House Republicans are demanding to know why the Biden administration slapped America’s largest Christian school with a hefty $37.7 million fine.
They say the huge fine may be based on “political animus” and a government weapons tool used by Biden’s federal agency.
Grand Canyon University (GCU), the country’s largest Christian school, was allegedly fined for lying to 7,500 students about the cost of doctoral degrees in October 2023 to boost enrollment, according to the agency.
But GCU has denied the charges and is currently appealing the decision.
Four Republican House members, led by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., sent a letter to the Department of Education on Monday demanding an explanation for the huge penalty.
The lawmakers, all from Arizona, where the university is based, want to see the “evidence” the department has gathered to impose such an “outrageous fine.”
Grand Canyon University, a conservative Christian university in Phoenix, Arizona, has nearly 26,000 college-age students and an additional 92,000 online students.
According to the Department of Education, the university lied about the price of its doctoral programs to increase tuition
“The Department of Education appears to be using its unlimited power to inappropriately target GCU,” the lawmakers wrote in the letter obtained by DailyMail.com, adding that the university has been “targeted.”
“This outrageous fine and the ‘evidence’ supporting the allegations must be investigated,” the lawmakers say.
Arizona Republican Reps. Eli Crane, Debbie Lesko and Paul Gosar also signed the letter.
Lawmakers argued that the university has a target on its back after converting from a for-profit to a nonprofit institution in 2018.
But GCU’s transition to nonprofit status was supported by the Internal Revenue Service, the Higher Education Commission, the State of Arizona, the Arizona Private Postsecondary Board and NCAA Athletics, as lawmakers note.
Instead, the Department of Education’s actions “are a direct result of its well-documented disapproval of successful for-profit colleges and its inexplicable opposition to GCU’s 2018 conversion from a for-profit to a nonprofit organization.” profit,” the lawmakers wrote.
They also cited several recent cases in which other universities fined by the department received much smaller penalties for apparently much larger infractions.
“For example, Michigan State University was fined $4.5 million for failing to systematically address years of sexual abuse and harassment,” the letter states.
“Temple University was fined just $700,000 for lying to US News & World Report for years about its online MBA program to maintain high rankings and attract more students.”
‘Given the actual harms committed by these two schools, there is no reasonable explanation for [the department’s] disproportionate punishment to GCU,” the letter continues.
Biggs told DailyMail.com in a statement: “The Department of Education’s egregious fine against GCU is yet another example of an armed federal government.”
‘He [Education Department] is using its unchecked bureaucratic power to unfairly attack a Christian university,” he continued.
The Phoenix-based university bills itself as a Christian college and has nearly 26,000 college-age students and an additional 92,000 online students.
Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., sent a letter to Department of Education Inspector General Sandra Bruce demanding proof of GCU’s crimes that have resulted in a $37.7 million fine against the school.
Brian Mueller, the university’s president, called the fine “government overreach” and said the institution has been unfairly targeted.
“This is weaponizing a department that has an opinion that no one else shares,” Mueller said to a stadium full of students and faculty in November.
“There is no corroborating evidence to indicate that anything nefarious is happening here.”
The GCU’s appeal of the fine is ongoing.