), you will see that almost half are negative reviews. This is in line with the 44% failure/drop out rate I was talking about earlier. GCU is no different. My experience has been wonderful. I was an online student that finished a master's in education. Immediately I saw my pay increase over $10,000 annually. Many of the frustrated individuals that could not hack the requirements and want to blame the university for their failures don't seem to understand that GCU is a respected regionally accredited university that provides an excellent education. Had they 'stuck it out' they would have realized that. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 7 of 16 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on September 27, 2015 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Grand Canyon University equals University of Phoenix plus God and Cheerleaders. You will never get into any graduate school in any sort of a traditional degree like English, Sociology, History, or Anthropology because you don’t learn the same things at GCU that the students are apparently studying at the regular schools. So your only option is to get your Master’s degree from GCU too or go to University Of Phoenix or Walden or one of the online schools to get one of their degrees and then hope you can get a job teaching at one of the online schools because regular colleges are never going to hire you to teach at a regular college with a degree from GCU or University Of Phoenix. So just hope that University Of Phoenix and GCU floods the market with so many graduates that finally someone will let you into graduate school. Even if the other schools would let you in they would probably realize you don’t know anything pretty quickly then kick you out. The employees constantly change at GCU and the “professors” are not permanent and you end up dealing with a bunch of GCU graduates as your teachers and they work for GCU too, so that is how you get your degree. Forget going to conferences and stuff like that – it isn’t happening. It is basically like a giant University Of Phoenix thing with Christianity and cheerleaders mixed in so that it appeals to parents and kids who have tens of thousands of dollars to throw away on a sort of fake degree. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 18 of 23 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on August 15, 2015
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: GCU unprofessional, pedantic, nursing instructors The BSN degree program suffers from multiple weaknesses. Below are some of the sophomoric behaviors of these instructors: Instructors deduct significant points for exceeding word count with no notice. -Students are forced to work in groups where the other group members drop out without notice or warning and being responsible for the missing work. -The "spirituality" class which is a thinly disguised Christian fundamentalist xenophobic oratory. -Teaching assistants making corrections on style supposedly to the APA- in opposition to what the APA blog specifically clarifies as the proper method (this writer has an MA in English Literature, and degrees in 2 other subjects as well) -Reading assignments are often egregiously overloaded, obvious attempts to cover the reported curriculum and not actually addressing the issues. -Disrespect by a number of the instructors to working, experienced, intelligent, well established RNs, which goes against the very issues concerning validation of nurses' experience and value as addressed in the courses. Obvious errors supposedly covered by "that was a mistake you were supposed to find"- rather questionable, given the experience If you use this program, you will learn about the issues covered. But if you put true effort and spirit into the course, you will have a lot of frustrations. Be advised to look at GCUs settled litigations, (misrepresentation of job placement- federal fines of $5M), and other issues which may be found by "Googling" 'GCU complaints' or 'GCU instructor problems'. If you want a quick (though intense) course, then this fits that category, but I will not be pursuing my MSN here, nor do I recommend this program for a decent overall learning experience. Good luck, don't let them push you around (funny how the worst of the instructors list 'anti-bullying' as one of their foci) and caveat emptor, and spread the word- together, we can combat these disgraceful institutions. Oh, and by the way, to those who might thing this is “sour grapes”: I have a 4.0 average- strong 4.0. This review is for fair warning based on many years of real life expectancy of educational programs. -k Was this review helpful? Yes - No 8 of 15 people found the following review helpful Toddschorr (In Progress) on May 22, 2015 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: RUN AWAY!! This University is 100% about money and doing whatever it takes to get your money in their pockets. One of their enrollment counselors visited my school and completely lied about the cost of tuition for a degree. I enrolled at the school and was about to begin classes when I read over some fine print that the counselor had glossed over and discovered that I didn't actually qualify for a grant he has promised me and guaranteed me I would qualify for. This doubled the cost of tuition and I was so outraged that I called his boss to report this. She didn't seem bothered at all that he had directly lied to me. Needless to say I dropped out as fast as possible and began attending a real school where counselors were very honest and helpful instead of salesmen trying to close a deal. Also, you will never ever be able to reach you student service adviser. I called this person often and she never answered the phone or returned any of my messages. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 17 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on May 2, 2015 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: This is a good School I am at the tail end of my Bachelors degree at Grand Canyon University. I have been an online student the whole time. I have had a very good experience. I have had conscientious advisors who have responsible directed me in the student loan department. I have not been encouraged to borrow all I can. They have worked with me to make wise decisions all along. The classes have been decent and worthy. Yet, I admit there are some classes I would have preferred not to take but I would probably say that at any University. Since I have been on the Den's List this whole time I have been here, I can not really give any information on tutoring services. I have passed each class with either an A or B. The Instructors are great and will generally work with anyone wiling to apply themselves. I had health issues that forced me to take a couple months off and I got alot of support. I have never been made to feel like a number. It is apparent that there is general care about my success at GCU, what more can anyone ask? I was told that my review would not be excepted if I scored GCU a ten so I was forced to lie to give it a smaller rating. I believe that GCU is worth a ten star rating. Name one perfect school! In my opinion Grand Canyon is darn close. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 9 of 9 people found the following review helpful Staubyen (In Progress) on April 27, 2015 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great Job I have just completed my studies in Secondary Education leading to certification here in New York in February of 2015. I am starting my student teaching in the fall. I have read the some of the reviews posted on this site about GCU. I must say I have experienced none of these bad experiences over my course of study. All of the counselors and instructors went out of their way to insure that I understand the required for each of my classes and they helped me with all of my concerns. Over the year I have been there, I have never had a dispute that was not address and taken care of. I must say that on some occasions my professors were late getting back to me on issues with my class but they always text or email me on the classroom board or on my personal email. My experience was great and the staff was very very helpful. Cons, Would be that the DQs were not very clare but the professors were very good at posting add-on to the syllabus to insure we understand what was to be done. I would strongly recommend GCU to teachers if they are willing to put in the time required to complete the course. The classes were very very challenging. You will have lots of deadlines and group work that must be completed on-time. Great School GCU! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 14 of 19 people found the following review helpful (In Progress) on April 18, 2015
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Don't GoThere Most of the good reviews here come from undergrad and ground students and Masters. I'm an online student which is why I gave them a 3 in technology. To the student who rated GCU and has not attended yet, why are you on the board talking about the students who did go. I attended GCU last year for a year. I recently left and decided to go to another school that I was accepted at. I see the reviews have gotten a lot worse since I read these reviews last year when I was looking for a school. I was a doctoral leadership student I left with a 3.6 grade point average. I worked for that 3.6. The professors are constantly rude and don't know what they are doing. They don't reply to discussion in 24 hours. They are rude to their students online. One professor said the dean was telling them to stop giving out A's if the students can't write the paper should have no errors. Most of the professors don't know APA. The professors don't go by the rubric a and barely read the assignments and papers. My advisor told me that the financial aid paid for the residencies, which is not true, a residency will cost at least 3,000 dollars. They say they are the cheapest but they aren't. They don't have scholarships and my advisor told me they are told to push the loans and not even talk about outside help the student could get. Also your advisor is your financial aid officer and your academic advisor. The school I'm transferring to already gave me 5,000 dollars in scholarship money. They prefer loans to cash because they can ring up the bill, young students don't pay attention. They tried to put a charge on my account after I withdrew. I called the federal financial aid and told my advisor what the federal financial aid said in an email. Guess what they dropped the charge and my account cleared for a Christian school looks like I have god on my side. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 17 people found the following review helpful Eamcallister (In Progress) on December 9, 2014
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Impressed to Date I find the online learning system to be a bit buggy here and there, but overall it works pretty well. I found out that they are building it in-house, which is providing a live learning environment for tech student as well as an end-user product. I, quite frankly, was shocked by the bad reviews. I have completed two other online degrees, and there was nowhere near the level of difficulty or attention to detail paid to my papers. My current instructor has been late getting each grade submitted, but based on the detailed notes, feedback, and correction that she includes within the papers, I'm not going to mention it to anyone. After four years at my other school, I never one time feel that anyone actually read through a single paper that I submitted as I never received such a high level of constructive criticism. My instructor checked every citation and reference as well as providing comments on how I could improve my content, or a call out where I provided a good section. My first instructor didn't provide quite this level of detail, but it was apparent that she read the papers. I too noticed poor writing skills in the initial course, but my second course is much smaller, and I think that some folks were not able to proceed. I have had to work hard to meet the expectations of my instructors - harder, honestly, than I initially expected, and to call this a degree mill is an insult to those of us working to succeed in the programs. My adviser checked up on me every week during my initial course, they had a couple of issues that I had to work out - extra documentation and the like, but overall, admissions, enrollment, registration, and now attendance have been smooth. My adviser now checks on me only at the beginning of each course, and that's more than other school has ever done for me. I do think that there is a bit of turnaround in the admissions and enrollment areas as they have students working a lot of these positions, and they may have to leave to focus on studies, or perhaps they have graduated. It's understandable to me. My adviser does seem a little amped-up sometimes, though, so I will be approaching him with questions to at least put my mind at ease based on what I've read here. I hate that others seem to have had a bad experience, but I am writing about what has, to date, been positive to try to counter that a bit. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 12 of 14 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on December 7, 2014
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: GREAT SCHOOL I started my degree back in June. It took a lot of work on my end but the support I received to get into GCU was wonderful. There is a lot of work that goes into getting any degree. I am learning so much about different techniques to use in a classroom. The instructors do a really great job with feedback and taking students through assignments that can be confusing. If you are looking for an easy way to get a degree this is not the program for you. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 8 of 11 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on November 20, 2014 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Don't do it. 50% good instructors and 50% incredibly awful instructors in the nursing program. The marketing department at Grand Canyon University is exceptional and has managed to give the nursing, and all other programs, a remarkable reputation. In this case, it is undeserved. The clinical placement people did an amazing job getting students clinical experiences in the local hospitals and great hands-on experiences. Some professors really cared and went out of their way to help students while others were collecting paychecks and couldn't have cared less. They were condescending and unhelpful and hostile when challenged. I graduated with honors from the program this past year and am especially proud of that accomplishment because there was very little support or help from half of the instructors. The good ones -- and you know who you are -- deserve medals for working in that environment. It's expensive and timeconsuming for all involved. I understand all programs have their areas where improvements may be implemented, but this program could use them at almost every level. The Dean of Nursing appeared to be too busy having meetings, luncheons, and her photograph taken to supervise her personnel. Very disappointing. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 12 of 18 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on October 26, 2014 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: JOKE Decided I decided I wanted to be a nurse after having been in education for 12 years. Went to a cc and then decided on GCU for the BSN bc of cost and convenience. RUN RUN RUN. My first class was an absolute joke. There were others that did not do what is required in posts and yet got all the points. Good for them for not having to work and get an A. Then my second class came. For week 1 the instructor did not use the same grading criteria that had been provided. I informed her that her criteria was different. Her response, "Your paper is graded. What do you want?" I informed my advisor and sent screen shots. She tells me the class will be audited to ensure instructor is professional and doing what is necessary. Week 3 she again grades with a different rubric, in fact it was the rubric for the next weeks assignment. I get 70% which is failing in nursing bc passing is 76%. The issue had not even been addressed and I seriously wonder how I even got 70% bc the entire paper was graded with a rubric for an assignment not even remotely related to the writing prompt. I have attended and graduated from ASU with honors. I am proud of this. A degree from GCU is worthless and will be seen as such by others. I am eating the cost of GCU and have enrolled at ASU. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 7 of 7 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on October 6, 2014 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Ahead of their time in the Deep South I had nothing but a wonderful online experience! First, before even starting, find out if your State recognizes GCU for your increase in pay for a masters degree if you are a teacher. I did. While attending in 2005 and 2006 I was studying concepts and strategies that I only began hearing about here regionally until 2010. I am continuing to be pleasantly surprised when attending professional development sessions and hear about something I learned through GCU. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 13 of 13 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on August 18, 2014
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: GREAT University! I am SO GLAD I chose GCU! I am almost done, well, four more classes. I am so glad I chose GCU for my RN-BSN degree. ALL of my Professors are GREAT and so HELPFUL. I remember I used to attend Western Carolina University, Cal Poly, Pomona, and other community colleges. I have NEVER met any Professor that are SO GREAT, so helpful, professional, kind, and understanding like professors at GCU. I am doing online, but feel so close to my professors at GCU. I learned SO MUCH, all up-to-date information. I am currently in "Trends" class and my co-worker thought I'm doing my Master degree in Nursing. My co-worker received a Master degree in Nursing Educator from Cal. State Fulleton and her CLC assignment (course re: "Support your BILL SB 352" they (five students) only wrote one page letter "Brief" to oppose this "BILL". I feel I am learning so much more in BSN program. I am so ADMIRE my Professors and GCU staffs. They all are extremely helpful. Of-course you have to study and do your homework in order to learn and earn your degree. I am strongly encourage anyone to return school for BSN choose this school. You will be so GLAD that you did (like me). I don't work for the school. I am just an experienced RN living in California, returning to school for BSN. I am just a student who just LOVE GCU, and SO GLAD I chose GCU. Just in my Cardiac (Tele) unit there are seven of us attending GCU. My CNO asked us if I like GCU. We told him what a great school to attend! (our hospital and Benefactors given us scholarships to return to school). Was this review helpful? Yes - No 11 of 11 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on July 27, 2014 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Excellent Online University and Nursing Program, RN-BSN I have taken seven RN-BSN courses and really love it. Instructors are EXCELLENT and counselors are GREAT (especially Millitary Enrollment Counselor are the BEST). Instructors are very supportive and EXCELLENT. Courses are very interesting with latest information for learning. I just don't understand why some people given bad reviews about GCU. You have to read and do your homeworks no matter what school you attending. All my professors are very very good and graceful. I am so GLAD I chose GCU to do my BSN and I highly recomanding to anyone that have a very busy schedule, then this school will fit well for you. My friends went to University of Phoenix, Brandman, and were very unhappy because they have to attend class and stand up in front of class for presentations, plus many more on top of it. I don't know what more I can say except I am VERY HAPPY with GCU. Four more courses for me to EARN my BSN. I am so proud of GCU. Most nurses in my hospital already graduated from GCU and said the same thing about this university "great school, great RN-BSN program". Some of them already started MSN program. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 12 of 13 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on July 8, 2014 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: RN=BSN (GCU ADDING EXTRA COURSES IN MY CURRICULUM) I took Statistic, Patho., Health assessment, Speech/Communication, and two Psychology courses. I don't need to retake these class. GCU is VERY supportive and AGREED I do not have to take them, BUT GCU added two more classes which I do not need (to make up for money ??). This will prolong my graduation. The thing is English is my second language and I have been trying extremely hard to pass all previous classes with good grades. Two extra classes is a lot for me due to English. It has been extremely stressful making me so depress and just want to stop all total. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 17 of 17 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on June 28, 2014
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: I love it! I was scared off initially by all of the negative reviews. Once I started my courses I soon realized that a lot of the people who failed probably deserved it. I put in a lot of time into each and every class. I see people answer discussion questions that appear to have little or no effort. They seem to be trying to skim by and BS their way through. Which in my opinion is why some fail and get angry. You only take once class at a time and the work load can get heavy at times. I agree the most annoying part of the class are the CLC projects. I have had really great groups where I spent less time than I would writing a paper, and others where only a couple of people do the majority of the work. But this does not only happen at GCU, I have a friend who had the same experience at a local University. It is true that each instructor is different, but each instructor is different at any college you go to. Nurse should have experience with this as nothing is ever the same. I feel so supported at GCU, they always check in on me and have always helped me to succeed. Do not be fearful of what people are saying to you. Not every student tries 100% or does work honestly. My guess is, someone who goes from an A to an F probably plagiarized. Someone did this in the last class and the teacher flipped out and made it clear that you will be failed. I see that sometimes people post things that are sighted incorrectly and that is a form of plagiarism. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 14 of 14 people found the following review helpful Mhana811 (In Progress) on June 27, 2014
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: great school I started college at Florida state and ran out of time and money. Years later with a career and kids I chose to go back and get my degree online. I chose GCU and obtained my Bachelors degree. I graduated and I am now finishing up my Masters here at GCU. My wife is also an alumni of GCU with her BSN and MSN from GCU. I have nothing but great things to say about GCU. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 6 of 6 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on June 27, 2014 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Simply Wonderful! GCU is simply wonderful! I had the pleasure of doing the MEd degree online several years ago. The program was excellent as where the vast majority of the professors! The university truly takes an interest in each and every student . My degree allowed me to earn more. It has also made me a better instructor. For individuals who are not afraid of working hard as so many seem to be these days, I highly recommend this university. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 7 of 7 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on June 26, 2014 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Starting Program in a few days! I went on this site to read reviews and was very surprised at the negative responses. I was initially concerned and then questioned why I was even researching reviews. Virtually everyone I know who has gone here to obtain their BSN has been very happy with the program and personally I have found them to be very welcoming and supportive every step of the way during the admissions process and I look forward to achieving this degree with them. Nursing school by its very nature, is not easy and I do not expect that this will be either but I am willing to do the work and as far as the grading process, all nursing programs have a more stringent grading scale with 75% as a failing grade. This should not have been a surprise to anyone. I will post an update further into the program. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful Jgrimes2474 (In Progress) on June 18, 2014 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Enjoying it and still continueing too AWESOME SCHOOL I have been going here for a year and I love this school and have recruited one of my friends who is doing the exact program I am doing. I think that with any school it is what you make of it. I did have a problem and had considered transferring but I remained with the school and gave them the opportunity to fix the problem in which they did and Iam set to possibly graduate if all goes well in may of 2015. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 5 of 10 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on June 16, 2014
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Bad Experiance I live in Illinois and was assured by the recruiter that the University's program would be accepted. I contacted the state, they never responded to me. I completed the courses and earned me masters...then months later, Illinois tells me they do not recognize them. Have a masters I can't use now. Online teachers were not bad, but it became frustrating that my counselor always changed and no one had direct answers for me. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 7 of 8 people found the following review helpful Leterplay (In Progress) on June 6, 2014 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Good so far I am currently enrolled at GCU for special education and have two classes left before student teaching. The counselors vary when it comes to returning emails or answering questions. I noticed I was paid more attention to during the first few months. Now help comes and goes. The teachers also vary just like on a regular campus. Some are GREAT and go out of their way to answer questions. Others are often MIA. I've asked and seen other students post questions just to wait a few 3+ days for an answer. Every week we need participation, two DQ's, weekly journal, and a 1250 + paper, so returning questions needs to be done in a timely fashion. The question to instructor forum will often get you no where if you have a professor who is not "present". BUT like I said, I've had excellent professors that reach out, so it varies. Technical issues are not uncommon (right now I cannot access the forum due to tech difficulties), but you can live chat with tech support for smaller issues. They are very helpful and patient. The tech people for Taskstream and the library are also great. Small tech issues are not a huge deal, but I've had one paper not fully submit and although tech support contacted the professor (So did I four times) I ended up with a zero. Contacted my counselor and got in return "The grades have closed. You got an A for the class. Good Job" Hello? that was not the issue. I went from a 97-98 to 93 but I guess that does not matter. The work we do is challenging and absolutely relevant to my field of study and I enjoy gaining the knowledge through material etc. So far, it has been expensive (as expected from colleges in general) but I've received help ironing it all out (so far). I am too invested to go elsewhere, but I don't think I would anyway. I like this school overall and would recommend it to others (So far). I will leave another review after I finish the program if my opinion changes. To others also attending - stay strong! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 13 of 13 people found the following review helpful Tlennan (In Progress) on May 26, 2014 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Shocked. I'm shocked by the comments that I read here about GCU. I'm finishing my last class right now. I've had excellent communication with both the academic advisor, Jordon Alsop; and the financial advisor, Amy Lapa. My progress has progress exactly as promised and I graudate in 3 weeks. The instructors were a mixed bag. Just like you would get in any University. Some were excellent (Glenda Deahl) and some were average. I had instructor support through every class, from day one until the last day. I got responses from instructors within 24 hours every time I posted and I only had one grade discrepancy throughout my year long journey and it was resolved the same day. I've had numerous colleagues go through the same program and I haven't heard one single complaint except that it's expensive. I looked around at other RN to BSN programs and this program is a steal. Most estimates that I received for other programs were double what I've paid at GCU. I'm highly recommending the program to every new grad that I know. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 13 of 16 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on May 13, 2014
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Pleased overall I just completed the RN-BSN program at GCU. 8 people from the floor i work on have also completed online nursing degrees there including my nurse manager. It was very conducive to my active work schedule and not overwhelming. I can see where people who are not comfortable with technology may have some problems however, if you know the basics of powerpoint and Microsoft word you will be fine. This is a great option for people who are seeking a BSN without having to take all the " fluff" classes many universities require. I was able to simply take all nursing classes, aside from one short statistics class. Overall, i strongly recommend this program to all RN's who want to continue their education. I received a 3.8 cumulative GPA and worked 5/ 12 hour shifts a week and planned a wedding. Definitely do-able for anybody to succeed. I never felt scammed or mistreated. It is somewhat pricey but, to be able to complete the program in one year and not take extra chemistry, biology, ethics, and whatever else courses it was worth it to pay a little more. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 8 of 19 people found the following review helpful (In Progress) on April 13, 2014
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: GCU very distrustful If you have apprehensive about joining a school 100% of the time it is not worth the heartache. It is one thing to to be a fake, and straight blasphemy to use religion as a cover up.Leave Christ out of the phony formula. Anyone can go online, and study , without pay, noble articles and learn with out wasting hard earned money. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 13 of 21 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on April 10, 2014 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Avoid this school!!! Like another review on here I was proud to go to this school too, at first. I'm half way done and it has been the worst experience ever. First it is way to expensive, second the teachers treat the students which are professional RNs horrible, disrespectful and the instructions are vague. I am upset almost every week with this program. I wish I went somewhere else. Also there are group projects in every class and most of the students don't help, so if you don't do the entire project yourself you get a bad grade along with your group. This is just a horrible program period. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 12 of 18 people found the following review helpful Carlylechris (In Progress) on April 2, 2014 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Poor Customer service Grand Canyon did not properly file paperwork to collect funds for the military G. I. Bill. They did not contact, but instead listed it on my credit report and put a hold on my transcript. I had to resend the paperwork to the school a year later and the military paid them in FULL. I'm still unable to get my transcript and promised to clear my credit and never did. I've called and emailed many MANY times, but once they got there money they are unwilling to help. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 16 people found the following review helpful Wearemarshall03 (Graduate) on March 29, 2014 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Masters of Health Administration I have graduated with my Masters of Health Administration, and landed a position within a top tier hospital within two months. The education was phenomenal and the amount of time I spent doing the EBP was well worth the experience. Those that have complaints obviously were looking for a Christian experience or a handout with funding. I was well prepared and had no religious feelings about my education! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 12 of 13 people found the following review helpful Kimptruong (In Progress) on March 11, 2014 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great Program RN-BSN student I am learning so much from GCU materials. I love my on-line professors. I don't believe any bad comments about GCU. My instructors are all very supportive and very understanding. I love Ms Chrystal Davis Carter. She is enrollment counselor. She ALWAYS there for me. She never tired of me asking questions over and over. I feel like I am her only student. She never hang up phone until I am fully understood my subject. I really love everything about this school. And of course you have have to study hard to pass your class. Courses are very interesting and everything are up-to-date. For a private University GCU prices are not bad. Library and tutoring staffs are incredible. They are soooooo helpful and NICE. I am not an easy student but I love this school and have NOTHING bad to say about GCU. I would love to obtain MSN after my BSN. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 21 of 30 people found the following review helpful Jayrob1974 (In Progress) on February 14, 2014 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Disappointed and moving on This is my experience as a student of GCU who took nine courses and was enrolled in the B.S. Elementary Education/Special Education program. Everything was fine until a few months ago when I had to contact my local school district to request practicum placement. Most of the 12 courses that make up the major courses for this program require field experiences that must be completed in an actual classroom. My contact with the school district was positive until right after they asked me for a formal letter or email from my school officially requesting placement on my behalf. My adviser sent the email right away, and that is precisely when I stopped hearing back from my contact at the district (they hadn’t asked me what school I attended before this point). I followed up with them several times afterwards via phone and email, and no response. My heart sank. I am left to assume that the name Grand Canyon University does not turn heads in my area (NJ) as a viable provider of teachers. Also, I do not feel that it is the job of students to do public relations for them. Since few in the education field have even heard of this school much less their online teacher education program, they should have PR people travel the country and establish relationships with school boards nationwide before placing unsuspecting students in the awkward position of having to win the confidence of the powers that be. Considering the ridiculously high price they charge per course, roughly $1,800, they can certainly afford to do so. Speaking of price, I am now enrolled in a local not-for-profit university, and the price I pay for tuition is roughly $900. Yep, I can take two courses at a locally reputable college for the price of one Grand Canyon University course, a name that prompted local educators to cease communication with me. Academically speaking, the courses can be rigorous and relevant. Instructor quality varies (there were some excellent ones in my 9 course stint, but they were in the minority). One constant, however, is student quality. Just like the three other for-profits that I attended prior to GCU, they have an open enrollment policy, and let me tell you, they do let ANYONE whose financial aid clears in. Here you are working your behind off on your assignments and you’re in a class full of people who I just cannot believe ever passed the sixth grade in terms of writing skills, comprehension of what is being discussed, and ability to stay on topic. And what’s more, you see these same people in class after class. This does diminish some as you get to the more advanced courses, but please know that I did take one senior level course and a few junior level courses, and I still found too many of these students than I cared to. If you don’t mind explaining yourself to EVERYONE who asks you what school you attend AND have money to pay off an undergrad loan for the rest of your life, then I would say go for it. If you care about the quality of your education and the reputation of the college that grants you a degree, I say go elsewhere. In all fairness, Grand Canyon University might be respected in the Phoenix area; if you live outside the area, however, there are no guarantees. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 7 of 12 people found the following review helpful Sunnyskies519 (In Progress) on February 7, 2014 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: GCU Nursing Scam Please read this and the other reviews and take them seriously. I have begun my BSN education after being a nurse for 8 years. It is a terrible waste of money and time at GCU. My instructor is irritated at questions for the instructor. My counselor tells me to bear it because we're veterans and we can. I am utterly overwhelmed and the technology to assist me on the GCU website takes a class in and of itself to navigate. If you have time and are not working and have a lot of computer tech experience, this college may be right for you. If you are looking for ease if use and classroom support you must look elsewhere. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 11 of 12 people found the following review helpful Derderianmaria (Graduate) on January 16, 2014 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great Experience I received my MBA from GCU in October. I found the coursework challenging but managed to graduate with a high GPA. I had no issues during my 21 months as a student. I found the support to be exceptional - especially as I am a product of a public university so that was all I knew. I would call with a question and always had a rsponse that day or the next. With my two boys both attending a state university now I can tell you that IS NOT the norm. Peoole complaining about financial aid sound like they are 1) chasing a stpend or 2) failing courses and not understanding you pay for every class you take. If I lived closer to AZ, I would have my boys attend ground campus without reservations. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 18 people found the following review helpful Vince_jeevar (Graduate) on November 11, 2013 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Love this place! GCU is my third online college. The cost of the degree I am taking (MS in General Psychology), and the one I completed here (BS in Psychology) have been great value. There is no way on Earth this place is a diploma mill, I work very hard for my grades, and this is not an easy place to study, and nor do I want it to be. I want it to be something I have to work for. When I completed my BS I looked at other institutions and had no problem being accepted in two other colleges I applied to for my Masters, but in the end chose to continue my degree with GCU. The only downside I have ever had was one "instructor" who referred me back to my Academic Advisor because I was struggling in the course. Not very helpful, but ever other instructor, and my advisors have been amazing. Love this place and have recommended it to others who are also enjoying their experience. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 13 of 18 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on October 29, 2013 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Program is redundant and doesn't offer meaningful classes This program is really overpriced, you can get the same instruction at any other school for about half the price. The philosophy aspect was interesting, but is it really all that relevant when there are so many other issues facing education today? Instructors will not hesitate to give you a bad grade because this school can make more money off those who are forced to repeat a class. Not very ethical. This school is run like a business. They spend all their money hiring Dan Marjlee to coach B-ball and on expensive commercials instead of hiring good teachers. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 19 of 21 people found the following review helpful Dhay165 (In Progress) on October 2, 2013 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Almost done with MS I have been attending GCU for 2 years and will finish my Masters in Gen Psychology in a few months. One of the things I enjoyed about GCU was you do not waste time writing papers about your goals. I have attended other graduate schools where goal statements centered around every program change. These were in depth papers. If you do not know why you are in graduate school, there may already be a problem. Also after studying graduate level psychology I see benefit for goal statements and the encouragement they can offer, but it was not for me. All my professors have been responsive and knowledgeable, and my academic advisor has been assessable. I did have an academic advisor change during the first year, but there were no issues. Financial aid overall has went well. I did not realize my thesis course (last course) was only 2 credits and as such financial aid will not cover the expense, so I have to pay $1050 out of pocket. This would have been better to know sooner than later. I have taken 2 leaves of absence (more than 2 weeks) for summer break with my kids, and appealed a grade which was changed to an "A", without any issues. Regarding the CLC assignments, they can be tedious if the group fails to plan and communicate daily. Expect to work harder than you would if doing the project yourself, as you have to effectively communicate with others, and everyone may not be as motivated as you. I can report in 3 out of 4 classes where CLC assignments were required, the CLC project went very well. Keep up with progress daily. There is no "hand holding" at GCU, but the professors in psychology want you to succeed. I expect to maintain a 4.0 through my last 2 courses and it has been challenging and rewarding. I am reviewing schools including GCU for possible enrollment in a doctoral program. There will be issues at every school, but if you want a quality education in psychology GCU should be considered. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 18 of 31 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on September 11, 2013 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: do NOT go here, good lord save yourself! Two words; diploma mill. Don't believe me? Before you start at this diploma mill, ask ASU or UofA if they accept Bachelors from this school into their graduate programs. Even before their laughter dies, it will become apparent to you. I have taken 5 courses from this farce, and three of them were fluff classes. I took a 'critical thinking' course and my instructor sounded like Jenny from the block and spoke ebonics. No joke. I continued on thinking that the core classes would be good. Wrong again. Most of your fellow class mates' grasp of the English language is lacking. I already work in the behavioral health field and every day candidates resumes come in with this school on them and unless they have years of experience, they are shredded. This is a diploma mill, people. A DIPLOMA MILL. I have years of experience and I just need the paper, and it doesn't matter where it comes from. If the paper matters to you, steer clear of this 'school'. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 14 of 24 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on August 31, 2013 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: BEWARE!!! Really wish I'd read these reviews before enrolling in GCU! I got sick 10 days into my first course and had to drop. Now I owe GCU over $2000 for all the hard work and effort they invested during those 10 days. Quite the little scam they have going in the name of higher education. Grand Rip-off University would be a more accurate name for this institution. They weren't the first college I attended or even the first online school, but they were the only ones I ever felt I needed a shower after interacting with - and the first with which I have a complaint. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 19 of 23 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on August 23, 2013 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: 6 Years at Grand Canyon University I started Grand Canyon at the age of 56. I decided to go through my Bachelors and Masters program. Most of my instructors during my programs were very good, but there were a few that needed some work. When I experienced problems they were usually taken care of. If I had any problems with individuals I immediately asked to be re-assigned to someone else where I was paying the money for my education. I experienced many great changes that GCU made while I was attending. Being able to attend online classes was an excellent experience for me. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 14 of 23 people found the following review helpful Jitee (In Progress) on July 19, 2013 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Worst Experience of My Life The worst experience of my life. This place takes taxpayer money (through the form of financial aid) and privatizes to greedy shareholders...but then why not. Their CEO ran University of Phoenix into the ground several years back and then came to GCU like a parasite, ready to suck off a new host. Bottom line, they are only in it for the money. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 11 of 23 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on June 24, 2013 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: worst experience I had the worst experience with this school. will never recommend this school to anyone. all they want is your money, doesn't even matter if you gpa is 1 they will still enroll you as long as they get paid. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 36 of 39 people found the following review helpful Jayrob1974 (In Progress) on June 19, 2013
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Happy Online College of Education Student This review is based solely on my experience as a fully online student majoring in Elementary and Special Education. You should know right away that many of the teacher education courses require 15-20 practicum hours to be completed in an actual school setting. You will not be completing all of your course work online. My first two GCU classes were what I call “Welcome to College” and “Welcome to Online Courses” courses. They were extremely easy and redundant, especially since I had taken so many online courses before. You take one course at a time at 7 weeks a pop with GCU online, so that added 4 months to my completion time and $3600 to my debt load. I accepted this all things considered. I imagine there are people out there who are not tech savvy and/or have never taken a college course before that might benefit more from these courses. Anyway, after those first two mostly unnecessary courses, I took Critical Thinking. That course taught me a lot, and I have enjoyed every course since. I have taken them seriously and prepared for every assignment as if my life depended on it, since I am investing too much in this to take it less than very seriously. I have had classmates who are obviously phoning it in, and I have had serious students such as myself, and everything in between. Many of my instructors keep office hours at the Phoenix, AZ campus and were just a phone call away. Those same instructors would call me periodically and check on me or to follow up on a question I had posted in the course’s discussion forum. They have all been engaging and effective at the very least. Financial aid has been seamless for the most part, and I initially had some issues with eligibility that required an FA officer who loves a challenge. Needless to say she got the job done. There have been a handful of times where my FA adviser did not respond to my emails and/or voicemails right away, but she took care of the situations which prompted me to call or email in the first place and eventually got back to me to follow up. I get the impression that she is spread thin, and I totally get that since I am at my job, too. I received an $800 institutional scholarship after completing my third GCU course. I also received a smaller one for starting a class during the Christmas break. I transferred in all of my credits from three previous colleges. I am nearing the end of a dual major program, B.S. Elementary and Special Education. So far, so good, but if my experience changes I will definitely update this review accordingly. In terms of GCU’s credibility, I was offered a teaching position for when I complete my program by a principal who never heard of GCU. My point is that there a million private universities throughout this country that nobody’s heard of. If you deliver the goods in your interactions with people, particularly people in positions of granting opportunity, your best asset will always be yourself. Likewise, your worst asset can be yourself. Anybody that has a preexisting bias against for-profit schools or online degree programs is not somebody whose opinion or approval I am going to seek. I have spent 25 years working with and for the products of the traditional, not-for-profit university system, and I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly, the brilliant and the absolutely useless. Remember that you are the sum total of all of your experiences, educational and otherwise, and the name of the college printed on your diploma and transcripts alone does not have the ability, more often than not, to sell you. That is YOUR job. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 27 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on June 17, 2013 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: run run run I have been attending this University for a couple years now. I would not tell anyone to come hear. The teachers do not help. Actually their is not one person that cares about your future. They are not willing to hep you at all. The classwork has nothing to do with your study. They keep raising the cost. When you tell them you are going to dropout of their university and do not enroll you into any more classes they do. You should run do not even look at this University. When grading they mark you wrong when you know it is right. The ones in the office will call you for a few classes then you can not get a hold of them when you need help. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 12 of 13 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on May 30, 2013
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Mixed experience I am over half way done with my degree, and have enjoyed my experience for the most part. First, you have to remember this is a for-profit school which is always ran differently than non-profit state colleges. That said, it is expensive. if you are really concerned about finances forget going to a university and go to a 2 year community school. I am going to walk away with debt, but that would happen regardless of where I go. Second, most of my professors have been good. Some have been amazing (like giving me his cell phone and allowing me to ask him about a whole slew of things) others have felt like they are having teaching aids do all their work. But that happens in college. No one is going to hold your hand and baby you through it. third, the undergrad/ elective course work is relatively easy, at least that's how it seems. Now that I am doing all core work though it has been more of a challenge and I finally feel like I am learning something. I still feel like some of my classmates are copy/pasting answers which bothers me, but I'd say at this point 80% of us really are working, debating and learning. fourth, people are extremely helpful at first and you get a lot of phone calls. by year 3 your on your own. To get anything done, be proactive. The financial aid office sucks, so stay on top of it. Bug them and it eventually happens. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 19 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on May 15, 2013 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great Online School I have been a student at GCU for almost 2 years and I have had the best Counselors in every areat from enrollment to financial. I get at least 1-2 follow up calls per class. If I make a call to them I ALWAYS get prompt returned calls back from them. I will have to say that I have had at least 1 or to poor instructors they did not seem to care but most of them give you good feedback and sometimes they call you or email you. I have friends and family that attend GCU and most of them have nothing but good things to say about the college. They actually believe that the work is a little more challenging than most other online schools that some of them have attended. A few have complained about a Counselor or instructor not calling them back or not being concerned but not as bad as some have made them sound. I would recommend this college for anyone interested in taking online courses because I believe that the school is fair and have good people working for them. Yes, they probably do have a few bad apples but they don't spoil my entire view of the school. I am thankful for the education that I am receiving at GCU Was this review helpful? Yes - No 21 of 29 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on May 10, 2013 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Questionable Ethics and Employment Practices I'm also a behind-the-scenes contributor, a current online doctoral instructor in Counseling. Turnover is apparently high among online GCU instructors, most of whom are only part-time and are not treated well by the university. This department says it wants to uphold academic standards but teachers who do so are harassed and threatened, even removed from classes for the slightest complaint by a student being held accountable to minimal standards. In the short term, that may sound appealing to less capable learners(of which there are many, because GCU has no admission requirements such as the GRE or even a basic writing exam) but it ruins the reputation of a Counseling degree from this school. As long as a student pays tuition, she or he will likely get the degree regardless of whether they meet minimal academic and integrity standards or not. That makes GCU little better than a diploma mill. Good luck with this degree competing against recipients of APA-approved or ACA-approved doctorates from more reputable universities that actually uphold standards and therefore actually produce quality graduates. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 24 of 37 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on April 15, 2013 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: they have no human compassion I attended this school online in the hopes I would complete a degree in education. What I got was a nightmare and money ripped out of my hands. I was scheduled to do two classes (they tell you HAVE to register for two classes one per semester. Anyway, I was also in IVF treatments and was fortunate enough to get pregnant with twin girls. My goal was to get a couple classes under my belt before my girls would arrive. At 21 weeks I got hospitalized, just a week short of the first class ending adn the second class hadn't even started yet. I told them and they didn't care at all. They gave me a B for the first class (I was doing well in that class so they couldn't fail me) and then gave me an F for the class that didn't start yet. In the meantime from 21 weeks to 24 weeks I struggled to keep my girls from deliverying. Tortured with needles and experiments. Finally at 24 weeks, I went into convulsions and almost died on the table. they performed an emergency c section and delivered my girls, unfortunately they were taken from me by an infection and died shortly after. When I got home I tried to plea with them if I could get the money back for the class I didn't attend and they were fully aware I couldn't ahead of time. They made me write up my horrible experience of losing my girls with asking me of their death certificate. A panel reviewed my case and told me that I was denied. This school has no soul. I buried my children around that same time. Luckily I went on to have two children however, I was too afraid to go back to school for fear I would lose all my money like the last time. What was even worst was that they had me on a call list and kept asking me to re-consider. I almost blasted the person on the phone. Never again. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 29 of 44 people found the following review helpful Hannahchristensen (In Progress) on March 27, 2013 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Previous Employee-PLEASE DO NOT ATTEND I lasted 8 weeks here (including the 3 weeks of bs training) and quit on my own accord after being mentally abused by my direct manager and her supervisors. The school may spit the christian game but they don't walk the walk. I was forced to work without breaks, our talk time was logged and presented to the division on an HOURLY basis. No drinks or snacks at our desks (at least that's what MY boss said.) I was told at one point that I cannot speak to the person who sits across from me or behind me. I was not able to speak to finance or academics, we had to go through our manager for everything. They plaster numbers such as REG's, talk time, dials, conversion percentages, etc. ALL OVER the walls, in meeting rooms, on desks, everywhere. It was horrible. I felt like I worked in a sweat shop. What's sad is we all cared about our students but the environment was too much to deal with so I walked out one day. I remember a meeting we had with the CEO and we were told to step up enrollments or we would all lose our jobs. I hate to bash a school and I'm sure some who have earned their degree here are doing just fine but if you want an ethical and helpful experience, do not attend here or be sure you do your research. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 29 people found the following review helpful Lincon (In Progress) on March 27, 2013
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: RUN RUN RUN The Professor for the GRAD School in Nursing Is unprofessional. RUN RUN....First day and you are stuck Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 19 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on March 18, 2013 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: So Disappointed Overall, I had a so-so experience with this school. The majority of courses were extremely easy and required minimal effort. If any issues arise during your time there, however, the advisors act as if they do not know how to handle the situation. The professors are basically a joke and half of the time they don't even read the assignment they are grading. They barely respond in the discussion forums and I would not even waste my time trying to reach them otherwise for questions or concerns. I had researched the school before applying and was concerned by their extremely low graduation rate... and now it all makes sense. It is not because the program is difficult, but rather because the instructors do not care about you. I feel completely used by the university, as they have shown me over and over again that I am nothing but money to them. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 22 of 24 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on March 17, 2013 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: GCU - Not a bad university...but it some policy changes I'm taking my second to last class at GCU and will graduate with my BS in Nursing. The support service is good and some of the professors seem knowledgeable and others are just here because it a job. I cannot stand those that just ask you questions instead of adding their knowledge and expertise to yours. My worst experience at GCU was the CLC assignments. Could you imagine being placed in a group with people who cannot put a sentence together, those who prefer to wait last minute and their contribution to the project is pure crap. I would have given GCU a much better grade if they did not have CLC group assignments. It's not fair to be in a group with people who are uneducated, clueless, lazy, irresponsible, dumb and for lack of a better description those who think they are slick. I have heard all the excuses in the book - from I had to leave the country, I had the flu, I work 60 hours a week, my child is sick, I had a funeral and even I don't speak English well because it is not my first language. Well for all of you I DON"T CARE! Get with the program, we are all adults and should be held accountable. The CLC is graded as a group, which is not fair. If my grade depends on another persons work I don't give a @#%& what problems they may have. I was going away on vacation last Christmas and I made sure my section of the CLC was submitted 2 days ahead so I could make any corrections if needed.Well if you cannot tell I'm frustrated because I'm in a CLC group at this very minute and 2 of the group members are not living up to their responsibility. One of them I'm even starting to wonder how they even graduated high school, YES high school. I'm paying a lot of money for this program and would rather be judged on my own merit and work. I have a perfect 4.0 and I deserve it because I have put in the work. The program is thought provoking and I did a lot of research which helped me in a lot of ways professionally and personally.Well I vented and I feel a lot better. I graduate in May.....Yeah Was this review helpful? Yes - No 20 of 28 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on March 17, 2013
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: STAY FAR FAR AWAY Professors are absolutely horrible. Their comments on assignments do not match the grades they give. Half the time they don't appear to even read the papers. For example, professor told me I did a great job explaining the super-philosophies of supervision but failed to match one with my own beliefs. HOWEVER, the ENTIRE paper was about experimentalism and mentioned NO other super-philosophy at all in it. The assignment directions are very vague and most professors will not support or help you as they have no clue either. The online program is a boxed set of classes where they simply check the boxes off. Its a lot of money for a terrible experience. Each week is a research essay of 1500 words plus 2 discussion questions and 3-5 responses. No consistency between professors and school policies and proper writing. One professor said never use "I" in grad work the next one took off because I didn't. HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE....STAY FAR AWAY!!! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 27 of 29 people found the following review helpful Daryl.ligon (In Progress) on March 5, 2013 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Room for improvement but OK so far! I am not sure what some of the negative reviewers are complaining about? I understand what many of you are going through. I have experienced many of the same complaints that you discuss. However, several of the complaints are common to non-profit colleges as well. What do you expect? I would have hated to have some of these folks as fellow Marines, when I was in the Corps! They would have complained about everything! Yes, a University should provide excellent service by responding to your questions in a timely manner, professors grade fairly, respond promptly to individual questions, offer constructive feedback, and make sure they do their part posting lectures and what not. The support staff of any University should be ethical and fair as well. Like many of you I despise the fact that GCU is a for-profit University, but at least they try. GCU has spent a vast amount of money on student services such as the basketball arena. The dorms on the campus are new and fancy. GCU is going to add some franchise restaurants as well eventually. Has UOP spent money on student programs? Yeah right? I agree GCU should be spending even more money on student services, but the world is not perfect right? I agree that Enrollment Advisors at any for-profit University should not be pressured to "make the sale". I agree that the cost of college tuition is too high, and we should receive the best services. Do not be fooled that nonprofit colleges are actually non-profit. Have you looked at the houses of most Division I college Deans live in? At least the enrollment and academic advisors will check on you and see if you need any help for the most part. I cannot recall a time when an academic advisor every called me to see how I was doing in my course of study at the so called non-profit universities. You have to be PRO-ACTIVE at any University, which means if you feel the person assigned to you is not cutting the mustard request that they be dropped! The key is to be as friendly as possible with the staff, and if one does not call you back or take care of your issue talk with someone else. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 19 of 29 people found the following review helpful Hunt.rose1010 (In Progress) on February 25, 2013 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: THIEVES Do NOT go to this college if you expect to be informed of things going on in your education. This is the largest form of mafia and organized crime I have every seen from an institution. I wouldn't recommend this college to a friend who had a dog they wanted to send to training school. Awful. I switched my major back to Psychology and was put in a Math class which I was informed 2 days prior to the start of class by the instructor that I would need a book that cost $125. I am a single mother who works two jobs. Even if I could have swung the $125 for the book/program that was needed for the course, there was no way that I could have gotten it in time for the class. When I called my financial aide adviser and my academic counselor, they suggested I re-juggle my schedule AGAIN after spending 2 weeks on the phone with them trying to figure out what my schedule would be after my program change took effect. I had only posted one time to this class and they informed me if I withdrew from it I would have to pay out of pocket for the entire course. I have been to several different colleges and have NEVER been required to pay for a class that I withdrew from due to the fact that I was misinformed as to what would be required for the class. The book was included in the cost of tuition for every single course I had taken before that. RUN. DO NOT GO TO THIS INSTITUTION! They will make you take out student loans and then steal them from you for stupid & pointless education credit hours that teach you nothing for a full year before you actually start working toward your degree. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS INSTITUTION FOR ANYONE! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 25 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on February 12, 2013 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Not for me I took one class of this program. The instructor did not even follow the rubrics. He called me "unprofessional" when I asked why he was marking me down for punctuation/grammar when I had no punctuation or grammatical errors. The worst part is that I went into this so motivated and excited about obtaining my doctorate. This particular professor totally ruined the experience for me. The support people were very helpful, unfortunately they weren't responsible for my grade. When I finished the class, I was unable to evaluate the instructor. The option was never made available specifically to me for some reason. He also went on vacation for a week during my class. My philosophy is that he shouldn't make demands on his students when he doesn't hold himself to the same standards. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 29 of 40 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on February 6, 2013
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: I know what goes on behind those closed doors I was an employee of GCU for almost 7 years and watched it go from a small Christian faith based school into a University of Phoenix clone almost overnight. The emphasis since becoming publically traded has shifted from student service to making money and simply getting students enrolled and posting their first day of class no matter what - WARNING- if you post that first day you are stuck with the entire cost of the class. The entire online division is numbers driven where counselors will do anything to get students enrolled for fear of loosing their own jobs. The university engages in constant cover up in regards to Federal Compliance regulations, hiring practices, and sexual discrimination. A pretty female will always get the promotion over the more qualified candidates. Pretty females finishing a grad program at teh school will always be hired over more qualified outside candidates. University staff ( who's salary is funded by publically traded investors money) regularly engage in such practices as internet surfing of inappropriate sites, online gambling, sneaking away while on the clock to gamble at the local casinos. Staff sit in meetings and laugh and poke fun of their online students and regularly leave their computers unlocked on on with student information upon the screen. Had your ID stolen? It probably happened because GCU was careless with your info. Staff regularly encourage students to borrow heavily with student loans to fund school and at one point it was actually a written corporate policy to not disclose to students what the consequences of borrowing are. Staff reguarly tell ONLINE students that they can use federal money to pay for computers, cars, housing, and even for vacations ( to ease the stress of school). Was this review helpful? Yes - No 21 of 23 people found the following review helpful Schooldarla (Graduate) on February 3, 2013 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: GCU Master's of Ed in Special Ed The classes were informative and thought provoking. In the online program we "met"people from all over the country and found that special education is different all across the country. The lessons were more of a jumping board where the student was responsible for their own learning; there was no spoon feeding of the curriculum. This program has proven to be more valuable than most of the required additional courses in my state for the educational diagnostician certification. After having been in charge of my own learning it was difficult to go back to the traditional classroom. I also found that thatas a result of my studies at GCU, I was more knowledgeable on many students who had taken all of their courses at that university. If you plan to have an A, plan to work hard. Know that in the long run, you will be responsible for your own learning which will make all of the difference. As a result of studies completed at GCU, I have stood out in my more recent classes; two professors have approached me regarding the pursuit of a PhD. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 10 of 18 people found the following review helpful Lloydchick (Graduate) on January 15, 2013
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Masters of Educational Administration This is not a quality education! I entered this program b/c of my rual setting. I completed the courses and receive my degree with 3.5 gp, but once in my field of study and compared my preparation to that of my peers, it was severely lacking! I've had to work twice as hard in my setting because of GCU's incompetence. DO NOT enroll in this school. They are all about getting your money and that is their bottom line. When I was considering this school the counselors were available and helpful. After entering the system, finding support and help was painful and often not useful. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY OR TIME! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 23 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on January 3, 2013
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: BSN Student at GCU Attending GCU for nursing (a cohort campus), I was excited, even proud to be attending this school; yet, I regret to admit that I'm now shocked by the disorganization, inconsistency, poor quality/unprofessional instructors (one in particular, doesn't even understand osmosis, yet tests us on the subject and don't get me started on her grammar) & overall bad treatment of us students. Our class of 9 students began w/ 30! Grading is tilted (95-100% = A); but, of course, we were not informed of this detail until we were already in too deep. The expectations unclear (eg: assignments not graded according to rubric). The Director promotes stress, zero accountability, chaos, & fear. Being offered a fat scholarship for my 4.0 transfer GPA influenced my choice, but I only learned later the program is designed to lower it- and our confidence. I feel tricked- I had other options but was treated so well by the awesome admissions counselor that I mistakenly believed the rest of my educational experience would mirror this. Reality? I have been treated like a child, publically humiliated in front of my peers as the result of an instructor who decided she hates me, and have watched many of my fellow students (several who are brillant), fail out based upon whacked tests and bogus standards. While I have no proof, I believe it is in their economic model to fail out a % of their students- after all, if you can force 3/4 to repeat the program, profits will benefit! I'm not going to suggest anyone not attend-our BSN choices are limited in AZ, but just don't enter the program blindly as I did...Make sure you have a strong spine, tons of patience, and a perfectly working laptop. They can make excuses, and they will (as in giving you your schedule the week before a new semester begins) but students are given 0 toleranceyou may even get written up! (Apparently, they do this to adults who are paying over 20K a year to be there!) Was this review helpful? Yes - No 28 of 29 people found the following review helpful Summer_moore (In Progress) on December 16, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: No problems at all. I graduated from GCU in May of 2010 with my M.Ed. I decided to go back and enroll in June 2010 for my Ed.D. I have to say that, from talking to my colleagues, the work I have had to complete is much more difficult and rigorous than other schools. I have had trouble with financial aid and technical issues, but these have always been solved in a timely manner. All I have ever had to do is call GCU and I can immediately speak with someone who can help out. If you are not internally motivated to get work done and are not an organized person, I do not recommend this school for you. I do not think the staff is very effective, but I also realize that I am in an online program where I work at my own pace and am more responsible for my education than a student at a brick and mortar school would be. The lectures, recommended reading, and individual research required is more than enough for any person to learn what they need to earn a degree. The only difference is that at GCU you don't have anyone there to hold your hand and constantly remind you what you should be doing. I am currently 4 classes away from gaining a doctoral degree and I have had a great experience with this school. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 14 of 16 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on December 8, 2012
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Graduate Online Master's & Continuing Ed Classes Fan! I found that my educational experience prepared me well for my position in SpEd. As with any educational experience, I like most of my instructors and classmates and disliked a few. Pretty good representation on the "outside world"!, I have also found out that my ability to understand and use technology surpasses my colleagues. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 13 of 18 people found the following review helpful Tustinchris (In Progress) on November 24, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: DISSATISFIED I registered to take a class. Regretfully online learning is not for me. First, I was told I would be charged anything, after I withdrew. But I knew there was a $400 nonrefundable fee. Then I was charged for my student loan $990. Then GCU said I owe them $1400. I told them I can make a monthly payments they said I had to pay it all or make 3 monthly installments. I said I can't they told me I am going into collections because the $50 monthly is not what they want. I am disgusted with this university. I would not recommend them at all. I realize I withdrew but that I am going to be placed into collections because they can't accept my monthly payments is disgrace. They call and email as if I am not making payments. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 22 of 25 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on November 11, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: So far, so good! Prior to enrolling at GCU, I attended a traditional school locally. As a busy working mother and military spouse, I opted to finish my degree online. After looking into many colleges, I decided on GCU. They took all of my earned credit from my other school. They offer a nice military discount for spouses. The classes so far have been great! They are easy to navigate, and the instructors have been good. The only problem I have had with this school was in the beginning when I was enrolling. I had a very difficult time getting answers from my enrollment counselor, my academic counselor NEVER contacted me, and my financial counselor NEVER contacted me. I was told that they have a TON of students to tend to, so they were busy. Wow. That is garbage. After complaining and threatening to not attend their school, they shaped up and got all my stuff in line and questions answered. Since then, I have had no issues. And, financially I have not had a problem. I was granted some pell money, but am paying the remainder of my tuition out of pocket. No loans for this girl. So, nothing to really "screw up" there. I would recommend this school. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 14 of 29 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on November 11, 2012
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: masters in substance abuse counseling I did not receive any support until I decided to withdraw from my course I explained I was having difficulty two days into the begining course and could never get in touch with my academic advisor but when I decided to drop he called every day at least once a day. I would rather pay the fees to grand canyon and move on to a more supportive environment. By the end of my first week I had a fail and no suggestions on how to make it better or make up the one quiz grade that caused such a low grade. After speaking with the teacher I was told I don't have the lowest grade in the class. This gave me some hope but who wants to start their college career with a F in the first week with no assistance from my counselor. .... did attempt to help me when neither of us could get in touch with my advisor. She even helped me to speak with another advisor, however later I was told by my counselor that I was supposed to receive some sort of walk threw from ...... that was never done. Point blank Grand Canyon dropped the ball in more ways than one and I hope in the future the university is not so quick to sign up students and make a quick dollar that the needs and concerns of the student are overlooked. I choose Grand Canyon because I thought that a more Christian way of study would bring a better experience. I did get a different experience in my opinion it was not any better. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 22 of 25 people found the following review helpful Charymanebeskow (Graduate) on November 11, 2012
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Onle Degree Reviews I have been attending Grand Canyon University school for the last three-four years to earn my Bachelors degree in Applied Management. I just finished my last class with the Action Research Project. With the hard work and dedication I will be graduating with honors at graduation commencement ceremony May 3rd 2013. I don't have any complaints about the school and if there was any issues I contacted the instructor(s) and they were great to respond and reply immediately. For financial aid I have had no problems as they have done well in the Veterans department. Grand Canyon University is an exceptional school as I see its been ranked one of the top 10 online schools. I like the fact the school is based upon the foundation of Christian Biblical philosophies. I gained spiritual growth including developing my skills in research and citing sources appropriately and properly. I recommend the school based upon the Christian foundation and its mission. Some people may have had some bad experiences and some like myself have had a great experience; dedicated full-time to school and studies. In the end you see the fruits of your own labor--you get what you put into it while at the same time I have developed friendships online. I am planning to start GCU masters degree program in Public Administration Emphasis in Government Policy and tie in with Healthcare Management beginning November 29th. Good luck to those who continue on with GCU studies. Stay focused on the prize! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 33 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on November 7, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Another non-Christian student warning Yes, this is a Christian school and I was totally fine with that. My first few classes went fine but I was unimpressed with the quality of the course work. The instructors were just above mediocre but I gave it a chance because I thought was maybe just adjusting from attending a brick and mortar university. Many people in these courses can barely form coherent thoughts or use periods correctly. I decided to keep pushing through and see what happened during my next few courses. That is when I entered the Christian Worldview class. The first week went fine and I was glad to know I was not the only non-Christian. By the 2nd week, the professor's character was crystal clear. I went out of my way to be respectful and I followed every assignment perfectly without being judgmental; that treatment was not reciprocated. The professor and two other students jumped on everything I said and even made comments to other students that were obviously about me. The professor was condescending towards any view that differed from his own. The best part is that a great number of his replies in the forum were not grammatically correct and sometimes they were flat out incoherent. I was more than shocked but I just kept my mouth shut and pushed through. I got an A in the course (just like all of their other courses) for those of you who think I might be bitter about my grade. This experience paired with the quality of education GCU offers left a bad taste in my mouth. I plan on transferring to another university as soon as my current course is over. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 26 of 29 people found the following review helpful Iacceptbpo (In Progress) on November 5, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: So Far So Good I am in the last week of my first class. After reading the reviews, I started not to attend this school. Before I registered for this school I was registered for another online University. I started on the 28 of August and withdrew on the 30 of August. I will not go into details of the other University. Grand Canyon has been a wonderful experience for me. It is not a perfect School, but it works for me. The Instructor is great, and knows his stuff. The Faculty and Staff are very helpful. I love LoudCloud class room. So far I am pleased and glad I chose GCU. It might not be the number one school. I assure you it is not the worst. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 25 of 28 people found the following review helpful Mzmls (Graduate) on October 28, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Positive education experience I have found GCU to be a very good School. The only complaint I would have would be in the financial aid counselors and that is some of them not all of them. The Teachers are knowledgeable and interested in their students. Admissions counselors are open and they listen. There is a level of honesty and integrity that I admire. Their use of technology is appropriate and solid. They are always trying to improve their system and programs. Like many things you get out what you put into the experience. You can go to the best college in the world and not learn a thing if you make that choice. My experience with GCU is why I have continued on to get my Masters in psychology at GCU. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 12 of 36 people found the following review helpful Hburky02 (In Progress) on October 19, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Caution. Before You even Enroll I was considering GCU for finishing up my bachelor's degree and everything was fine. Until I started asking questions about the school. My Adviser did not help with anything I asked. Then when I wasn't available to take phone calls from the school, the adviser developed an attitude towards anyone who answered my phone, and then developed to tell my mother who answered my cell phone that he figured I wasn't 18 and didn't think any of the messages were being given to me. I had to THREATEN to contact the dean of Students to make these harassing and rude phone calls to stop. If you're thinking about going to this school... I'd advise to keep looking. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 22 of 26 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on October 14, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great School so far! GCU so far has been a wonderful experience. The professors are wonderful and so helpful, the courses are challenging but are possible, and the staff and administration have been great so far! I have read the reviews from some of the people and realize that GCU is a wonderful school. Some people have had a bad experience (mostly those in the online program)due to the financial and academic administration. But my experience as an on campus student has been awesome so far and I look forward to the next few years. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 13 of 33 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on October 11, 2012
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Grand Canyon Is a HORRIBLE University Don't attend Grand Canyon, their finance department is horrible. They will make you repeat classes that you had already taken in the past, and then say they will refund your difference in the classes that they made you take over, for some odd reason, then the refund will magically disappear from your account, and play like HELL, getting it from them. Plus you will never know who your academic counselor is, I attended the university 2 years and maybe 6 months of that time, I really knew who my academic counselor was, maybe that"s why they charge you for classes that you have already taken, because yor not assigned a academic counselor, that knows what they are doing.. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 39 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on October 10, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: What a joke!!!!! I cannot believe what a joke this university is....they use Christ to get money. There is no standard, ethics, rigor. Everyone has a 4.0 grade point average and it is a total diploma mill. I earned a 4.0 and did minimal work. The Master's programs do not even have a research component....what a JOKE!!!! I am going to get another Master's because this degree does not have any value and people are realizing that GCU is not what it used to be...it is truly a University of Phoenix wanna be school....very sad for those who worked so hard in the past. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 14 of 36 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on October 8, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Avoid GCU at all COSTS Biggest waste of money I can imagine. All the bad reviews...read them and run. They run a boiler-room operation that is only interested in closing the deal and getting your money. They claim to be a christian organization like that has any credibility? Scoundrels who hide behind religion are the worst. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 13 of 34 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on October 2, 2012
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Waste of money Do not waste your time and money at this school. Instructors (not professors) are terrible at grading and responding. An example: I received a grade of 76.4 on an ENG 105 essay. I requested information as to why I was getting this grade and the instructor had no evidence and responded by increasing my grade without telling me why it was scored so low. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 12 of 31 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on October 1, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Horrible school. In it for profit only GCU's financial aid department is a bunch of loan sharks that offer bogus scholarships that amount to nothing once you start your classes. They work on their own precious timing with no regards to the student's needs. They are a for profit school and it shows. I can't imagine how a so called Christain school looses all of it's ethics or values because of money. I can't afford to drop out because I will be charged so heavily. I would never ever recommend GCU to anybody. And I have a Master s degree through them. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 23 of 28 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on September 28, 2012
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Grand Canyon University The teachers are outstanding. The classroom content is excellent and the learning environment inspiring. I have one class plus student teaching until I complete my degree. Which I will not be able to this year because of the less professional side of this university, the non-academic or business side. Dealing with the business office / non-recruiters or academic advisers is excruciating. They do not return phone calls, emails and have no stake in your future, only their bottom line. Which is to be expected because they are not service providers to the students, they are there on behalf of the university's stake holders and the bottom line. (This is consistent with all private businesses.) I am a good student, and I have a family to support and I have to work. I tried to re-enter school and I was passed through many academic counselors.Finally I was enrolled in a class I already took as the second week had started. The day I realized it was a repeat, I left a message for my adviser, I left messages for the instructor, and could not drop the class. I am now financially responsible for a class I was enrolled in for 3 days. The financial aid office, the business office were excruciatingly difficult to navigate. In retrospect, I should not have allowed them to enroll me in the second week, and I should not have settled for leaving voice messages and emails that same day and the next day to the adviser. I read that others had terrible experiences with the non-academic side of the university and I brushed it aside because my experience to that point was absolutely excellent. If you are aware that this may happen and you are OK with potentially owing an extra 2000, then you will have a good experience too. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 18 of 35 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on September 14, 2012
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Waste of your time RN to BSN I enrolled RN to BSN degree program this year. [One of my instructors] does not know how to add numbers. She gave me grading above 92% on all topics (It shows on the system) and finally she gave me “Failed” overall grading because she probably forgot what she gave me. She has not accounted two topics on which I got 100/100 and 93/100. I called her and she asked me to email. I did and she supposed to get back to me within 24 hours as per their policy. She never got back to me. She is so unprofessional and playing with our career. If she does not understand the urgency of the matter how we can we expect she is contributing rest of the world positively. I wonder where she got the license from and she is still cognizant. This was my first class with GCU. You can understand how frustrating it is I got “F” while I was expecting “A”. They took my money for the 2nd class and stopped me now because of F grade. The counselor says it will take a week to resolve it. The department will resolve this issue within a week. Today is the last day of the week. He agreed it is unfair but who is responsible for all these? Who pays for my time? I have to pay for their stupidity? Unbelievable? Never enroll such a college. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 40 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on September 1, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Non-Christians Beware I am not Christian and I was well aware going in I would be taking Christian-oriented classes and be working with Christian teachers and classmates. I am accepting of others beliefs and was not concerned it would interfere with my education. What I was not prepared for was how condescending and judgmental the textbook and lessons would be to non-Christians. When the class posted responses to the teacher's questions each week, I expected college level statements and intelligent, thought-out conversations. At least 8 out of 10 students in each of my classes could not put a sentence together that was not filled with misspelled words and bad grammar. Most of the responses to my statements were filled with scripture from the Bible. The use of critical thinking in a business setting does not include responding to a co-worker with quotes from the Bible. I attempted to ask the teachers valid questions in a respectful tone. I either received no response or a very condescending response that implied I was clueless. I felt I was constantly having to defend myself and choose my words carefully, while the Christian students could post garbled run-on sentences with some scripture and the teacher would respond with favorable comments. I was disappointed. I wanted to finish my degree with GCU, but after 3 classes I gave up. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 36 of 40 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on August 27, 2012
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: good school I do not see where some of you guys are coming from. No school is profect and they will never be perfect. I had no bad experience with them. It seems as some of you are complaining because of finanical aid and it sounds as though some of you are just here for the money instead getting knowledge to better yourself in order to get a better job. All of the people who I've worked with has been very professional and on their game. I never had a problem with finanical aid, never had problems anywhere for that matter. Credits are transferable because I have transfer from another school and they have accepted it and i have called around to see if my credit will be transfer to another school once I finish GCU and I was told yes by the other college. Also for the person who said their fees have went up, they do that at every college. Think of it like this, everything in life goes up. Our food, clothes, and other things tht we need cost goes, therefore, so does school fees. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 25 of 34 people found the following review helpful Sims (In Progress) on August 20, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: A lot of BUSY WORK I am only 3 classes in and my gripe with the class is there is a lot of busy work!!! I thought this was geared towards students who already work and lead busy lives. I put in about 30+ hours a week into this class. I am lucky I own my own business or I would have to drop out due to the amount of work. My wife recieved her M.Ed from a brick and mortar college and I have done more work in these 3 classes then she did in all of her Masters programs. 2 of my friends also are in this program and they are on the verge of dropping out due to the BUSY work. One of those friends already has 2 Masters and she also says she puts in more work into this program then the other programs she took. On a positive note I feel I am learning things, but as a non teacher I feel I get discriminated in the program. It seems all the other students are teachers already and the assignments require you to draw on experiences in the classroom. Well I don't have those experiences and I get knocked in the grading. Its not a bad program, but dont believe the 20 hours a week they tell you it only takes. Try more like 30-40 hours a week. Also, you really cant do the work when you are free. You have to log in and do posts 3-4 days a week and if you don't they will knock you. They do not care if your working, pregnant/had a kid (in the case of my friend), etc. I remember one week I was traveling and my tmobile hotspot wouldn't work where I was at and the professor didn't care. Even though I did the work when I got back i was docked points and failed my participation grade. If you can, I recommend going to a brick and mortar college. The price is right. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 11 of 29 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on August 20, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Hype and Poor Service GCU does a lousy job of providing academic and financial aid advising. They get you roped in and then hook you for government student loans. They eliminated the military veteran scholarship right in the middle of my classes and my academic advisor was never available to talk to me. They kept reassigning me to different financial aid advisors who did little to explain things or help me out. I would NOT recommend Grand Canyon to anyone! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 30 of 33 people found the following review helpful Olivingston (Graduate) on August 16, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Criminal Justice MS My overall experience was good. I read some of the horror stories, but did not have a problem with the program. I work full time, a veteran, and still in the Reserves. This online program is one that you MUST discipline yourself to meet deadlines. As with any program, you get out what you put into a program. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 36 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on August 12, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: New GCU MSN student BIG MISTAKE Unless you are VERY patient with poorly organized curriculum, you should steer clear of GCU. The plus side: tech support is very helpful, and they need to be because you will be in the midst of the worst online experience you will likely ever have. Pleasant personalities and friendly support can't put lipstick on this pig. The orientation to this horrible implementation of "Angel" is a joke, you will be failing your assignments and their deadlines wading through a byzantine web organization. You have been warned! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 18 of 43 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on August 8, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Think about it. The credits from GCU aren't accepted at any other University. Think about that for a minute. What does that say about the "degree" you "earn?" Most employers LAUGH at online degrees. They aren't anything close to the real thing and people know that. Most people know what it's like to take a test without materials anywhere close. Of course you get all A's with help like that. "Diploma Mill" is an accurate description of GCU. They were so pushy to get me enrolled, but once I figured out that NO credits transfered and the degree meant nothing to a real University, I got out of there. A bachelor's degree should be a bachelor's degree anywhere, not just at GCU. For-profit means "here, let me print you off some paper worth pennies in the field." Was this review helpful? Yes - No 41 of 47 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on August 8, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Well Balanced and Growing In reading many of the reviews posted here it becomes obvious the ones that were primarily motivated by issues with receiving financial aid. I have not had any issues in that respect so I write this review unbiased by that. In my experience I have really enjoyed the majority of my classes. I am a graduate student in the MS Psychology I/O program and I am about seven courses into it. Thus far my classes have been both challenging and interesting and my instructors have all been quite good. In comparison to my experience with a brick and mortar school, I would say the work is more challenging in the sense that there is more of it (assignments each week)versus one or two big assignments/tests at the midpoint and end of a class which emphasize more memorization (you can judge if that's good or bad). It is a different experience which I think works well. The recent upgrade to a new system, from Angel to Loudcloud, was a little rough because there seemed to be a lot of glitches initially, but a lot of them are already worked out and I like the new format better. One complaint I have is the conformity to the pre-written syllabus that is required of the instructors, but I'm sure there are reasons for the standardization. As far as all the complaints written about support by counselors etc. I have not had much need for assistance from my counselors, but when I have they have been helpful. I did not expect anyone to hold my hand through the program since that would not happen at a brick and mortar school either. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 42 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on July 26, 2012
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Seems like a diploma mill to me. Pros: VERY easy online program. I am able to double my course load and breeze through, including working full time. The syllabus is always very crystal clear so you can work ahead. I have a never received less than a 99% in a class and have taken 10 classes so far. Cons: First and foremost; plagiarism. I was surprised to how many students completely plagiarized their work ranging from personal discussion questions to group assignments. Seriously?! What kind of University would turn a blind eye to this? Because they basically accept anybody who breathes, I am forced to interact with complete idiots who do not have a clue about college. Text talking in discussion forums? Really? Apart from the very few, the students that they enroll are dumber than mud. I fear for their reputation and I am hoping that this does not affect my career as GCU cannot possibly have a good reputation. Forcing us to do group work gets really old as for each of my ten classes I have done everything. Literally everything. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 17 of 35 people found the following review helpful Cplowman (In Progress) on July 21, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: OK education, truly poor support and administration I am in an online MEd secondary education program and just two classes from finishing. I'm also not an in-state (Arizona) student. I have a fingerprint clearance in my home state and have been participating in practicum experiences for months. But now I'm being told that I have to have an AZ clearance in order to take any more courses so that GCU can be sure I'm cleared to work with kids (why now and why not my home state clearance?). I may not be able to finish this program because of this problem and the GCU credits won't transfer to other universities in my state (big red flag here!). As individuals, the support staff are good people. But there are deep systemic problems that keep them from communicating with each other or working together to solve a problem. Instead, if anything goes wrong, it is automatically the student's fault and is the student's problem to fix with no useful help. You can get so much more for your money at any number of other schools. And if you're an out-of-state student, don't attend here! Find a home state program and keep your money in state. I've learned good things from my teachers and fellow students. But I've only learned frustration after frustration from the support entities. It's truly sad because I think the new online environment 'LoudCloud' (needs a better name!) is a giant step in the right direction. I just wish I had listened to the many other reviewers who reported very similar problems. If a miracle happens and the current problem gets resolved without costing me time and money, I will post an update. But I'm not going to hold my breath. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 25 of 28 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on July 6, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great school with great support! I am a Junior at GCU getting my Bachelors Degree in Business Administration online. I started out in the Education department and I have always had excellent support from counselors both in the Business and Education colleges. I think college is what you put in to it. If you are dedicated and determined to make it a great experience, then it will be. Sure, there might be problems on the way, but you have to learn to overcome them. Nothing in life is perfect. I have really enjoyed my time at GCU and look forward to graduating in the next few years! My advice to anyone learning online is you have to be dedicated to it and want it bad enough if you are to succeed. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 12 of 36 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on June 19, 2012
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Stay away! I cannot warn you enough!! Stay away!!! I even do not know if the instructor in my online course is a real human being.....not helpful at all and very inhuman...I give -100 to this instructor.I am sorry they can only get this kinds of instructors...real human beings or not!...wasting my time and money ompletely. They are not accomodating at all with any issue I encounter with this course. They are well trained to stay away from any issues or complaints from customers. Please Stay away!!! I cannot say enough. I stopped taking this class seriously already after 2 weeks, and I regret so badly that I paid for this school. I am so lucky that I am merely a non degree student but I have no commitment with GCU! ~ a very disapointed and completely discouraged student Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 35 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on June 15, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Horrible experience with the academic counselors here at GCU The academic counselors never communicate with the students. Any email the student sends to them could go unanswered. When your academic counselor does not answer your questions or directs you to the wrong direction, you try to complain to the supervisor. But here at GCU, it doesn't work like that, the supervisor ignores the students' complaints and always takes side with the academic counselor and accuses the student of causing trouble or lying about the counselor's performance. They assigned me to [name removed] as my academic counselor without my knowledge. She didn't answer my questions via email or give me clear directions when I needed it. I ended up buying a book that I already had because she never answered my emails or took the time to help me locate the book that I already had in the GCU Canyon Connect system in a timely manner. She just didn't communicate at all. It demonstrates a very poor performance on the part of the academic counselor when she does not even bother to answer all of the students' emails in an online program. I complained to her supervisor but she just got defensive and took her friend's side over me. [They] used to work next to each other and then they promoted [name removed] to become the supervisor so I guess that's why she was so unprofessional because basically, I was complaining about her friend to her. [She] accused me of lying and told me that I never sent that email until I actually had to show her the proof. I requested to work with another counselor that would better suit my needs and answer my emails and concerns in a timely manner but [she] refused to give me that opportunity. I like to work with my current finance counselor but unfortunately, the GCU system assigns you to a particular academic counselor that is matched with a particular finance counselor and you cannot choose your academic counselor if you like working with your finance counselor. It is a pretty lousy system that keeps the students stuck with a certain counselor that they are not happy with. I really like working with my current finance counselor but unfortunately, the GCU officials do not keep the students' interests at heart and do not give them the opportunity to work with another academic counselor that suits their needs better. Basically, talking with the supervisors does not help. The newly promoted academic counselor just took her own counselor's side over me. Basically, anything I said was presumed to be a lie or a deceit by her and anything that her counselor had said was presumed to be the truth. [She] pretty much told me that I am a liar and everything is my fault. As the result of the poor communication on my academic counselor's part, I took a financial loss as I had to buy a book twice. I complained to [name removed]. I sent an email saying that I want to write a review about their performance and he thought I was basically threatening them. I don't threaten people. If the issue was not going to get resolved, I WAS going to write a review. I don't think writing an online review constitutes as a threat. Basically, he called me only once and I never heard back from him. The issue has never been resolved so far. I am still stuck with working with [name removed] and as the result, I don't communicate with my academic counselor anymore and I am not receiving the help that I need. Basically, avoid GCU at all costs. The instructors are great but the counselors suck. They are a huge mafia that always back each other up and do not care about the students. Don't go against them or they would crush you. I met a lot of my classmates during the residency and almost all of them were not happy with their counselors. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 8 of 23 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on May 31, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Counseling I had a problem with a new program. I contacted tech support and they said they needed to take it to the next level as that person could not help me. I never heard back. I called my academic counselor. He was told the same thing I was from tech support. Guess what the problem had to taken to the next level. Well again nothing. Bottom line except for the assignments that had to be done using that program I carried an A in the class. Because I could not do the assignments I actually failed the class. This failing was through no fault of my own but that of a new program the school incorporated yet I was the one to fail the class. Beware because this may happen to you Was this review helpful? Yes - No 28 of 37 people found the following review helpful Myersenterprises (In Progress) on May 16, 2012
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: GCU Has Been A Positive Experience I have been at GCU for two years and I have found it to be a positive experience. I was impressed from day one. My enrollment counselor walked me through each step in a professional manner. Every question I had was answered promptly. My instructors have always shown that they are well educated and were interested in my success. None of my classes were rubber stamped. They expected you to perform at a high level and I was constantly challenged by my instructors and course work. I loved their research library and always recieved superb help from their librarians. There were technical glitches at times, but their technical support staff was excellent. My counselors call me frequently and unsolicited to check in on my progress and to see if i have any problems. I would not say GCU is a perfect university, but overall, I felt comfortable there and will miss it when I graduate soon. I definitely feel I am a better person for attending GCU. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 18 of 39 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on May 9, 2012
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Fees Increase In the middle of the program they increase the fees which is not at all justifiable. We are getting less pay in every job, this is ridiculous at a time when every business are paying less and offering discount to their clients. hospitals are struggling to make payments, cutting OT and other benefits. How can you justify increasing the fees at such a time of recession? Was this review helpful? Yes - No 32 of 38 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on April 23, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Good School Grand Canyon University's online MBA program is a good choice for busy adults. I find the coursework challenging, and have learned a great deal over the past six months I have been in the program. I have never had a problem with my counselors, either before enrollment or as a student. The teachers have made themselves available and are quick to respond to my needs. I see plenty of lukewarm comments about the school. I don't know whether they have just worked harder and hired better faculty and staff than in previous years, but I have had a pleasant overall experience and would recommend the school as a place to meet your educational needs. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 30 people found the following review helpful Andy (In Progress) on April 19, 2012
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Meh My experience with GCU is on-going, I am still a student there, but I would warn others away. The online system doesn't play well with new browsers (i.e. Chrome or IE8 or IE9) and I've had several assignments not make it to the instructor. Many of the classes have been repeats of other classes. I also was told that my program was two years only to find out a year later its actually three and a half. Many of my peers lack the basic skills to survive in a university classroom and am surprised that they are enrolled in 3rd year classes. Read all the reviews and make sure you keep all your email from the school. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 27 of 29 people found the following review helpful Coachddp17 (In Progress) on April 18, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great School My experience at Grand Canyon was very good. I can't really find to much to complain about. There is no perfect school no matter where you attend. The professors are good some are better than others. They get back to you in a timely matter, however, some have a hard time. I would suggest this school to my friends and I have. I had a blast when I graduated from there last summer with my Master's. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 27 of 31 people found the following review helpful Michaelene.bolan (In Progress) on April 18, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Excellent Experience! I've been attending GCU for two years and with the exception of two teachers, my experience has been great. I have learned so much. the instructors have all been very knowledgeable and very responsive. With the exception of the library which I just can't figure out at all, the technology is very user friendly. The enrollment, academic and financial aid counselors have made the process easy. Yes, it's expensive but I feel that the knowledge that I have gained is valuable. I can't compare it to other universities but I do feel that I am much closer to achieving my goals in life. Online education has made education a possibility for me. I have only three more classes left before graduating and I feel that I made a good educational choice for me. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 32 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on April 16, 2012
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Gradute Student Teachers were wonderful. Too bad the administrative side was horrible. Wrought with errors and poor communication. I used to be very proud and recommend this school. Now I am embarrassed to say I graduated from GCU. When I have informed my peers of all the errors, some have said I should seek legal counsel since they provided mixed communication and asked I take more classes then needed. Also threatened to send my name to dept collector; they forgot to submit FA paperwork. FA worked out in the long run, but only after I called often to micromanage the process. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 26 of 30 people found the following review helpful Gonesouth2 (In Progress) on April 15, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: No complaints Great on-line education. If you want to buy a degree this I not the place for you. It takes work here. The instructors expect a lot and will work with you if problems come up. I recommend this education to everyone. They are growing their on-line program so the tech is getting better. I' m proud to be a Lope! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 20 of 36 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on April 4, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great Teachers Not So Great Admin There were multiple errors on the side of admin. They were not quick or responsive to remedy the errors. Due to errors, I ended up taking classes I did not need to take and paying for classes because they did made a mistake with my financial aid. I have joined a group filing a law suit due to extra classes and costs. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 24 of 25 people found the following review helpful Frederic.vinhage (Graduate) on April 2, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Masters of Business Administration Online system and procedures were ok, lot of materials out of date and the instructors locked to a set syllabus. Administrative personnel are morons, but everyone I talk to say their university was the same way, but errors in handling accounts resulted in a lot of back and forth wasted time and effort. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 26 of 29 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on March 12, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great Quality Online Counseling Program I would highly recommend GCU. I am just completing my first year and I have found it to be very valuable thus far. I am involved with the online program. I won't lie it is not just easy busy work. To the contrary. I feel I am receiving a quality education. As for my support team, my academic team is great!! Everyone that I have come in contact with that works at GCU have been very supportive and caring. They really want you to succeed. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 37 people found the following review helpful Jmollin (In Progress) on February 23, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: MS Tuition for High School Level Course Work I completed 36 credit hours out of 60 required. I could not justify going on as each course was basically a repeat of a previous course or the material identical to courses taken at the associates degree level. There is a humanistic thread running through the course work, and for the most part the instructors seem like wonderful human beings, but overall this is just a degree mill and I have no idea how they manage to keep their accredited status. The text for social psychology (MS) is a 101 text. The text for their social diversity course is nothing short of reverse racism. Sad. Sorry I wasted my money. They have very nice recruiters obviously. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 27 of 30 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on February 23, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: BSN I am half way done with my BSN and so far I have nothing but all wonderful experience. The teachers are very knowledgeable and reponsive. Personal Advisor and financial councelor are always available and willing to answer any question I may have. The only problem I want to mention is being online provider, the technology does not seem to be that up to date. Interestingly, on the program we are using, the spell checker doesn't seem to recognize so many common English words. Live technical support supposedly is "always available", but not really. Overall, it is good. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 19 of 37 people found the following review helpful Dummyemail39 (In Progress) on February 22, 2012
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Don't waste your time or money. My wide and I have both attended here. She gets the run-around at every turn and I was sent to collections for my tuition because one of the school's employees forgot to file my paperwork. This school has provided the worst experience either of us have had with any educational institution. If we knew then what we know now, neither of us would have enrolled. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 36 of 38 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on February 20, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: The Good and the Bad (From a Pre-med student) Hello, I'll be graduating this December with my Bachelor's in Biology: Pre-med, ground student, so I thought I'd give my review for other students considering it. Expense: Yes, it's expensive. They do offer scholarships, but even with my Presidential Scholarship for high GPA ,my full pell grant, and a travel grant for living off campus, I still require about $2,000 in student loans per semester for tuition costs. But it's a private university. Expect to build some debt unless you have loaded parents. ;) Administration: This gets ugly.. Are the people friendly? Absolutely. Do you have to stay on top of them to make sure stuff gets done correctly? All the time. Especially the finance department. You need to call, e-mail, show up in person.. keep records of everything. It is not easy getting them to do what you ask. But you can, if you stay on top of them. They are just very disorganized. Professors and classes: This is pretty much like any other university. (I transferred from NAU so I've seen both.) Some professors are awful. Some are great. However, GCU has cadavers (Gross dissection). NAU does not. I find this class to be extremely helpful in learning the anatomy of the body. Whoever has said that GCU gives easy A's... take Organic Chemistry with Dr. Grubbs (He's the best O-chem teacher there, in my opinion, just not personable.) Seriously.. It will be the hardest A you've ever worked for. I had the same experience at NAU. Some professors are great, others not so much. Some classes are easy A's.. Some will challenge you to the max. Community: This is why I transferred here. The students are very friendly and most of the faculty are as well. People are much more close-knit because the classroom sizes are so small and professors know you by name. NOT everyone who goes to GCU is a christian but obviously a good chunk of them are. Does everyone act Christ-like? No... but I've been to a lot of churches that don't either. In my opinion, GCU as a whole, had kind of has adopted the "Let's accept everything" attitude..to avoid offending people of differing beliefs. Campus: They are expanding it, thank God! lol. Their chemistry labs need some serious help. Some chemistry labs are being done in their biology labs at the moment.. lack of equipment becomes a problem. But they'll have the new building up soon with new labs. They'll also be adding classrooms =[ Of course, I'll have graduated by then. (GCU's number of ground students have been growing like crazy recently) That's my take on it. We shall see how hard it is for me to get into medical school soon enough ;) since people on here keep claiming it has a bad reputation. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 34 people found the following review helpful Smilingporcupines (In Progress) on February 17, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Horrible I am attending this “school” and have just about completed my courses. I have paid cash for the courses and only on rare occasion have their calculations been correct. The “professors” are nothing more than elementary school teacher rejects. Even though this is a Master’s class, any questioning of the curriculum content has been frowned upon. Records from two of the classes I took were inexplicably lost (I had the official transcript to the contrary). They will never disclose the name of the Dean of the college and will refuse to provide you supervisor contact information should you encounter problems with the aforementioned reject teacher. Only when I show up at their campus (I live 45 minutes away) do I get any reaction. Local court records show they tend to sue a lot of former students in collection disputes. Had I the chance to do it all over again I would never have signed up with GCU. It’s been a waste of my time and money. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 28 of 29 people found the following review helpful Beachbeagles (In Progress) on February 5, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great education!!! I loved this program and this school. The learning support was outstanding and the professors were incredibly responsive. I got my bachelors at Psu, where you were nothing but a number. Having experienced a huge university with no supports first, I was expecting the same thing from gcu, which was not the case. If you are pursuing an online degree, I very much recommend gcu over your manufactured schools like university of Phoenix. Gcu is a great place that provides an excellent learning experience. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 22 of 39 people found the following review helpful Mtnbob123 (Graduate) on February 4, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Buyer Beware!!! Get Everything in Writing!!! They start out great. Everyone seems to care about your academic career. Unfortunately, the financial and academic advisors turnover so fast that you get a new one every few months. Have a question about something you were promised 2 months ago? Good luck! This place is a nightmare that won't end. I spent countless hours on the phone trying to straighten out the mess that my academic counselor made for me. I finished all of my classes but now my degree is being held hostage because the small scholarship that I was promised to cover the costs of my last class disappeared!! They admit they made a mistake, but refuse to do anything about it. I can't get my transcripts released because they say I still owe $1500. This is after they have received over $20,000 from me over the last couple of years!! Don't trust a word that you are told. Find a different university or you will be sorry!!! You have been warned!! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 20 of 38 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on January 30, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: HORRIBLE--Don't do it! HORRIBLE!! Do NOT start here! I went to a real college for a while, and the quality of this institution is not even close! I have had nothing but problems with GCU. From contacting my academic advisor to the experience I have had with the financial aid department--everyone is not helpful and just after your money. I met someone who actually stayed in the online classes until she received her diploma, and she had so much trouble finding a job. Graduate schools also wouldn't admit her even though GCU is "accredited." Do not fall for this trap like I did! This is the worst experience and biggest headache I have ever encountered. Stay far, far away!!! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 27 of 30 people found the following review helpful Ziemblicki (In Progress) on January 30, 2012
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: GCU I only just started the program but so far I am doing well. I like that when my counselors call me, they actually spend time with me on the phone and they actually remember me, yes there are times when I have to remind them of some things like how old my kids are but come on, I can hardly remember my age half the time! It has been hard for me to get back into going to school but I'm slowly accepting that school is hard work and there is no easy way out. The price is very comparable to ground campuses. It certainly is cheaper than Phoenix and South. Bottom line is that there is no perfect school, no quick fixes, and certainly no free lunch. I like Grand Canyon so far and I plan to continue with my master's next April. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 63 of 102 people found the following review helpful (Graduate) on January 12, 2012
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Please read this heed my advice As a recent graduate and former employee for over 3 years I suggest you consider looking at other options...the campus is run as a Christian Univ but online is far from it. The compelling motivation is money, bottom line, profits for their investors and succeed at all costs. This Univ is not authentic. The employees are a good group but the management team comes from other online for profit schools and almost all of them are frauds. There is no integrity here I am considering mailing back my degree I am so disgusted in the way they treat their staff and their students. Financial aid counselors have little empathy and believe all students want money (stipend) not a good education. The full time faculty are instructed to pass every student in the early courses. The CEO recently joked "how do you kill a frog? Throw him in a pot of cold water and turn on the heat" HA HA Enrollment counselors are referred to as "monkeys or dogs"... My advice, go to community college for 2 years, look into Western Governors Univ or Liberty if you want a "Christian" school, less money and better value. The school is corrupt and rotten at the top level, unfortunately most of the staff are really good people who care. The good ones eventually get fired if they do not "produce" which is to sell...and that means enroll students at all costs. Grow the school and increase profits and make the stockholders happy and earn the CEO his $ 1 million annual Bonus. What a crock. If I can sway one student away from here I believe I have been successful and cost the school over $54,000 in lost profit for their bogus bachelor degree. By the way they claim over 40,000 online students per year X $2000 per class X 6 classes per year = $480,000,000 over 90% of which comes from loans guaranteed by US taxpayers and lining their pockets. Jesus would be ashamed using his name in vain, "Christian University" no way. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 29 of 56 people found the following review helpful Brun755 (In Progress) on January 10, 2012 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: RUN AWAY AS FASTV AS YOU CAN!! If I could rate it a ZERO star I would. These people are frauds. We paid cash for the tuition. The university took a Sallie Mae loan for $7000.00 and refuses to correct the situation. VERY POOR support from financial. We can't even get a receipt for reimbursement. Poor support. A student got very sick and was assured she would be allowed to submit her work, which was complete. They then issued an F and kicked her out. This is Christian behavior? I hope God strikes them with a bolt of lightning! Counselors don't call back, are unresponsive. Generally not fit to be called a university. PATHETIC!! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 21 of 27 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on December 24, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: good elem. ed. master's program... Not a bad elem. ed program...I have only completed 10 credits (4.0 GPA)so far but from what I've experienced I can only say good things about GCU and I would recommend this school aspiring teachers. I have decided to drop out of the master's for personal/financial reasons but not because of the academics. I must warn you - be prepared to write plenty of papers/essays on a weekly basis (1000-1600words)...there are no exams built into the curriculum in my program (MS elem. ed). Other online teacher cert. programs (Western Governor's, etc.) have plenty of exams and they use webcams/proctors to prevent cheating. My academic counselor was great and so were my instructors contrary to what most GCU students are saying in these reviews...I hope to get certified to teach through an alternative certification route in my home state and then return to complete my master's at GCU within a few years... Was this review helpful? Yes - No 21 of 41 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on December 22, 2011
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Horrible Customer Service...dont expect to get any questions answered They will rip you out of any money they can get. They will only call you when they want something, never returning your calls or emails. You get at least 3 different responses when speaking with your counselors/advisors, which change by the month because they cant keep employees. They overcharge you for anything they can find. Be VERY aware if you are considering this "university". Christian in the name does not mean anything to them! Horrible people to deal with! DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY!!! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 19 of 36 people found the following review helpful Jerzeygirlfl (In Progress) on December 2, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Be Very Afraid Anyone considering attending GCU should be Required to read the University Annual Report. It is only after tremendous disappointment with the quality of the education and now questions regarding basic institutional integrity that I did. It is truly scary. For instance, did you know that GCU only has "Conditional" Certification from the US Department of Education. Or that those students in, for instance the Liberal Arts Programs, could be taking a course of study that may already been deemed to have little if any worth, by the Department of Education. This is based upon the fact that it does not prepare students for any employment setting. Please, if you are considering GCU make sure you understand what you are getting yourself into as education is not only a commitment of time, but also of money. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 18 of 35 people found the following review helpful Cousarmy0001 (In Progress) on November 17, 2011
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Ridiculously Bad This school used me for my GI Bill benefits. They claim to be a Christian school, but they use that as a shield to hide their malfeasance. I had my enrollment counselor lie to me, and it cost me $6000 in benefits. She had the nerve to say that it was MY fault that she lied, and they have sent me to collections for $90 in undefined charges. They don't know why I owe them that money, they just know that I do. The classes were ridiculously bad. The "lectures" consisted of "read these websites", and then "read the following chapters in the incredibly bad textbook that we had you download from out site, which is down for maintenance 40% of the time. The teachers do not respond when you ask for help. When they grade your papers, they'll mark you down but not tell you why you didn't get full points. The best was the teacher who gave me points off for grammar but was herself unable to form a complete sentence. DO NOT attend this college. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 35 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on November 14, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: The worst university out there! This so called accredited school was horrible. I took one semester of classes, only to be charged more money than if I was to attend a truly accredited school. They never take your calls. Every time you call you get transferred to a voice mail, and surprise surprise never get a call back. The instructors are rude, and not understanding. My grandmother died while I was attending, and not one of my instructors could have cared less. They would not accept my assignments late. NOT EVEN FOR HALF CREDIT!! You get made fun of both by the instructors, and the counselors. They put you in teams in the classes for some assignments. The members of your teams are always in time zones that make it near impossible to do work together. You can do the best work in the class, and get the worst grade. This is because the instructors play favorites. I would never ever suggest this SCAM of a university to anyone. They are out only to take money from people! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 24 of 27 people found the following review helpful Mecincin (In Progress) on November 4, 2011
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Worth it! I just cannot say enough about the outstanding support toward my EdD. Although it seems counter intuitive to approach a doctorate online, you will not know the difference. Hand-in-hand you can reach your goals and get that DR in front of your name! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 17 of 34 people found the following review helpful Mdorris (In Progress) on October 28, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Terrible universtiy and worse customer service Finished half of the program and had issue after issue. Promised scholarships and conveniently took them away after I enrolled. Repeatedly did not follow their own policy handbook but held students responsible for everything. At times took weeks to get a call or email back from a financial adviser. Christian university that does not follow any of the tenants of the Bible. Sent out emails asking for me to do certain things and once I did would say I needed someone else. When pointed out the email that was sent it was always a different story. Technology was horrific. E-book or email rarely worked but you were still responsible for the work. Terrible experience. I would categorize them as money grubbing crooks. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 20 of 37 people found the following review helpful Lteele (In Progress) on October 27, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Complete Rip Off This college is one i attended online for 2 years. The entire 2 years i was enrolled in the school, i never once had a class where i could completely enjoy the class for the constant bickering that the classes had in them. They do however split you into groups and these groups are diverse as anything. I was in the eastern time zone when the rest of my class could have been in the mountain time zone or even on the west coast somewhere. in these groups you are supposed to work together with one another by way of chat rooms. I was always 3 to 4 hours ahead of everyone and with a work schedule could never meet with these people at the right times. not to mention i was mocked the entire time because of the way i speak with a southern dialect. the councelors were never where you could get to them and they are constantly changing your advisor and financial aid advisor. not to mention they hiked up my tuition as soon as i told them i was going to take a class off. they are rude when you call in for support and the way they treat people for problems with the software and/or website is crazy. after taking 1 class every 8 weeks for 2 years i have a debt of $28,000 to pay back and i did not even get a diploma or degree. at first i was advised that i could teach in the state of Ga with an online degree from any acredited college. that was changed about 3/4 of the way through the major. so i then decided to keep attending and change my major to communications. That was a slap in the face. the tuition went up and i was rarely ever in a class of more than myself and the teacher. I would NOT recomend this school for anything. also when you get a statement from the school that says how much you owe them, and you call to make payments of which you can afford, the person on the other side laughs at you and says "i cant take that, you must pay what you have or go to collections where you can set up payments" now these payments are huge numbers, more than any middle class citizen can afford, $1500.00 a month. How absurd... Do not attend this school if you have other options... Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 32 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on October 27, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: worst college ever! I started taking the online classes for accounting. I was very excited and ready to learn. As I started my classes things fell apart. The teacher were never there to help! I thought maybe it was just the one teacher so I stayed. Well, NO! It was all the teachers the online program is a joke. My husband also started here and had the same problems as me. We both told student loans out to get us through school. Little did we know they were taking as much as they could. We think it was pell that was sending us refund checks. Now, we are thousands on dollars in debt and don't have the 400 to 500 dollars a month to pay it back. If you want to go back to college don't do it here! Most of your locate colleges/tech school have online programs for a 1/3 of the cost and you have all the support locate that you need. I hope this helps something one out because I wish I would have known this before I started! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 20 of 21 people found the following review helpful Bumantoo (In Progress) on October 24, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Good Support I began in the Finance and Economics degree plan in Jan of 2011. So far I have found the plan challenging and the staff to be helpful when I had questions. I have an academica counselor who contacts me at least once a month and respons to all of my calls and emails. Same for my finance counselor. In only one class did I have a CLC and it was for only 1 project, my entire grade did not rely on it. I have run into people that should not have been in college level courses but that was in the two basic courses everyone has to start in. So far in the upper level courses I have not run into that problem. I am in the military and would recommend this school to anyone. I attended Chaminade University Online and when compared to that GCU doe a much better job. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 29 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on October 22, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Disappointed, but hanging in there I was excited to start college and GCU seemed like the perfect fit. However it has become increasingly clear after 8 classes, that GCU accepts anyone that can pay into their school. Being online, written communication is critical to a class trying to duplicate face-to-face interaction like a ground class. Since our "class" exists in the form of Q&A forums answering and responding to "DQ's" (discussion questions), it is imperative that students have a least a basic understanding of how to express themselves in written form. In nearly all of my classes I beat my head against a wall dealing with classmates that cannot spell, cannot form a intelligent sentence and post lame answers like 'I agree with you.' or 'Nice post!' Then the "teachers" rarely TEACH -- its more like they are just facilitators that follow a pre-set lesson plan and post DQ's...its frustrating. The worst part of all? They are literally stuck in the last century when it comes to processing our financial aid. And speaking of costs. I did a rough estimate: $1,800 per class x 48,000 online students x 6 classes per year = roughly $516,000,000.00 -- that's 516 MILLION dollars per year in online tuition -- that being the case you'd think they could hire professors with DOCTORATES to TEACH ....oh well. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 33 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on October 18, 2011
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Review from an employee/student POV I work at GCU and if it were not for the free classes I would not be attending. I definitly wouldnt suggest someone I love to go! I see people stating how hard it is to reach a counselor but that is BS because all you have to do is press 2 and you will be transferred to the next available one if your assigned is unavailable. Most schools don't offer a personal FC/AC so quit complaining and quit worring about when your refund check is coming and concentrate on the school work you are there for. As far as the ethics of the school...this is where the problem comes in... they will financially screw any student that doesn't understand they have the right to go to the top if needed. Some instructors offer little instruction, but there is still the select few that do, as with most online schools. My suggestion would be to do your research before going to this school and make sure you are going for the education and not the check that comes... Was this review helpful? Yes - No 19 of 21 people found the following review helpful Scott.gage (In Progress) on October 16, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Pretty Good University for the money I will start off by saying that I have really enjoyed Grand Canyon University. The support that I have received has been excellent. Any questions that I have had been answered quickly and efficiently. The one draw back that I have seen is the high turn over in the administration staff. It seems that every six months I have a new academic counselor. I am about to start my last two classes and am looking forward to finishing up. If you are thinking about taking an online degree I would suggest thinking about GCU. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 17 of 27 people found the following review helpful Klhilborn (In Progress) on October 6, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Inferior school and education This is the worst college I have ever gone to. I got my bachelors at University of Iowa and I wanted to get my Masters online. The online program is horrible! My counselors have changed on a monthly basis for the entire 2-year program. They don't have their act together -- and often times know nothing about student problems. They were supposed to submit my Financial Aid to my lender and they forgot! They said I got "lost in the system." And guess what -- the U.S. Department of Education has a policy that I can't resubmit until next year!! Now I have to pay my tuition out-of-pocket (which I DON'T have). I'm screwed, now I can't graduate. Their response, "well there's nothing we can do about it, sorry." Also I felt that I was smarter than my professors.... they could never offer me any type of advise or constructive feedback on my essays. All they said was "good job." Seriously? I'm paying $20,000 for a "good job". That is not my definition of a teacher. These people have NO idea what their doing. Don't start an online school if you don't know how to run one. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 29 people found the following review helpful Brockandjesica (Graduate) on October 4, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Horrible school I'm not sure I can fit all my complaints in one space. I got my BSN through a cohort program. We were told we had to submit grades to be able to have our classes paid for. For the first six classes, I never submitted paperwork and had my classes paid for. When I did ask GCU to submit my grades, I never heard it it was actually done or not. My counselors changed every week and even after I graduated I kept getting e-mails about my "graduation team". Every time I tried to get information from someone, they wouldn't answer the phone and never returned my calls or e-mails. Since I was through a cohort, I wasn't planning on paying for my classes. Because GCU didn't submit my grades so they could get paid, I had an outstanding balance. Again, I could never reach someone to resolve the issue. Then, I start getting letters from GCU stating I would be sent to collections if I didn't pay up. Not my fault you can't get your crap together! So, after finally getting that taken care of, I call to have my diploma sent to me. They inform me I am one credit short. Wth!?! That would have been nice to know before I completed my program. I had my transcripts sent over to them but apparently, they never received them but didn't bother to let me know. According to their documentation, they talked to me about it (big fat lie). So now, if my credits don't transfer, I have to take a class from them to meet my one credit deficiency. If that's the case, I will NOT be paying for it!! I have never been to such an unorganized, unprofessional school! It's seriously ridiculous. I've had many nursing students from GCU complain about the same problems. I did have pretty good teachers. The only teacher I had a problem with was my spirituality teacher (weird, GCU is a Christian school). Not only was he a Nazi about our grammar and spelling, he marked papers down for errors that weren't really errors because they were "grammarically incorrect" (that's not even a real word!) I understand our papers should have proper spelling and grammar, but we were NOT in English class, it's spirituality! I got a B in that class...a B!! Who gets a B in spirituality!?! Apparently, me. So my advice? Don't go to this school and if you do, be prepared for major issues. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 12 of 26 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on September 17, 2011
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: A Mess Do not put yourself through this drama.GCU is a mass call center targeting student eligible for financial aid.The instructor are not equipped to access assignment material that student turn in and some of the instructors are actually student's themselves. I would not recommend this nightmare to anyone.I have taken three classes at this school and frankly there needs to be an investigation to address their accrediation.The customer service and communication is a joke. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 26 of 29 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on September 10, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Industrial and Organizational Psychology PhD Program I am an online PhD student at GCU studying for my Doctorate in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. I am almost finished with my 4th class (out of 20) in the program. So far, no problems to report. The support that I have been receiving from my enrollment counselor and academic counselor has been great. The instructors so far have been very good too. But tremendous kudos to GCU's library. If there's a research article from a scholarly journal you need that you can't get a hold of, you can contact them via email, and within 24 hours (generally), that journal will be sent to your emailbox. The school's internet web system is good as well, although I think there is room for some improvemnent there. Anyway, like some other people, I had hesitations in partaking in an on line education program. That's why I chose GCU because they are a traditional brick & mortar and have been in existence for decades. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 14 of 17 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on September 4, 2011
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: MBA at GCU I completed my degree requirements in the summer of 2011, and graduated with a 3.74 GPA. Overall, I believe the faculty and coursework are better than most online schools, however, the administration at this university is poor. Over my nearly three years of attending GCU, I was forced to spend several hundred hours on the phone with administrative staff, attempting to correct their mistakes. This time certainly could have been put to better use studying for my classes, not to mention the distraction and stress that was created by the need to oversee the administrative staff at GCU. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 24 of 28 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on August 29, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: I Like GCU.. I am being honest when I say that I am a bright student. My twin brother graduated Summa Cum Laude from a very good brick and mortar university, and we are at the same level IQ wise. I actually like GCU. I am in my 4th course there (4.0 GPA), and so far it has been challenging and productive. I have not experienced any of the issues that other people have complained about on here. Maybe GCU has focused on fixing those areas, but personally, I have not had those problems. Hopefully, I am not in for a shock. The instructors are knowledgeable and professional. I will agree with some of the reviews on here about the education level of some of your classmates. Honestly, after working as an Army Recruiter and working at good brick and mortar colleges, I think that particular issue is a generational thing. Kinda sad. Plus you can also expect that from a school that has a 100% acceptance rate. But you can compare your grades against the averages of your fellow classmates, and everytime I run that report it seems pretty accurate. The instructors grade fairly (based on content and substance rather than style), and people do wash out, because online college is sink or swim (which may account for a few of the negative reviews on here). I was not a fan of the mandatory University Foundations course, but it did serve a purpose somewhat. If my continued experience at GCU stays at what I have experienced so far, then I will stay at GCU until I graduate. I have no big complaints, and so far I would definitely recommend GCU. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 11 of 25 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on August 23, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Run away - far far away - before you get hurt! THe financial aid and accounting departments are a mess. You are unable to speak to anyone (even in person) to get clarical or other errors corrected. A true nightmare. The academic side ofthings is only marginally better. My first regret in life was choosing this school over a public university. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 19 of 21 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on August 12, 2011
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: M.Ed. SpEd- emphasis in Severe Disabilities This was a great and useful program. The courses were intensive and required a HUGE amount of production related to areas of real world applicaton. The plus of this program is the that the large weekly production requirements result in a comprehensive end product at the end of each course referred to as a "Teacher Toolbox". I find these useful in my career as a Severe Disabilities Special Education Teacher over the past 6 years. Another plus is that the Teacher Toolboxes from all of the courses can be compiled to create the final keystone project for the 2 year program. The library, online instructor support, technology, and overall program were excellent. Did it cost a lot- yes. Was there a lot of work required- yes. Did I learn a ton of useful skills for my profession- you bet! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 13 of 27 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on August 11, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Stay Away!! The number one school not to attend online is Grand Canyon University. The school is not only sub par as far as providing a decent education but they are only after your money and will do ANYTHING they can to get it, even lie to students, which is exactly what happened to me. The school deliberately misinformed me about requirements and waited until my financial aid was received and it was too late for me to cancel to inform me that I did have to take a class I had been told I didn't. They then proceeded to tell me "oops, you were right Victoria". I'm now having my degree with held over money they think I owe them for that class. 10 years to get a bachelor's degree and I still don't have a bachelors degree. And this is a Christian college!!!!!! I feel so betrayed and so disappointed in this experience and disgusted at a school that touts itself as Christian, when they are clearly just in the business of making money. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 8 of 21 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on August 8, 2011
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Horrible Choice This school is a waste of my money and time. The financial aid reps are not very competent. The instructors half-ass everything. The students are mostly ESL and can not form a sentence or use any from of grammar. They are also, for the most part, ignorant bible thumping chumps. I am a Christian who has been raised in the church, but even I was disapointed in this "Christian" university. The teachers give you a lesser grade if you are not some extremist Christian like most of the other ignorant people there. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 9 of 23 people found the following review helpful Fishdog021 (Graduate) on August 2, 2011
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: AVOID!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If there was a 0, that would be the score I would give. I have had three e-mails stating I have completed my degree and now I am having to take two more classes. They are saying the reviewed by classes and now some that did count do not anymore. This is causing me 6 extra weeks of classes that are already completed and they will not release the grades. I am now forced to turn down my dream job due to the way GCU works. Also, this school will not work if you life in Oregon! The tests to not match! TRUST ME!!!!! $800 in tests and none work. Avoid!!! There is a reason they may be cheaper than other schools. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 8 of 21 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on July 22, 2011
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Worst place on the planet for administration Administration terrible...faculty always nice...education value was to pay a high price for a subpar education. It was not because of the faculty, it was because of the content. Writing two papers per week was ridiculous for working people. Sent emails to counselors, tech support, etc and would hear back in a week, two weeks, never.... Was this review helpful? Yes - No 6 of 19 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on July 13, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Financial Councelors My husband has been going to GCU for a little over a year and a half, the teachers are great however the administration is below par. GCU should understand that a University is only as good as the people that work for it, the counselors are included in this not just the teachers. I have never had to deal with such ridiculous, rude, and less caring people than the GCU veterans guidance and financial counselors. The veteran financial counselors have no idea what they are doing, you can never get a hold of them. My husband has had over 4 financial counselors in the 1 1/2 years that he has been there, all that have no understanding of the VA finances. The current counselor is on vacation but of course she couldn't be bothered to let the students know even the ones that she has been in constant communication with (when I say constant communication it would be my husband leaves a VM for her in the VM tells her when he is available because he does work, she calls him when he is working so she can leave a message for him, he has to call her back she does not answer yet again, he tells her when he is available, she calls him and leaves a message....this just goes on and on.) I would think in one of those VM she could let him know that she was going on vacation so he could try and get a hold of one of the other counselors. We have noticed when we can;t get a hold of the financial counselor if we can manage to reach on of the other FCs and complain about not being able to reach his assigned FC we tend to get an answer within 20 minutes, I do find that a bit funny. The teachers are great, he has had nothing but great experience with them. But the counselors will make your going to school at GCU the worst experience...for anyone that has to keep in constant communication with the financial counselors like veterans I highly highly recommend for you to find a different school. We have not just had one bad experience with just one counselor, we have had bad experiences with every counselor that has been assigned to him. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 17 people found the following review helpful Birkholz.n (In Progress) on July 6, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Doing great so far! I am at the end of my first semester at GCU and have had a generally good experience so far. One thing I can say right off the bat is that I have had good experiences with staff and administration from day one. Obviously there is variation when it comes to personalities and people who are more committed to their job than others, but before I approached GCU I tried to work with several other colleges and did not have good experiences. The impression I have is that my needs and comfort is important and professionally addressed. There is always someone available during office hours to assist me and though it does seem that there is a considerable workload on the administration, my advisors work together and always get back to me either same day or within 24 hours. If they are not available and I need something resolved right away, I am redirected to another advisor immediately. I have been told that there is no quota or commission for students enrolled and I was not rushed into enrolling as I have been at other places such as Ashford University. As far as the value goes, it is a private university and so they are a little bit more expensive than some places, but not unreasonably so. I am a financial aid student and have witnessed what has been mentioned as those who are not "able to handle the work", or something like that. There are those who have not been in school for 25 years that do not have sophisticated writing skills, however, the first three courses that are standard for online students teach basic principles in communication, critical thinking, online school organization and function and software instruction (such as Microsoft Word). These are easy A's for students like myself who have a good grasp on technology and writing skills, but those who I have mentioned seem to benefit from this How To Succeed 101 type of instruction. The teachers have all been very attentive and responsive and call before the class starts to introduce themselves and make sure you are prepared for class. They make an effort to be available as much as possible and give feedback on a regular basis. The Angel system through which online school takes place is relatively user-friendly and doesn't take much time to get used to for someone who is generally used to technology, but might be a challenge at first for someone who struggles with computers. I cannot attest to the experiences of those who have reviewed before me, but I have no complaints about my experiences so far and wanted to throw my line in to give a more balanced representation for those looking for an online school experience. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 16 people found the following review helpful Rlduvan (In Progress) on June 30, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: I love this school I love this school. It has been the best decision I have ever made. Some of the assignments are tough, but what isn't tough when you're earning any kind of college degree. I like the fact that I can work around my schedule, and not base everything around my school schedule. My counselors and everyone I've come in contact with at the school have been great and are very helpful and willing to lend whatever help I need, whether it's school related or just an ear to listen. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 17 of 20 people found the following review helpful Theapprentice1 (Graduate) on June 28, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: BS in Addiction Counseling I'm thankful to God for allowing me to accomplish this goal. The staff in every department were kind and knowledgeable. I would definitely recommend GCU to anyone that is trying to further their education. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 14 of 15 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on June 22, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: GCU FOR VET This is a great school. I really like it a lot. I have been going here for a little over a year. Here is the deal with the tuition. You can drop a class in the first week and you pay half the cost of that class, but after that you pay the full amount. It is in their academic handbook they put out every year. If you drop a class before it starts there is no cost to you. Okay, for veterans they offer a 40% tuition discount for their online program. E-books are included for the majority of the classes. You can always buy the books if you want to, but I would invest in a tablet instead. The tuition cost itself is 450.00 per credit hour before any discounts. For different degree programs this varies 10-15 dollars. Anyway, I have to say the school is good. I am not a fan of the clc, but at a certain point you get clc's where people are really trying. As far as the lectures go, GCU needs to use more technology to make this school what it could be. There needs to be more video and powerpoint used. They also need to think about setting up some sort of voip system. I think considering that they are new to the online school that they are pretty good. So far all of my instructors have been great except for one. I dropped the class and retook it. I know and talk to my academic counselor frequently he is great. The biggest issue this school has is the technology is not nearly as good as it should be for an online school. The other problem I ran into because they had such a boom at this school. They did not have the staff to support their students at first in the financial aid department. I think they have resolved this. The financial aid seems to be posting quicker. All in all I like this school and find it to be a good school. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 17 of 19 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on June 12, 2011
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Better than Average. Got what I expected. I originally started in the MBA program, turned out to be more tougher than I thought. I switched to the MSL which is not as difficult. Still time consuming but not as tough compared to the MBA. Support and technology would sometimes be a little frustrating to deal with but I realized it's because they try to upgrade and improve their network and procedures all of the time. If you know you are a lazy student this school is not for you because they want quality students who are motivated. (Complain elsewhere) I attended two other colleges before I came here, GCU is not the best but by far better than average. Overall, I got what I needed out of the school. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 28 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on June 11, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Greedy for money & hypocritical Christian values After only 2 weeks into the course and receiving 2 As on papers, my 87 year old father ended up seriously ill and almost dying in the hospital. I'm a teacher and a mother, and couldn't keep up with all the demands on me during this crisis. I asked to be able to continue with the class during the summer break. By then my father will have been moved in with my family, and I will have more breathing room. They denied my request, so I wrote an appeals letter. After 8 months of no resolution, they informed me they would allow me to take the course, but I would essentially have to pay twice for the same class- saying that I could use the stipend I receive from my financial aid to pay for the class I had to drop in the Fall. When I wasn't pleased with this offer, they threatened to send me to collections if I didn't agree to this, and charge me 33% interest for the unpaid $1900.00 balance-for only 2 WEEKS of online class time. They showed no interest in helping me during my crisis, no compassion, no offer of an incomplete, no reasonable resolution, no communications or answers to my many questions via email. The appeals process was never clearly articulated. This continues to be a very frustrating source of stress in my life. Grand Canyon University is a money hungry, greedy bureaucratic establishment. They don't deserve your hard earned money! They don't care about you - only their bottom line!!! Do not attend this school. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 8 of 21 people found the following review helpful Mrskimphillips (In Progress) on June 2, 2011
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: do not be decieved, stay away This school has it's pro's and con's. The good thing is the advance technology that allows you to have everything you need as if you were in the classroom. The bad thing is that every other month they add additional fees to your tuition. I started school in the end of Dec. 2010. After my first 2 classes my tuition went from 1740 to 1800 and the cost of my books increased. I have only taken 3 classes and now I am charged an additional $450 for technology fee. Another bad thing is that if I have a problem with any financial issues, it takes a few weeks to be solved. Same for academic issues. During my second week of class, there was a discrepancy about a quiz grade. It's been 4 weeks and today I was told to wait until my grade is posted and if my grade is not effected than don't worry about the problem. I am so sick and tired of this school. Don't think that you can start and quit if you don't like the teacher because after you have post anything on the discussion board you are obligated to finish that class. Nothing like community college at all. If you can go to your local school university, I would suggest that you go. They may have to advantage to offer you one class for 7 weeks, but it's no peace. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 7 of 20 people found the following review helpful Ncarpenter01 (In Progress) on May 31, 2011
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Grand Canyon University Needs Communication Skills As of today, the 31st of May, I have not received any response to my emails to my academic or financial counselors. I emailed them on five separate occasion since the 8th of April. This includes emails to an employee whose job it is to fix the screw-ups from GCU. This has been an ongoing problem since I started in 2009. I am on my last class and I am tired of having to add to my busy day and hunt these people down on the phone. No where on the website is contact information for someone over their head. So you as a paying customer are stuck with the yahoos that are peons just waiting for a paycheck and they do not give a darn about the students. I will not endorse GCU to anyone. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 18 of 19 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on May 2, 2011
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Business Adminstration Review The entire college experience is all based on the premise of: you get back what you put into it. I am student that started my career at the University of Louisville which has a top tier business program. GCU may not have the greatest system in place but as far as the material, it is of the same you will cover anywhere else. I graduated with honors and have recently been accepted to law school in the fall. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 17 of 18 people found the following review helpful Johnathan.clayborn (In Progress) on April 30, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: GCU gets good marks in my book I am currently 10 classes away from graduating with my Bachelor's of Science in Secondary Education. I love this school. Are they perfect? No. Do you get the occasional faculty member that could be doing more? ...I had one, out of 30. The long and the short of it is that the program is a good program. The school may make mistakes, but if you bring it to their attention and give them a chance, they fix it. I have not had any issues that they left unresolved. Do the counselors change? In the 18 months that I've been here I've had 3, but that's to be expected no matter which school you choose. Ultimately, in the end, the only person whom you can hold accountable for your degree and your education is yourself. Your counselors aren't there to do the work for you, they're there as a resource to help you along the way. You, the student, need to be proactive and ask questions, understand the process. Going to college, any college is a long, drawn out process involving significant amounts of time and money. Be prepared for what you are about to endeavor. If you dont like the teachers or you believe the teacher is treating you unfairly, request to be transferred to another class. If the teacher isn't doing their job, hold them accountable and report them. If your academic adviser is busy, push the button and talk to whomever is available (someone is always available). If that doesn't work, contact the Student Resolution Specialist, or ask for help through the GCU homepage. Or email the Dean directly. Too many people have one issue, expect other people to handle it and then get upset when things don't work out like they wanted. It's your life, your education. Be responsible and take what you want, you only take away what you put into it. I am so impressed with GCU to this point that I plan to complete my Masters degree and two doctorates at GCU. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 7 of 20 people found the following review helpful Tabbss1 (In Progress) on March 31, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: There has to be something better I am actually getting a Masters in Secondary Education. I am a cash paying student and have been through the first three classes. I found the teachers to be a mixed bag. I had two whom were very good but a third whom was just looking for extra money teaching as a second job at GCU. She rarely interacted with the on-line class. As other reviews have mentioned, you are supposed to "interact" with fellow classmates on a weekly basis. Believe it or not, this is about 10-15% of your grade. Frankly, its a joke and provides no type of educational enrichment. The administration is horrible. They churn through counselors and finance people like McDonald's churns through hamburgers. In the past 6 months I have had three counselors and 3 finance people. One would think that as a cash paying student I would not need a finance person but they keep putting "holds" on my accounts for no real reason. The on-line school has potential, but has a long way to go to be a well run organization.
Was this review helpful? Yes - No 9 of 22 people found the following review helpful Imbaragas (In Progress) on March 13, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: I can't believe that this school is this bad and is still accredited I am an online student at GCU and have found that the admissions standards for adult students is laughable. The grades for each class rely, in large part, on CLC (team) projects. I have been on many of these teams and have found that students do not know how to write college-level English, much less how to construct simple sentences with the right words. The result of these "team projects", is that I lost a 4.0 average, because my teammates, who were purportedly skilled enough to continue with college-level courses, could not grasp the concept of the project, did not know how to follow the basic instructions of the project and abjectly refused any idea that did not align with theirs. GCU faculty advocates that more proficient students take the largest burden of these class projects and make sure that the team receives a high mark for the project. This is absolutely unfair to students with appropriate skill sets. If you have the opportunity to go to a different school - GO and don't look back. I wish I had. The "professors" are, with few exceptions, inept, especially if students who are woefully lacking comprehension and writing skills continue to pass classes. GCU is very vocal about not tolerating plagiarism. Really??? I caught another student copying my work word-for-word (he didn't even have the brains to change it up a little). I brought it to the attention of the "professor" who did not follow the protocol posted on the university's website. Yes, I am incensed, but because I am close to graduation, I am putting up with these shenanigans. I will be starting my MBA right after I finish my Bachelor's and I will not even consider GCU as an option. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 9 of 22 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on January 31, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Grand Canyon Univ--Don't do this unless you can pay cash! Teachers are very good. The administration is horrible. Counselors are sales people filling the quotas that the administration pressures them to fill. This was a nightmare experience. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 6 of 24 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on January 11, 2011
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Bible College with no Bible program? What a joke! They're claiming to be a PREMIER Bible college and not offering Theology or Bible degrees? And Mormons are NOT Christians! Everyone should know that. They have changed the Bible to fit their needs and believe Jesus Christ is JUST a prophet, just to name a few discrepancies. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 16 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on January 7, 2011 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Good enough I attended Grand Canyon University for two years. I completed my AA at a community college, as it was a cheaper and more convenient route. I enjoyed my time at GCU, I thought the instructors were very thorough. All assignments were useful. One should understand, the purpose of an assignment is to provide practice to a student, so they can use that practice in the workforce. Quizzes and exams were based off of classroom readings, and there were many critical thinking questions that were thrown out at you, weekly, in order to ensure you comprehend the material. Like any university, whether it is not-for-profit, or for-profit, it is up to a student to complete the work and learn the material. I currently attend USC, a very well-known research institution, so I understand what good education is about. Although GCU is no USC, the instructors at GCU provided a great amount of information that has helped me succeed at USC. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 17 of 18 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on December 22, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Very Good! Outstanding! The professors were helpful and responded very quickly to questions, e-mails and phone calls! I was very impressed. The counselors also answered my questions in a professional manner as well as getting the answer to me in a timely manner! The university gets high marks from rating agencies! GCU is rules! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 7 of 21 people found the following review helpful Zoneblitz8 (In Progress) on December 20, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Not Good This school is a joke. The teachers are not available when you need them and the counselors take forever, if at all, to respond to questions. This school needs an overhaul. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 18 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on December 20, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: MA in Educational Leadership I just finished my third class with GCU. I have three more to go. They allowed me to transfer in 12 units but only would accept 8 because they use a 4 unit class system. It did not make sense to me but I still only need to take 6 of the 8 classes to complete the MA. I started in June and will finish a year later in June. The first two classes I really enjoyed. I found the curriculum in the first class to be awesome and I learned a lot and developed a lot of new techniques for my class. It was a great introduction to an MA class. I could tell the difference than a busy work type of course. The teacher however was not very helpful and the syllabus is always difficult to understand what is being asked of you. The second class was on collegial coaching and I ended up being the only student. I really liked the professor and she was very knowledgable. The class was awesome. My current class has really left me annoyed. The syllabus again is absolutely terrible. On top of that the professor has been just as bad. She is not helpful in the least bit and I can tell from the discussion board that many students are having issues with her. If this had been my first class I probably would have not stuck it out with GCU. Regarding tuition and fees etc. I have found it a little frustrating trying to get "scholarships" applied to my account. They are supposed to be officially applied to my account after the third and fourth class, but that was not the original explanation. Workload has varied with each class. Like I mentioned earlier the syllabus is the biggest enemy. If GCU had someone go back and rewrite the syllabus it would take a lot of tension out of the learning process. You would think the teachers would help to interpret the syllabus for their students but not so far. Each week you have to answer and respond to online classmates. This takes up about an hour to two hours a week. Reading takes up another 2 hours. Projects very each week and can take 7-10 hours of work. So far I have a 4.0 but I have always been a perfectionist and have never been satisfied with anything less than A's. My wife tells me C's get degrees too! I will stick it out because I don't have to drive somewhere and I can work when I want and how I want. Timing is great and I will be done in under a year. It takes a lot of self determination and problem solving. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 19 of 21 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on November 13, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Why I love GCU!!! I loved my master's degree program at GCU! There are a number of reasons why I feel GCU is a great university. To begin with I really liked the low student to faculty ratio. You get personal attention which is so refreshing from the 'you are only a number' approach at many state institutions. I am a UCLA alum so I know of what I speak concerning state universities! The academics were very challenging. I wrote approximately 90 papers during the program averaging 15 pages (single spaced) each. The capstone project was almost 90 pages in length. The average week was required reading both in the textbook and academic articles relating to the topic at hand of over 100 pages. The paper was typically 15 pages in length as well as a 2-3 page journal relating the reading to classroom application (not merely a summary of the reading). In addition there were two discussion boards. Required was to post 6 times to each and make significant comments about other students' posts. All in all the week's time commitment stood at about 15-20 hours per week. The master's in education requires a great deal of hard work but is worth it!!! You will get a great education at GCU!!!! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 21 of 23 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on October 24, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: I Chcked it out I took the time to stop by the GCU campus when I was in Phoenix this past summer since I wanted to actually see the campus from where I received my Master's degree. I really had no idea what to expect. It was a pleasure to be there. The campus is beautiful and the people were very helpful and friendly. The campus visit matched perfectly to the experience that I had online with this university. The professors were outstanding and always helpful and showed concern for the students. They participated in the discussions (discussion board) and answered questions and e-mails promptly (within 24 hours). About half way through my program, they changed from the Blackboard to the Angel delivery platform. Even that went quite smoothly. I was really impressed all around. If anyone in teaching is looking for a real solid master in education program, I feel that this is the one! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 17 of 18 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on October 20, 2010
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Love it! I can see that some have had their share of problems. I cannot say the same .In fact I would highly recommend the university. The professors have been very supportive. Most have given out their cell numbers so that they can be reached immediately in case of a problem or question. The masters program has been a great experience for me. I have had no problems at all getting my degree recognized. The university is RA. Why should there be any problem at all with transferring? RUN TO GCU! You will love it! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 18 of 19 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on October 18, 2010
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: More than happy! I received my Masters in Education almost two and a half years ago. Generally your work load will look like this: 1. Read approximately 80-100 pages per week in the text. 2. Write a 5-8 pages paper on a given topic. 3. Write a 1-2 page reading log (which is not just a summary of the reading rather how you would apply the theory/information presented in your classroom. 4. Participate in discussion. This usually means 5-6 posts of your own answering the professor's questions plus commenting on 5-6 posts from others in the classroom. These must be substantive answer (not just "good post. I agree". 5. Any other reading/research that the professor might want you to do (i.e. reading journal articles etc.) I am an organized person that works accurately, professionally and quickly. I earned a 4.0 GPA in the program. However, I must also tell you that I averaged between 15-20 hours a week to accomplish all of the above every week for 21 months. It is DEMANDING! No doubt. I have never regretted the experience and what I learned at GCU for anything. It was great! You will love it! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 4 of 18 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on October 18, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Masters in NRS education I have been underwhelmed by this program in so many areas. The recruiter is excellent and I do mean excellent. I now know she must have had a significant career in military recruitment due to the caliber of what she slung. They will tell you anything to get you hooked and started. Sounds so great to be assigned a personal academic & finance counsellor. A person you can count on to guide and help along the way. The greatness frimly stops at the idea. If you can ever get your advisor on the phone, they have zero idea who you are and even less interest in helping with an actual problem. The instructors are a truly mixed bag. There are several exceptional educators in the masters program but they are few & far between. Since the management is so set on keeping everything a secret this iformation is hard won! I had more than 3 instructors that we never heard from week three onward. No contact with the administration even after we finished the class ourselves. The admin has no clue and care nothing for the students. My understanding is that the Dean is setting herself up for a position with a national nursing organization and wants no problems. She has surrounded herself with incompetents to make herself look better. The class work itself offers no consitstancy and the reading & links are outdated. I had one DR. teacher that explained to me that I should only use the term overall when refering to denim and than preceeded to tell me that my paper was over-all very good??? Was this review helpful? Yes - No 6 of 21 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on October 14, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Horrible experience I started attending GCU online because I accepted a job that required me to work long hours and not attend the traditional classroom setting. At first it was great and only needed 30 hours to graduate. I loved the classes and learned a lot. I improved my writting skills and enjoyed the learning process. The problems started in March 2010 when I requested a degree audit because I knew I was getting close to graduating with just a few classes to go. At the end of the semester I still did not have a degree audit. My academic advisor ( the 5th in less than a year) informed me that I still needed 28 hours to graduate. I knew this was wrong and asked for another review. In June I finished another sememster and still there was not a audit. Finally in september I was informed that I was right and did not need anymore classes and that I had taken 2 classes that were not even need!!! ( at 1500 a class) I have not taken clasess since then and on October 10th I finally recieved my diploma and transcripts. 4 months of calling almost everyday and talking to at least 20 different people on the academic and finance side. I forgot one thing that is very important it took tham 4 weeks to fix an accounting error that in the end was prohibiting me from recieving my actual transcripts. Classes great. Staff morons. If you expect to speak to the same person more than once good luck. My stepdad just completed his Masters of Education and long story short same problems. He was told he needed one more class and all the sudden dimploma was in the mail with transcripts. Really. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 17 of 18 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on October 13, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: GCU I had over 20 years of experience in teaching before going back for my master's degree. I did a lot of research into various masters of education programs that would fit my schedule. GCU unlike many other online programs is a B & M university. The online programs started decades after the university was established in 1949. The program was excellent although I had some minor issues with the technology. I would describe the workload as 'heavy' taking between 20-25 hours per week. You can expect about 100 pages of reading in textbooks (not counting additional journal articles) along with a paper (10 pages) every week. In addition, you can expect to write a weekly log entry 1-2 pages. A great experience overall! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 7 of 21 people found the following review helpful Brmbland (In Progress) on October 11, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Typical online college Do not attend this school. There is no support by the staff. When I first started attending this school, they provided books. They changed their policy when I started taking my core courses and required the use of an e-book, which is a PDF document. If you don't have the money to buy tones of paper and toner, then you are out of luck. I started failing and asked for help and was ignored. They took all of my financial aid, while encouraging to keep attending, knowing that I was failing. Now, I cannot attend school for another 8 months and my loans may go into default. It wasn't until after all of this started happening they suggested a leave of abscense, but by then I had already failed a course. I begged for help but was ignored. After setting up payment arrangements for a failed course, they sent me an exit counseling interview letter. I'm so mad! I did everything I could to stay with this school and was totally ignored. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 16 people found the following review helpful Sbarnettaz (In Progress) on October 7, 2010
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: I Love GCU!! I completed my undergrad at GCU (BS in Applied Management) and then went on to complete my MBA in Marketing. I only have two classes left and I can safely say, "I'd do it all over again!" GCU is great because the classes are small, the homework is something that I actually use in my job and the people are great. GCU also does a TON of stuff for the community, which is a really big deal to me. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 12 of 25 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on October 6, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Not happy with program.. I wish I had more than 3,000 characters. In short, I am not happy with my experience at GCU. I completed my undergraduate degree online, so I am very familiar with how online universities and classes work. I have finished 36 credits toward my M.S. in professional counseling. Quite frankly, the experience becomes worse with each passing module (classes are run in eight-week modules). I understand no education is problem-free, but the problems I have run into at GCU have been unacceptable. They decided to arbitrarily change our internship requirements with NO communication to the students. The handbook CLEARLY states we may start out internship after completing 24 credits. I started the application process, went on interviews, etc. At the 11th hour, I’m told a “change” was made, and we have to finish ALL of our class requirements before we can start our internship. Here I am, weeks away from starting at my internship site, and I am supposed to tell them I can not start for another YEAR? Sorry, I don’t think so. I asked a GCU academic advisor where and when this change in policy had been communicated, and they said they were “working” on updating the manual. Needless to say, I complained vigorously, and an “exception” was made…to a rule that does not exist in any manual or communication. In the end, I would not recommend GCU. I chose the school because I work full-time and this was the only affordable online master’s in counseling program that leads to licensure in my state. I wish I could have gone to a brick-and-mortar school, but I could not do that with my work schedule. If you have other options, I would suggest choosing a different university besides GCU. Good luck! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 14 of 15 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on September 15, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great School! I love GCU! They did have a few glitches in the online system but it has since been fixed. I had one teacher who did not know what she was talking about and so is no longer with the university every other teacher has been very supportive and helpful. I know I have learned so much and grown as a person by attending GCU. It is an excellent university! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 17 of 18 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on September 15, 2010
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great School, Poor Support I'm currently 7 courses deep in the Applied Management program. It is great for the working professional / family man (or woman) / and Christian. I will agree with the critical posts in regards to the support from administration. Aside from my enrollment counselor, it is nearly impossible to reach someone to assist you. In regards to the instructor staff, it has been hit or miss. Two of the seven courses have had instructors who responded only with canned answers, if they responded at all. Three were stellar. The other two were very similar to other mediocre professors I've encountered in the past. It seems that the Christian focus is slipping a bit, and I hope that aspect rebounds soon. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 16 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on September 10, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: This is the Program for You!!!! If you want an outstanding experience in a master's program this is a great MEd program. I had to laugh a bit when I read the previous review complaining about the large work load! There is a great deal of work associated with GCU programs. Be aware of that. It is very rigorous!!! However, it was worth it!!! You will really enjoy GCU! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 4 of 19 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on September 8, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: BA in Information Management This is not a bad school, but I can't warn you enough... If you think earning your degree part time online is the way to go.. this may not be the university for you. The classes are crushingly difficult, not usually for the subject matter, but for the amount of work required. I spent nearly 30 hours per week on an Algebra class and I still couldn't fulfill the homework, tests, sample problems, readings, discussion questions. This course requires around 70 hours per week and I just don't have the time (Please also note that I excel at Algebra, previously graduating from a university with a 4.0 and an associates in Electrical Engineering). I also have many computer science certifications, I can subnet in binary. Most courses are boring rehashes of previous courses where no real meaningful information is learned.. As with any university. The group projects are wretched, poorly designed drivel. In a real university, there is interaction, the same time zone and you know if someone drops the class (they quit showing up). Sometimes by the time a group project comes due, its just me or me and one other person in the class. Due to drops, etc. Or you get disconnected students across different time zones who really don't care to participate. Also, the work in the projects.. doesn't even really require a group.. It's just a bunch of nonsense strung together so they can say "GCU encourages group learning". Some of the teachers are halfway decent, but the courses are so poorly designed that I can't recommend this university to anyone. I've already told five individuals that were considering online degrees to stay far away from GCU. So, if you have no job, no family, can survive with little sleep and cut back on your bathroom breaks GCU is for you! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 17 of 18 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on September 2, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: I really love GCU!!!! This is a great university. I found the degree program to be wonderful. I have recommended GCU to my colleagues and two have decided to begin their master's degree programs there as well. I would encourage people to read the reviews from people who have graduated from GCU; not the reviews from those that have not. You will not get an accurate picture of GCU from those who have not completed a degree program ('sour grapes'). Do your research at professional sites/sources. You will see that GCU is for YOU!!!! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 5 of 20 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on September 2, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: BE AWARE I would not recommend this university to any military personnel taking online courses. This institution claims to be "military friendly" but is only friendly with your funds. Obtaining a degree online is essential for military personnel who are always on the go, but if the university that you are attending doesn't show you the support you need in order to obtain it; if they are unreachable and not dependable; if they only show interest in you, just to get you through the door...you might as well save yourself the time and search somewhere else, because GCU will give you just what I described and nothing more. Do your research before you spend your hard earned money a college that looks at you as just another $. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 17 of 19 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on August 30, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: GCU is Top Notch!!! GCU is top notch. The master's program is very demanding and, as we can see, a number of individuals do drop out. Only the most committed and hard working got through my program. Your entire focus for two years will be this program. It is well worth it. Completing my master's degree has opened many doors of opportunity. I HIGHLY recommend this university! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 13 of 16 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on August 29, 2010
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: I Like This University Enough I have been a student since August 2009. I am a transfer student. Materials: The books chosen are good text books and many are used at other popular universities. The library is ok, but sometimes I find it better to do outside research, too. The articles and links they give you are pretty good and are sufficient enough to aid in completing good assignments. Teachers: All of my teachers have been great. Only one has been too uninvolved and seemed to be way too busy to be an online instructor. Sometimes the feedback that they give seems to be generic, copy/pasted (example: Good work. You demonstrated knowledge of the material. You covered all required points. Keep up the good work). A couple of times, I turned in what I knew was rushed, sub-par work that didn't quite meet the word requirements (by 200 words), and I still got a 100 percent. Support: My counserlors have changed 3 times. One time, I got a new set of counselors, then a week later they were changed again. I don't get that part. The financial aid department is so-so. Many times I've had to bug the hell out of my fin. aid conselor to get what my paperwork processed. It took from May-Aug of ths year to get my verification process completed and they kept asking for the SAME forms over and over, like they were losing some of it. I currently have a 3.9 (yup, I'm bragging), and I'm not sure if the work is or is not challenging enough because ONE) I can't speak for the classes I haven't taken or won't ever take and TWO) college has always been easy to me (yup, bragging again), but I do not think it is any less challenging than my last school. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 17 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on August 29, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Super!!! I found GCU to be super!!! The workload was heavy and some couldn't keep pace or handle the rigor! If you are as motivated as I was and can devote 25 hours per week per grad class you could make it as well. The professors were outstanding! The office staff was caring!! I always had my phone calls returned as well as my e-mails in a timely manner. I love GCU!! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 6 of 20 people found the following review helpful Lcalder (In Progress) on August 28, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: waste of time and rip off This school started out on a good note and as time went on I was horrified. I am due three scholarships and now being told I can't receive until they see my grade from the 12th credit class. A new student scholarship and course material has nothing to do with my grade. They are so far behind in issuing out stipends its notfunny. When you ask them they don't no or they give you an answer of in two-three weeks. Now I can't transfer until I finish third class, another way to keep my money. To bad they have no clue what Christianity really is. TERRIBLE SCHOOL Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 16 people found the following review helpful Alexapz (In Progress) on August 27, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: It is the right fit for me! I am half way done with my M.Ed in TESOL. I have a really great experience so far with GCU. The classes are not easy, I put in my effort and work hard for my assignments and they pay off. One class at a time helps me concentrate more in one subject and pay attention to important details. I love the online setting due to its flexibility with schedules NOT due to its easiness. If anything I can say that getting a degree online is even more difficult than the traditional route. I completed my Associates and B.A going to the campus of a university. I usually had to take classes at night or weekends since I have always worked and study at the same time. The act of sitting in a classroom for three hours after work was horrible for me as I was not able to stay awake and pay attention. I started taking some online classes when I was finishing my B.A just to try them and see if it was a good fit for me and I discovered that I actually work better by doing one hour here and there, than by actually going to a class for hours on end. I am sure that the M.Ed I will earn at GCU is very competitive and well obtained. I've had great teachers and not so good ones, but there are teachers like that in other Universities as well even in those "higher" ones. The materials and education alone are very good in fact and I feel great by knowing that I am really learning a good deal of information in this program. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 7 of 22 people found the following review helpful ERTMILEY3 (In Progress) on August 24, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: NON-PROFIT TO FOR-PROFIT I HAVE BEEN ATTENDING FOR ONE YEAR AND HAVE SEEN MAJOR CHANGES HAPPENING TO THIS UNIVERSITY. THE SCHOOL USED TO CARE ABOUT ITS STUDENTS AND NOW THEY ARE A DOLLAR SIGN. THEY ARE ON THERE WAY OF HAVING A REPUTATION AS BAD AS PHOENIX. THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS ONLY CARES ABOUT PROFIT AND THIS USED TO BE A CHRISTIAN COLLEGE. THEY HAVE A POLICY OF NOT GIVING BACK ANY MONEY AFTER THE FIRST WEEK OF CLASSES. THEY HAVE BEEN TAKEN TO COURT MANY TIMES FROM DIFFERENT STATES AND THOSE STATES ARE ALLOWED TO HAVE TUITION PRORATED LIKE IT SHOULD BE. THE ADVISORS ARE STUDENTS AND MAKE CRITICAL MISTAKES. THE PROFESSORS ARE BEING PAID VERY LITTLE AND ARE NOT VERY MOTIVATED BECAUSE OF THAT. THE ATTENDENCE HAS EXPLODED DURING THE RECESSION AND THE TEACHERS AND STAFF ARE OVERWORKED. THE ADMINISTRATION IS HAVING A HARD TIME KEEPING UP WITH EXPANSION, BUT THEY THINK EVERYTHING IS GREAT AS LONG AS THE CORPORATION IS MAKING LOTS OF MONEY. I FEEL THAT THIS UNIVERSITY SHOULD STOP CALLING ITSELF A CHRISTIAN COLLEGE AND COME CLEAN THAT THEY ARE TURNING INTO A DIPLOMA MILL. I HAVE HEARD FROM ANGRY TEACHERS THAT THE UNIVERSITY IS TAKING ON POOR STUDENTS LIVING ON GOVERNMENT LOANS THAT DO NOT HAVE THE SKILLS TO BE THERE. THE UNIVERSITY WILL TAKE ANYONE THAT CAN GET A GOVERNMENT LOAN AND SOME OF THE TEACHERS ARE FED UP WITH STUDENTS WHO CAN'T DO THE WORK. THERE IS A SCAM GOING ON OF TAKING POOR PEOPLE AND STUDENTS THAT CAN NOT DO THE WORK BUT CAN GET GOVERNMENT LOANS. THE POOR STUDENTS ARE LIVING ON THE LOANS FROM THE GOVERNMENT AND THE UNIVERSITY IS GETTING RICH ON THE INCREASE AND EXPLOSION OF ATTENDENCE. ONLY A LARGE CORPORATION FOR PROFIT WOULD BEHAVE THIS WAY AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT IS GOING ON AT THE UNIVERSITY. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 19 of 20 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on August 20, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Follow Up This is a follow up review. I can only say that my experience was terrific. The university's support staff was great as were the professors. Does everyone have the same experience? No! Some people do not 'take care of business'. They do not put in the required time (frequently 25 hours per week for graduate studies) in order to succeed. Are there problems with the financial aid office? Apparently so. I must stress that I never had any problems but apparently some people are. GCU has doubled their enrollment in the past 4-5 years. Obviously, there office staffing has not kept up. However, I will also say that after having completed a graduate program at a large California state university, office staffing problems are very common regardless if we are talking profit or non-profit, state or private university. My advice is the following; if you have the work ethic to handle 20-25 hours per week of rigorous academic work and are a self disciplined student, then you will really enjoy the excellent professors at GCU. If you are looking for an 'easy A' or like to point fingers at people when you do not fulfill your obligations, then you will fail regardless of where you go. Good luck! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 8 of 23 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on August 6, 2010
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: GCU Shakin' it's Money Maker I took classes at Grand Canyon University from 2002-2006 but never finished by BS in General Biology. I quit with 112 credits, just shy of graduating with 120 credits. This year (2010) I decided to go back to school and now GCU is telling me I need to apply as a new student and my advisor, Noelle Clark, tells me only 44 of those 112 credits are usable. The reason why, I have to re-apply under a degree program they now offer. If you are going to attend this University, do not drop out for a semester, you will have to reapply and will lose 40% of your credits. Not only have I spent $142,297 to attend a University that offers poor staff leadership and insurmountable headaches, my BS will now cost me an additional $35,920...leading to a grand total of $174,217. I've been lied to and lied to from this school and have the emails to prove it. There are no state and national "university" standards that speak to re-enrolling students taking another major Noelle! Get your facts right!!! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 6 of 21 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on August 6, 2010
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: ALL AROUND NIGHTMARE!!!!! My husband and I finally decided to go back to school and finish our degrees in June of 09. We chose GCU due to it being an actual university and a highly accredited Christian college. The first two months were great as far as support goes. Adivsors replied to email and phone call very quickly as well as called just to check up. Financial aid was easy and timely. After the first couple of months our advisors began changing like flavors of the week. They also would not, and still do not, reply to emails take phone calls or involve you in any way in your own educational career!!! It is absolutely ridiculous! You pay that much money and you can't even speak to someone about your upcoming classes, what is going on with your financial aid, getting a bookloan, or any other problem you may have. I have countless emails on file from where I have tried to contact all three of my advisors that went unanswereed! I also got each one's voicemail many times and never received a call back. I feel my entire last year at GCU has been a complete waste of my educational time and money, as well as my husband's and several other people we know taking online courses through GCU. GO SOMEWHERE ELSE!! However great they used to, they are just as TERRIBLE AND UNCARING now! I am in the process of changing schools. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 17 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on August 3, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Addiction counseling review I am in my next to last class before starting my internship. Overall the program wasn't bad and it fell short on the state guidelines where I live (Ohio) but mostly because of the lack of experience you need not the program. My only complaint is the financial aid department. I had to take the class that I am enrolled in now without a book because I still have not received my financial aid. I am wondering if I am getting the full benefit of my class, but GCU doesn't seem to care about that. Yes I am bitter because I have my last class starting in two weeks and there are three books to purchase for that one. I am still waiting on my funds. This school is for self motivators and self starters. If you do not fall into that category then I would not suggest you attend. You write papers and have groups projects in every class. Each week a paper is due sometimes big and some small. Using the online library is a pain at times and the tech support is sometimes not good about responding. Your academic advisor will change several times throughout the life of your program. I am on my third I think. Not bad otherwise. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 18 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on August 2, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Couldn't Be Better!!!! This is a great program and a wonderful university!!!! The professors are great and they fully support their students. The great reviews that you read are from students that have experienced success at GCU. As with any university there will be those that succeed and those that fail. You will note that almost every single negative review is from those that have not succeeded. That is human nature. Please keep that in mind when reading all of these reviews. That having been said, you will note that 70% of all reviews for GCU are very positive with about another 10% that are neutral. I recommend that you do your own research and DO NOT BELIEVE the haters. For them it is all about 'Sour Grapes'. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 4 of 18 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on July 29, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Below Average GCU could be so much better than it is!! The material itself is good but the interaction among the facilitators leaves one to wonder how easy it must be to do this job. There are no professors at GCU, only those who "facilitate". The instructors too often have communication to students that rivals that of my 12 year-old niece, except my niece can put together more than a 5 word sentence. When you need support, most times it falls on deaf ears. GCU placed me in the wrong classes and let me tell you, you do not get the support you need. Although the mistake was theirs, they never once made me feel as though my time mattered. I would say if there are other options for school, try one that values its students, not GCU. Once they have your money, it's all over. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 5 of 19 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on June 22, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Financial Aid Nightmare With working a full time job and raising my family, I felt I could trust the kind and gentle Christian man who came to my home school (I am a teacher) and convinced me to attend a University with ethics, morals, and values similar to mine. I would be able to do all of the work online (not loose time with my family having to attend classes away from the home) and I would qualify for grants and my Masters degree would cost a fraction of the full tuition. I have never been more wrong about something in my life. I have never been allowed to accept or reject student loans prior to receiving a check (when they do finally show up), nor did I recieve the full amounts of grant money I was told I would definitely receive because I work with socio-economically disadvantaged children in a high needs field. I have received a few scholarships (one was just for enrolling) and the latest one being offered to me is for $666 (Yes, that is right! From a Christian college). We are eight weeks into our current semester and because they switched to a new and improved system, they have to input over 10,000 student's financial aid manually and they are unable to process federal funds in a timely fashion. I was told this was being done alphabetically. So,someone whose last name ends with a very late in the alphabet letter may not see their funds before the semester is over. Once your funds are disbursed to your account, the university has fourteen days to issue refunds, however, the last two semesters, I have waited at least another week to ten days to receive a refund check. They hold them even though it appears on paper they have sent the check to you. I cannot prove it, but it appears there is a financial gain being made. Why else would they hold refund checks? Please do not even think about attending this university. They stand behind Christianity, but it appears this is only for the purpose of increasing enrollment through potential students who are trusting Christians. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 8 of 22 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on June 21, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: NIGHTMARE This school has been a complete and utter NIGHTMARE. The only positive thing (which I'll get out of the way quickly, is that the teachers are pretty lax and attentive) Negatives: Materials: Materials, what? Half the time links we were supposed to write papers about were inactive. The E-book idea while cheap and easy doesn't allow you to take in any real information. You say fine, I'll buy the book.. but you're still charged 75 bucks per class. Support: I thought I had to do everything myself. They have NO CLUE how to work with the VA or financial aid. Finance Counselors are few and far between. My student loans appeared after 6 phone calls, 3 escalations and one bitchy email. It was a total of three months! Academic Counselors? Really- I remember hearing "Yes I'll send that parent letter" "Yes I'll enroll you in those classes" or how about "Oh you didn't get my email?". I GET ALL MY EMAILS. IDIOT. I am supposed to graduate in 8 weeks because I have a Masters program starting at a REAL UNIVERSITY in the fall. I have however today been dropped from the last class I need because GOD knows why. I was never informed. Value: WAY TOO EXPENSIVE for what little service they provide. A Real degree mill would at least care about graduating their students. I am SO DISAPPOINTED in GCU! Staff are lazy, overworked, and RUDE! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 16 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on June 17, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Graduate from program The Executive MBA at Grand Canyon University was an incredible program. There were a few glitches in the online learning platform, but those arose from the changeover to a better system. The face-to-face instruction from Dr. Blanchard and other instructors during the residencies was priceless. Textbooks are primarily edited compilations, but to the point, custom bound, and included in the cost of the program. HIGHLY Recommended!! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 3 of 17 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on June 15, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Enjoyed studies, but not administration I pursued my degree at GCU entirely online. I really enjoyed my classes. There was always lots of discussion, and the professors were attentive and well-rounded. The frustrating bit about Grand Canyon is their lack of support when you have an issue. My academic advisor was never available via telephone, and took over a week on average to return e-mails. Their phone system says they are closed, and to call back during business hours, even when you call during business hours! It's quite frustrating, and I wish they were better-equipped to deal with the demands of the online student community. It's a shame. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 18 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on June 14, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Outstanding This university has an outstanding master's in education program. I highly recommend it! There are some technical issues once in a while with Angel, however the program and professors are great. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 5 of 20 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on June 8, 2010
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Only Interested in Profit This MBA program was a huge disappointment. With extreme disorganization, lack of communication, poor electronic access, failure to provide the correct books, and new teachers who do not know the material themselves, the value is minimal. However, they do manage to take more of your money and will lock you in to financial traps that contradict the espoused values of a "Christian" institution. Students beware! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 18 of 20 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on May 18, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great University!!! Look at the professional sources. They include Barron’s Profiles of American Colleges 2009 Edition, OEDb’s Online College Rankings 2009, U.S. News and World Report College Guide, Academicadvice.com, Onlinedegreereviews.org (New - Best Online Colleges for 2010; their most recent summary), PBS (College, Inc. GCU is referred to as a model For-Profit University) etc. You will find that after doing your own research and reading what the professional say (not people who couldn’t hack it) you will understand that GCU is a GREAT UNIVERSITY! Again, look at these sources yourself and decide. Don’t let someone else influence this important decision. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 5 of 18 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on May 13, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: SCAMMERS!!! I have been in attendance at Grand Canyon University for about a year now. First of all, they do not inform you but a small percentage of classes come with an e-book. If you have an e-book you do not need to purchase the physical book for that class. Regardless they charge you a $65 Canyon Connect Fee for the e-book. I had 7 classes that DID NOT have an e-book; however, the University charged me the $65 Canyon Connect fee anyway. It has been six weeks of fighting with them over the phone for hours and STILL, I have not been refunded the Canyon Connect fees for the seven classes that Did not even have the e-book... thats $455 they had every intention of dishonestly stealing from me. Also, they are trying to say that I owe a balance, however, their accounting department never released my Pell Grant that the department of education has ALREADY paid out to them. Additionally, I've enrolled for classes, purchased the required books for said classes, and upon time for the classes to start I am suddenly not enrolled for them anymore and they are not available. The university is always "so sorry". This is a crackpot, degree mill, of a school. They care about your money and nothing else. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 6 of 20 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on March 30, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Horrible College I have attended online universities in the past, obtaining two degrees this way. I attended Grand Canyon for one semester, and the web interface rarely worked, and when it did it was horrible. The teachers are rude and unresponsive, and if you have a question for anyone, good luck getting anyone via email or phone. For a "Christian" college, they are beyond criminal and inept. You would be better off printing your own Diploma with a 49 dollar printer from Wal-Mart than wasting your money here. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 1 of 16 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on March 20, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Here are the facts about GCU I spent last year completing my B.S. of Accounting and graduated with a 3.64 GPA. Classes were straight at you, as far as what was required, so no sudden surprises. Roughly 10-15% of the course grade was based on message board posts, another 10-20% on a group assignment or 2, with the rest focusing on individual assignments. Now the downside to this was honestly the group assignments, where half the time someone was either nonexistent in the group or didn't carry their load. So basically, 20% of your grade requires you to rely on other people, which can easily make a difference in your final grade. While improvements were made from the start of the year to the end, it appears GCU took shortcuts with its implementation of its academic system. I noticed more problems with their system, ANGEL, as time went on, to include slow loading of timed tests, which caused you to lose a minute due to their system delay. (Note, my computer or internet speed had nothing to do with this!) Also, while they now offer free ebooks, I had an issue where the book was not correctly uploaded into their system, causing a few days lost. This can be a big deal, since courses are only 8 weeks long, and can cause you issues if you have to carefully manage your time with work/family obligations. Customer service was the tipping point for me, as far as financial aid and academic counselors are concerned. I had a new counselor all of a sudden each semester, without any notification, and only found out when I finally reached someone on the phone (be prepared for long hold times). I constantly had to make calls regarding my financial aid, with GCU finally admitting error in my last semester, where I received my disbursement check over a month after they were to be sent out. For those that are fully focused on education full time and rely on federal aid, I would be very cautious about enrolling here. All in all, the education is not bad, but comparable to how most online colleges are set up. But based upon your needs, both class layout wise and financially, you might want to take a second look at other online schools before choosing GCU. I would consider GCU average at best, and not as great as it apparently once was. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 6 of 20 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on March 19, 2010
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Don't go here if you plan to use financial aid!! The financial aid and accounting department made a mistake and now I'm being held responsible! Don't even deal with the aggravation. Try Ottawa University or find a local traditional university that offers online degrees, like Arizona State University! They don't care about students once they get you enrolled, once you post in the classroom, you become just a number and you're on your own. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 18 of 21 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on March 15, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: It just goes to show you! It just goes to show you! It just goes to show you how different the experience of a successful student can be from one that 'couldn’t hack it'. I finished my MEd in TESOL at GCU but found it to be a wonderful experience. The reviewer on March 9 said that GCU wants your money. Really??? Why did I get an award letter from them if that were the case? He/she said that they drop you like a rock in the river. Really??? Why did I get constant help when needed from my professors, office staff etc.? He/she said that their EDU practicum was a nightmare. Really??? Well, this is a very competitive university and the demands are high. My practicum (capstone) was very, very difficult. Besides the usual readings and written assignments, there was an eighty page practicum paper due by the end of the term. Could it be a nightmare? I guess it could be if you are not willing to put in the effort and time. The bottom line is simple. If you are wiling to work hard, you can accomplish the degree. If you are not, you won’t. It is as simple as that. The whining that I am reading in some of these reviews has to do with not dropping courses on time and there being too much work. If you want an ‘easy degree’ then go somewhere else. GCU is not the place for those who want to ‘slide through’. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 17 people found the following review helpful Timandbriana106 (In Progress) on March 14, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Better Than UOP As stated in another review, please make sure you read all the reiviews because there are more positive reviews than negative. Do your research people before making a decision and read everything about the college before you submit an application. If you notice one negative feedback said the classes were too expensive and then another negative review said they had cheap tuition but the school was not good. My husband currently attens University of Pheonix and he has been with them 2 years now. They absolutely never call you back and their teachers are terrible(well some of them). If you want anything done their you have to call twice a day until you get someone. At this school I have had nothing but constant support from my admissions lady, teachers, and my financail aid person. I also love the spiritual support they offer and the way their online classroom is set up. I would definately recommend this college but please do you own research and keep in mind everyone is human and nothing is ever going to be perfect. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 4 of 17 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on March 13, 2010
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Go anywhere else They are just out for your money, they are a FOR PROFIT school not at all like the christian school they once were. The "counselors" (enrollment, academic, financial) are almost unreachable and read from scripts if you ask them a question about an issue or challenge. It is like a giant call center, where reaching someone knowledgeable is next to impossible. I have been emailing and calling to find out how to dis-enroll before I am hit with new charges and no one replies or calls back. It is so sad! Go to a local community college or public university - they have on-line programs that are not just after your money. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 14 of 16 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on March 13, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: I was very happy with GCU!! I was very happy with my degree program at GCU. The professors were very insightful and the office staff very helpful. I did have some difficulties in the beginning with an award letter and you do get put on hold now and again. My question is where does that not happen? I have completed a graduate program at a traditional B & M state university in California and I was put on hold much more frequently than at GCU. Is it perfect? No. There are some minor problems but the trade-off is a great program in education along with great professors and a caring office staff. The pros far outweigh the cons. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 6 of 20 people found the following review helpful Rugtugco (In Progress) on March 11, 2010
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Watch out for this school Once their counselor showed me how to log in and post my bio I never heard anything further, and was unable for various reasons to get back into the class site. Support was slow; be prepared to spend a lot of time listening to elevator music while waiting on hold. They were able to bill me $1500 for that one visit and for not properly withdrawing from the class within 1 week. Their financial department is darn near unreachable. Avoid these people. Local community colleges are much cheaper and easier to deal with than these thieves. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 6 of 20 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on March 9, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Worst Experience I agree with all the other negative reviews. All GCU wants is your $$$$ !! Once they get you in, you're dropped like a rock in a river; good luck swimming to shore to get your degree. My last EDU practicum was a LIVING NIGHTMARE!! The instructor, my advisor, the practicum specialist and even the dept chair refused to help me. It truly is a SELF-SERVICE education. The instructors are hit or miss; one can be great, and another can be the worst ever—they don’t even write their own material. It's true that the advisors don't stay in touch with you. My enrollment "counselor" claimed to be knowledgeable about my state's requirements, but obviously that was a LIE just to get me in. GCU knows nothing about other states. As soon as I was enrolled, she stopped taking my calls or answering my emails. Another thing: what's up with its obsession with clcs???? I dread every one of them! They're a complete waste of time and effort. I hate them. I dread them. Frankly, I hate that someone else who has no clue what they're doing can screw up my gpa, which I've worked hard for. Does GCU care??? Fat chance. Now they've just taken off the clc portion of the end-of-course surveys. Clearly, GCU doesn't want to hear any more negative about its beloved pet. That's just wrong. For GCU to claim that it's a Christian school is almost blasphemy! Its horrid mis-treatment of its students is absolutely SHAMEFUL. I spent a whole summer researching online schools, and chose GCU, and I don't make decisions lightly. I'm in the process of yet another research project: finding another school. PLEASE-PLEASE-PLEASE heed my warning! If you're considering GCU, don't do it!!!! Run the other way! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 18 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on March 2, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Bachelor's in Education For the most part I like GCU. As far as the curriculum, means of accessing the online class and other resources for class, I think GCU is great. Communication with the general staff for academic advisement and financial aid is absolutely horrible. I have called many times and never got a call back. Each time I call I have to call several times before I get in touch with someone who actually succeeds in helping me. It frustrates me, but eventually things get resolved. A few times I wanted to transfer to another school, but it would just be more of a pain to start over again. I plan on staying at GCU, because I have time invested there and I do really like the curriculum, for me it isn't an easy A, it is chalenging. Basically, the only big thing I find wrong is the poor response time of the general staff. If they worked on that I would think a little more highly of the University. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 18 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on February 28, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great Experience! I completed my Masters in May of 2009 and would recommend this university to anyone who is serious about learning. I did not want to get a graduate degree simply for the increase in pay. My desire was to gain knowledge in order to be the best reading teacher I could be. Taking the online courses from GCU was one of the most rewarding and challenging experiences of my professional life. Before committing to any new experience, you should familiarize yourself with all of important information. By carefully reading and abiding by the academic and financial expectations provided by GCU, you will set yourself up for success. The course work is very demanding and will require you to invest a considerable amount of time to it. I found that, with the exception of one, the course facilitators were very knowledgeable, accessible, reasonable, and willing to help students understand the subject matter and the course assignments. I am HIGHLY impressed with this university! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 18 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on February 17, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: I love it!!!!! GCU has been very challenging with an extensive workload. I researched several online schools and this one stood out. My assignments are graded in a timely manner and professor feedback is most helpful. It is my intention to follow through and attend for my D.Ed in Instructional Leadership. If I must complain about anything, it is the support. The counselors are slow to return calls and get things done, there is absolute room for improvement here. I am sorry to here that some people feel cheated by the university, but going to school online takes a lot of commitment and gumption. The refund policies are clearly stated as are the school's expectations of their students. I will be done in a few months and because of the extensive field experience and practicums, I already have some interests of employment before I graduate. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 14 of 16 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on February 12, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great Program!!!!!! I took the time to stop by the GCU campus when I was in Phoenix this past summer since I wanted to actually see the campus from where I received my Master's degree. I really had no idea what to expect. It was a pleasure to be there. The campus is beautiful and the people were very helpful and friendly. The campus visit matched perfectly to the experience that I had online with this university. The professors were outstanding and always helpful and showed concern for the students. They participated in the discussions (discussion board) and answered questions and e-mails promptly (within 24 hours). About half way through my program, they changed from the Blackboard to the Angel delivery platform. Even that went quite smoothly. I was really impressed all around. If anyone in teaching is looking for a real solid master in education program, I feel that this is the one! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 5 of 19 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on February 9, 2010 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Don't waste your money! I recently finished my M'Ed at GCU and am extrememly disappointed in the entire experience. The professors do not actively take an interest in their students or their course work. Many professors could not even answer questions about assignments in the classes because the syllabi are created by some higher power. Also, I brought it to the attention of a professor that one of my classmates was copying and pasting directly from other articles on the internet for her discussion posting (without any sort of citation); nothing happened to this classmate and the behavior continued. This was a Master's program for crying out loud! I don't even let my high school students get away with this! If you care about your education and have any sort of standards, this is NOT the school for you. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 14 of 16 people found the following review helpful Motownpoet (In Progress) on January 3, 2010
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great School I decided to attend Grand Canyon based on the curricullum and I have not been disappointed. The workload is far greater than a brick and mortar school but the knowledge that I have gained has definitely been worth it. Occasionally I have had technical issues with the online platform but each time they were rectified promptly. The instructors are knowledgeable and very helpful. I have two courses left in my program and I plan on attending GCU for a graduate program as well. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 20 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on November 21, 2009 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: GCU is for YOU! GCU is for anyone thinking about a graduate program in education. I found it to be outstanding in every aspect. The curriculum is great and the professors were very good. The university is a traditional B & M university with an online option. This is very different from other programs out there like UoP etc. The beautiful campus is in Phoenix, Arizona encompassing 90 acres and has dozens of buildings. Anyone who tries to tell you that this is just a virtual university is not telling you the truth. I notice one reviewer from the University of Missouri referred to it as "Mickey Mouse University" yet the rating experts (Barron's Profiles of American Colleges 2009; 28th Edition) have GCU and Mizzou ranked exactly the same (very competitive). I cannot speak for business programs at GCU. However, I will say that the education programs are outstanding! Go Lopes! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 5 of 19 people found the following review helpful Dpw9d (In Progress) on November 17, 2009 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: GCU is not for U I have attended what I consider a real university..brick and mortal, well-established university, University of Missouri. There International business program is ranked number 4 in the country. NO doubt a well established university. I graduated with honors just a few short years ago. I don't know if that is enough to establish that I am among the many intelligent individuals who attended GCU, but I do know this, attending this school for a graduate business school, is akin to attending Mickey Mouse university. There is just no real substance to it. The tuition is cheap, but the academia was not even as challenging as my undergraduate degree. I agree with the comments earlier that the professor gives you bogus feedback. I notice this early on, when I read the feedback and it seemed to consist of jumbled sentences that didn't make sense, like the professor was cutting and pasting comments. Next no one other than the enrollment counselors will answer their phone, and you have to leave three or four times, before you can get someone to return your call. Once you are in,the finance counselors, do not contact you. In addition, if I had not worked in student finance at my present job, I would've been totally screwed when it came to my financial aid. I had to navigate the financial aid process as my counselor did not know what to do, no could he remember from one phone call to the next what my issues where. I constantly had to tell him what was going on, and also he would say he would look into that. A week later, I would start my series of calls again, and after the fourth message, he would finally call me back..and be totally oblivious as to where! I would have to explain all over again! This really makes me feel like you are working on it. I could go on and on with the problems with this university. I was looking for challenging coursework that would prepare me for my CPA exam, all I got was fluff! Moving on...I would rather take the GMAT and get quality. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 4 of 17 people found the following review helpful Kathryn.bott (Graduate) on November 7, 2009 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: MAT at GCU I decided to get a MAT for two reasons: review changes in educational practice and theory since I got my BA and of course for the pay raise. I and several co-workers decided on GCU because of the $1,000 scholarship offered to us. I completed the degree in 16 months after doubling up last summer. I now have the master's and the pay raise to go with it. However... This degree experience was nothing but frustrating. Out of ten classes, only TWO of my professors seemed to actually read the assignments I submitted. In one class, my coworker received the EXACT comments on his paper as I did on mine. One of my co-workers accidentally turned in a template paper provided by GCU in a completely different course instead of the paper she wrote and still received full credit on it! The assignments, especially the group assignments, had very little bearing on what a teacher actually needs to do, with the exception of the Reading in the Content Area course, which I found very useful. But that was one class out of 10! Many of the assignments were so vague and often based on outdated information that even the professors had difficulty interpreting them. On several occasions, GCU made changes to the order of the modules without reading its own documents, which made references to other documents. The Tech class text was out of date, citing "emergent technology" resources that are already passe. And don't try to contact anyone in finan aid or advising! My "scholarship" was not applied until AFTER I had graduated. They entered the wrong amount on my loan app so my final semester wasn't paid for until early August (it started in May). And I only learned of this when I got a bill two months after the semester began. Everytime I called, I was told "I'm not sure why that is happening, but I'll look into it and get back to you." No one would ever get back to me. My co-worker, who finished at the same time I did and had met or exceeded all requirements (according to their online MyGCU site) still has NOT received his degree, so his pay raise is in jeopardy. When he calls everyone says "I'm not sure why that happened, but I'll look into it and get back to you." He still has not heard back from any of the three people he has spoken to. So, if you want an easy degree just to get a pay raise and don't mind struggling with an institution to get paperwork done correctly or the frustrations with assignments that have little to no real-world application to your life, Grand Canyon University is for you! If you want to spend your money wisely, avoid GCU as if you life depends on it! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 17 people found the following review helpful Deligurl73 (Graduate) on October 29, 2009 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Just finished my BS in Psychology I just finished my BS in Psychology at GCU. This is a great school, and getting better. Many here have made complaints about being charged for classes they did not attend. I had the same problem, but they have changed their policy on that, so no one should have that problem again. This is a rigorous program, and many complain about "devoting your life to studies", but I think that is how it is at any university. It does take time and dedication, but it is so worth it. I highly recommend this university. GCU is not like UOP when it comes to financial aid, as they actually send your rebate checks in a timely manner. UOP was always questionable about financial aid, but has been reliable, and I've always known how much, and when I would receive my checks. Great school, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is self-motivated. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 6 of 22 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on September 28, 2009 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: OVER COST SEMESTER DO NOT GO TO THIS SCHOOL UNLESS YOU PLAN ON WASITING MONEY!!! Especially if you are a online student they will OVERCHARGE YOU on classes and say you signed up and didn't cancel until after the cutoff date ( WHICH FOR ME WAS LESS THAN 24 hrs FROM ORIGINAL REQUEST) WHICH NOW IS GOING TO COST ME MORE THAN $ 3,000.00 !!! I DIDNT KNOW LESS THAN 24 HRS COSTS $3,000!!! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 18 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on September 22, 2009 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great School!!!!!! I first would like to say GCU is a good school. Unlike many other people, I spent days looking at every online school, I could find. I compared alot of schools to each other and was trying to find out what school was the best for the money. I am in the army, therefore, I went to the E-ARMYU website and looked at what schools they had on their website as well. I choose GCU, because I am interested in getting a masters in a leadership field. The school was not the cheapest that I found, but accreditation was a key factor and GCU is not only accredited by the North Central Association, but their business department is also accrediated by the ACBSP, whereas, other online schools have no business accreditation. Also, another factor is that GCU is also a brick and mortar school. They have an actual campus in Phoenix, Az. and is not just an online college. I am in my 5th class and it has been wonderful. It is alot of work and I have to find time to do it, but its great. I have only had one professor who I had a problem with. She was highly qualified to teach the class, but she was very lazy in grading and that was her downfall. If anyone is wanting to go to good online college, I would choose GCU. Please dont make a mistake in going to another college and always look at every accreditation before you choose one. Dont make price the only factor as to what school to go to... Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 18 people found the following review helpful Cblucky59 (In Progress) on August 28, 2009 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great program, but Lousy Support. Prior to actually being enrolled at GCU; whenever I call, I always get a voice mail. It has gotten to the point that I don't leave voice messages any longer. I send an e-mail for two reasons; so I know how many times I've attempted to get a response on that particular question and because it takes so long to get in contact with anyone, that more questions arise. The program is great and courses are very mind stimulating, but it is the lack of support. Aside from your "team" consisting of 1 enrollment counselor, 1 academics counselor and 1 finance counselor, nobody can answer your questions. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 17 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on August 19, 2009 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Did It!!! It wasn't easy but I did it. I made it through two years of weekends and weekday nights of working online for my masters degree. It is a great university that cares about their students. I am not surprised by the infrequent bad reviews by those who did not or could not see it through. It is a university that requires a lot from their students and some just can't make it. That's life I guess. If you are willing to work hard and put in the time, you will get a great education at GCU!!! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 7 of 21 people found the following review helpful Cockrell0878 (In Progress) on August 15, 2009 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: NOT A GOOD SCHOOL GRAND CANYON has took a turn for the worst, I went there 16 months and the last 5 months has been a nighmare. They decided they were going to run a university without the student being able to make contact by phone. That is wrong and no body in their right mind is going for that. Grand Canyon right now is not resprensting a Christ like university. Grand Canyon do not care about the students, they are forgetting that the students is the reason they are in business. Save your self a lot of pain by run as fast as you can. There are some better schools out there. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 17 people found the following review helpful Mcbop (In Progress) on August 10, 2009 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great Mind Expansion! I stumbled upon GCU. At first I wondered if the cyber expereince would be challenging. Well I can tell you it is! Some have written that there is a lot of work. I would say there is work to do, but what do you want? Do you want a piece of paper that has no meaning, or do you want to gain knowledge that will help you in your career and in life? I can say that my like both personally and professionally has changed a great deal. I have never worked harder in school and I have never felt so rewarded. Yes there is a religious studies component, but that is only a couple of classes and there are options other than pure Christianity. This has been agreat experience for me. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 19 of 21 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on August 6, 2009 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: I speak from experience Hey all, I am about to change jobs from UoP, where I earned my B.S in Business/Management. I will pursue my MBA at GCU and after reading all these posts, I can firmly verify that all these negative posts are most likely those that could not handle the requirements of a rigorous college education. Having experience at ASU and also UoP, I have seen over and over again - students fail out or are dropped due to lack of attendance, and the first thing they do is put the blame on somebody else. I am very excited to start my graduate education at GCU! I think the reviews of those that have excelled at the university seem passionate and honest about the amount of hard work that went into attaining their degrees. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 17 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on August 6, 2009 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Doing Great I am extremely happy with my educaiton at GCU. It has done essentially three very big things for me: 1. Made me a better teacher. 2. Advanced my salary. 3. Allowed me to teach on the college level in addition to my secondary education position. The teachers were great. The staff was helpful. The application process could have gone a bit smoother but nothing too bad. The financial aid went smoothly as well. Some individuals have written that they had problems. You will not as long as you follow the drop date rules spelled out by the university. Overall, I give it an A+! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 4 of 17 people found the following review helpful Ziccardi06 (In Progress) on August 2, 2009 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Same Situation As Scammer Post PLEASE thinkg twice about attending GCU!! I had a situation exactly as the post "Scammers" explained. I was also automatically registered for classes. Work prevented me from taking a class and I asked to be dropped on the first day of class. I was told I had to drop withing the first weeks of the semester and not the class. Their 2009 Academic Handbook states refunds are class based but the school is holding students accountable to semester based refund policies. I was sent a letter without previous contact from the GCU stating they were going to send my account to collections and I too was not allowed to appeal the charge. The person contacting me about the situation was nice but as a whole it is very clear that GCU is focused on the money and not the student. PLEASE research other schools before attending GCU. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 17 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on July 21, 2009 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Loved it! This has turned out to be a wonderful program. My classes were excellent and the professors were great (expectations were high) I noticed complaints about the work load. I won't lie to you. It is very demanding so be prepared to do a lot of work. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 4 of 17 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on July 16, 2009 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: SCAMMERS I was attending GCU for a semester, and the school signed me up for more classes and now I owe over $2000 for classes I never attended and NEVER wanted. I am stuck paying for them and I have argued it to death with GCU advisors with no avail. I am not allowed to appeal the charges and I had to pay $75 just to withdraw from the school after all of this mess!! I am so disappointed. The classes themselves were not to my liking and I didn't learn very much even though I had to do tons of work! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 14 of 16 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on July 13, 2009 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Good School I am on my last class for an MBA in Accounting and Finance. I had a great time getting my MBA through GCU and would recommend it to everyone. While there is a good deal of weekly reading, the majority of assignments are pretty simple. As long as you put the effort into doing your work, you will excell. My only issue is that it can be hard to makie contact with your academic counselor. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 17 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on July 1, 2009 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Update A bit more than a year ago I finished my MEd at GCU. My intention was to better serve my current students as well as open new doors to teaching college level classes. Well, I am happy to say that I have achieved both. I recently received a position to teach college level classes. It is very satisfying to know that my program at GCU has done so much for me. Without hesitation, I have recommended GCU all of my colleagues and friends in the field of education. If you do your research on B & M universities with online programs, you will find GCU to have an outstanding program as well as reasonable tuition. After looking at numerous universities in my field of study, I found GCU to be $5,000-$9,000 less as far as tuition costs go. Take a close look at GCU. You will be glad you did. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 17 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on May 17, 2009 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great Program! Heavy Work Load I loved the program and learned a great deal. I will also say this; if you are looking for an "easy degree", this is not it. You will find yourself putting in a great deal of time (15-20 hours a week). Overall, the instructors were wonderful, support (technical) was good and the office staff helpful. I can recommend the program; just get ready to work! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 3 of 18 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on May 15, 2009 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Decent Education - Not convenient GCU is a decent place to earn your degree. I would not recommend signing up unless you plan to devote your life to the schoolwork. In order to maximize profit, courses are 8 weeks long with heavy reading assignments and a weekly assignment. The material is thrown at the student so quickly that there is little time for questions or to re-read or review. You spend your time reading and then flipping through what you've read for the answer to the questions. Some of the Professors take their job way too seriously, in an introductory religions class you are expected to submit a weekly paper in a very stringent APA publication format (even though there is no chance your paper will get published anywhere). This is also a strongly Christian university, if they tell you that religion will play no part in your education, you are being misled. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 15 of 17 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on March 18, 2009 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Great Challenging Proram This is a great program for education. It is very rigorous and challenging. I learned a lot from the course work and student teaching. This program gives you the skills needed to teach and manage a classroom. Curriculum is advanced and professionalism is incorporated to enhance you as an educator. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 18 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on December 20, 2008 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Masters in Education I was in the situation of not being able to attend a traditional university for my graduate program (as I did for my B.A. and teaching credential programs). After searching for quite some time, looking for a university that had a distance education program that would meet the needs of my demanding schedule and that would be challenging and rewarding I decided on Grand Canyon University. During my 20 months of study, I found the staff to be very professional and personable. The instructors as well as the support staff (from office staff to tech support) were all very helpful. They always went the extra mile which made me feel that I made the correct decision. In fact, I never once wished that I had picked another school. The work load was heavy. I had to really time manage. I teach 45 hours per week so the 15-20 hours per week I had to devote to my graduate work stretched me to the extreme. Reflecting on that time I sometimes wonder how I was able to do it. However, the bottom line is I highly recommend GCU. I cannot speak for other areas outside of education, but I do feel that the Masters program in Education at GCU is top notch. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 14 of 16 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on December 20, 2008 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Challenging and Practical I am a little more than half-way through the MBA program (w/an emphasis in accounting), and have found that most courses have required rigorous assignments that offer practical knowledge. The instructors are well-educated professionals, many of them PhDs, that really put the time and effort into helping students through their courses. I find that the education Grand Canyon delivers far exceeds the cost. I'll write another review when I am through with the program to comment on the marketability of the degree. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 16 of 17 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on November 6, 2008 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Outstanding!!! I can't say enough about this program. It was the only way that I could have finished a master in education given my busy schedule. Everything about the program was great from the classes to the technical help. The professors were easily reached and responded very quickly. The level and quality of the program was high. This program gets "two thumbs up" from me! Was this review helpful? Yes - No 14 of 17 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on September 19, 2008 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: So Glad I Tried It I only have two more classes and the internship to go, and I'm so glad I decided to try this program. I compared the curriculum to brick and mortar schools nearby, and it was so much better. I really wanted a program that focused more on second language theory rather than simply educational theory, though I did learn a little of that here, plus I found the foundational class reviewing the history of second language instruction in the US really interesting and enlightening. The classes require a paper a week with a few discussion questions to answer and talk over with the other students, and two of the papers every class are group papers. Surprisingly, group projects with other students across the globe works better than you might think. Classes also require a journal discussion of the readings, some of which can be really heavy. I took some in person classes at a local university about 5 years ago, and I did so much more work at GCU in comparison. The textbooks were superb, and classes gave lots of other resources we could use for further reading on the subject. The class website was really great, though tech support wasn't too hot. I also had trouble getting email responses to my questions to the advising department, but calling worked better. Registration is streamlined so students don't have to do anything except check the start date and the reading list. Definitely a great deal for the price and the future of online education. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 18 of 22 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (Graduate) on April 2, 2008 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Excellent MAT This university really pays attention to students' concerns and ensures that faculty follow the guidelines. They have a requirement for faculty to respond in 48 hours, I think. But I know that if faculty do not respond within the time frame, then the student can complain. Students have an item that specifically asks for faculty responses in the time frame set by the university. They have problems with posting degrees in the National Clearinghouse where other institutions and potential employers can go and check if the prospective employee actually got the claimed degree. Other than that, this is an excellent institution where you feel free to discuss religiuos issues without the hesitant concern of offending others or of being censured. I would recommend this university to anyone. I am sad though that they are not able to offer a doctorate program where I can further my education. The wonderful thing about this university is that they have on-campus and online classes. So the on-campus expertise is transferred to the online environment. You are required to submit your assignments on time and without delay. Of course, it is up to each instructor to enforce this requirement as it happens at any B&M university. However, I had instructors who were not very patient and made us submit our work on time. They took points off if we did. Was this review helpful? Yes - No 19 of 23 people found the following review helpful Anonymous (In Progress) on September 21, 2007 (email verified)
Materials: Teachers: Institution: Support: Value: Technology: Sound Education This school is for those who are self starters, and can do it alone, however I have loved some of the teachers and I think the education is top notch. You will work harder here than at some brick and mortar schools but your education will be top notch. I am three classes from graduation and have been two years at GCU. Was this review helpful? Yes - No
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