Grand Canyon University freezes tuition for 16th straight year

PHOENIX —  Grand Canyon University tuition at its Phoenix campus will remain at $16,500 for the 2024-25 school year, marking the 16th straight year with no increase, the school announced Thursday.

The vast majority of the student body at GCU qualifies for institutional scholarships which totaled $180 million in 2023, bringing the average tuition cost that school year to $9,200.

GCU touted the fact that while its tuition has seen no increase since 2008-09, public four-year schools have increased tuition by 71% and private schools have increased theirs by 65%, according to the college board’s “Trends in College Pricing and Student Aid Report.”

“Education is a critical component that can create equality of opportunity for all socioeconomic classes and promote upward social mobility in society,” said GCU President Brian Mueller. “That should be a significant objective for all universities. Freezing tuition costs is one way that we ensure higher education is affordable to all socioeconomic classes.

“That increases diversity on college campuses (over 40% of GCU’s enrollment is students of color), makes higher education more accessible to first-generation college students and helps prevent students from taking on large amounts of debt.”

Since 2009, GCU’s enrollment has grown from less than 1,000 to more than 25,000 while its Phoenix campus has tripled in size to 300 acres.

Even despite the tuition freeze, the university has invested $1.7 billion in academic infrastructure, improving classrooms, residence halls, technologies and more.

“We have been truly blessed with the remarkable transformation that has occurred on our campus,” Mueller said. “What’s even more amazing is that we have been able to accomplish that without passing those costs on to our students through tuition increases on the ground campus and without the state tax subsidies that traditional public universities receive.”

Follow @KTAR923