Amid the many things that have changed during Grand Canyon University’s (GCU) remarkable transformation of the past decade, one thing has not: the cost of tuition.

For the 13th year in a row, the private Christian in west Phoenix is freezing tuition. Meanwhile, student enrollment numbers are clocking in at the highest ever in its 71-year history. 

Competitive pricing and a large bucket of scholarship dollars are largely responsible, university officials said.  

In turn, the affordability factor is driving diversity higher on campus, said the university’s visionary leader, Brian Mueller. 

“We have a number of different initiatives that address diversity both on our campus and in our community, but the single biggest differentiator has been our ability to make private Christian education affordable to all socioeconomic classes of Americans,” said Mueller, president and CEO. 

Today, 46 percent of enrollment are students of color, including 28 percent Latino and 6 percent Black. 

Private college education at public university prices 

While tuition will remain at $16,500 for the 2021-22 academic year, more than 90 percent of GCU students qualified for institutional scholarships, thereby cutting that figure by almost half. 

Nearly $160 million in scholarships were awarded this year. That pushed the average cost of tuition to approximately $8,900, school officials said.  

Meanwhile, the average cost for tuition and fees at four-year private institutions has risen 32 percent to $37,650 since 2008-09, according to the College Board’s The average cost for four-year public colleges rose 40 percent during that time to $10,560. 

GCU also is competitive when it comes to room and board. The average cost of room and board at a four-year public college rose to $11,620 in 2020-21 and to $13,120 at a four-year private institution.

GCU’s average room and board cost is just $8,128 with nearly all of the residence halls built in the past 10 years. Roughly half offer single-occupancy, apartment-style living.

Grads walking away with less debt 

As a result of the tuition freezes and scholarships, grads are also incurring less debt — an average of $20,168, according to 2016-18 data from the U.S. Department of Education’s .  

The national average at public and private nonprofit colleges is $28,950, according to 2019 data from the nonprofit .

Success tied to rising enrollment, spin-off businesses 

The university’s success and ability to keep tuition stable year after year has paid off. 

In 2008-09, on-campus enrollment was about 1,000 students. Today, GCU is a hybrid campus with 23,000 ground campus students and more than 90,000 online students, school officials said. This year brought the largest freshman class ever with about 8,200 students. Online enrollment grew 7.5 percent.

University coffers also are benefiting from 10 spin-off businesses the school has developed on and near campus including the GCU Hotel, golf course, restaurants and Canyon Promotions. 

Huge investment in technology and infrastructure 

Luck has played a part in the school’s success as well. Prior to the pandemic, the university had invested $250 million in technology during the past decade. While other schools struggled to adapt, GCU’s transition to online learning was fairly seamless, school officials said. 

The university has also invested in new residence halls, campus buildings, and other infrastructure. Private development surrounding the campus has also flourished.

“We feel very blessed that we have been able to invest nearly $1.5 billion into our campus infrastructure in the last 12 years to keep up with the growth of the university,” President and CEO Mueller said. “We have been able to do that by using our cash reserves without passing those costs on to students through increases in tuition.”

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When COVID-19 first surfaced in Arizona three months ago, colleges and universities immediately reacted, diving into research to find solutions and attacking community challenges as they arose.   

Their efforts have become a formidable force for innovation and compassion during the pandemic. 

Here’s a snapshot of some of their efforts that are helping to change the face of the pandemic in Arizona, and potentially the world. 

First in the nation: Testing Arizona’s health care and first-response workforce

Last week, the University of Arizona launched an effort to test 250,000 health care workers and first responders across the state to determine who has developed antibodies to the virus. 

The project, made possible with a $3.5 million grant from the state, is the first of its kind in the nation. 

The tests will help determine how many people have been exposed to COVID-19 and successfully built an immunity against it. Experts say as many as 50 percent of people who have been exposed to COVID-19 have experienced few to no symptoms.

“Determining whether a significant percentage of individuals have COVID-19 antibodies is critical to returning to regular social interaction,” said Michael Dake, senior vice president for UArizona Health Sciences, who is overseeing production of the tests. “Through what we hope would eventually be a comprehensive testing program, the university and local health care facilities could begin working toward reestablishing fully operational learning and working environments.”

The tests also could be important for determining the pandemic’s reach, and for paving a pathway to develop therapeutics for patients as well as vaccines to guard against infection.

“This is critical to understanding what current immunity might be in our community and state, and it’s something no one else is doing,” Dake said. “This is a great opportunity to participate in something that will add to understanding the virus across the whole country, if not the world.

“People are literally working 24/7 to get this project up and running —  pushing, pushing, pushing.”

To read more about the project, go to:

Texting project to track 1 million households  

To collect critical local data to track COVID-19 as it spreads, a team of researchers from UArizona Health Sciences and Data Science Institute launched a two-way texting system to gather and provide information to track the virus and identify areas where more resources may be needed. 

The AZCOVIDTXT allows people to easily report the health condition in their household on a weekly basis through surveys via their mobile phones. This will allow users to connect with needed resources, and provide vital information to a team of researchers at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health.

A promotional campaign is encouraging Arizonans to join the crowdsourcing project. The project plans to enroll 1 million or more participants.

To participate, Arizonans can simply text “JOIN” to 1-833-410-0546. Users also can sign up through the project website, .

An AZCOVIDTXT community resource board on the integrated platform allows messaging tailored to different community segments. The platform, online or via text, also can help dispel myths and prevent scams, said Tracy Crane, assistant professor, Biobehavioral Health Sciences Division, UArizona College of Nursing, and co-director of the Behavioral Measurement and Interventions Shared Resource at the UArizona Cancer Center.

“A large number of COVID-related websites have emerged,” she said. “It’s important to have the University of Arizona provide reliable facts. In addition, cancer patients, geriatric populations, Native American communities and other groups all have varying needs. This allows an opportunity to reach a lot of people quickly and provide resources we know are evidence-based and truthful.” 

Over the next six months, the researchers will work to understand the lifecycle of the novel coronavirus, identify potential treatments and create patient databases to expand understanding of the disease, among other goals.

NAU, UArizona, TGen analyze coronavirus genome 

Northern Arizona University, UArizona and TGen research institute have formed the Arizona COVID-19 Genomics Union to better understand how the virus may be evolving, how it is transmitted and how it is moving through the general population. 

This molecular epidemiological combines traditional epidemiology methods with evolutionary modeling based on a high-resolution analysis of the virus’ genome. In humans, a copy of the entire genome — more than 3 billion DNA base pairs — is contained in all cells that have a nucleus.

“Only by using genomic sequencing and advanced analyses can we begin to fully understand this disease at the molecular level, looking for keys to unlock its mysteries,” said David Engelthaler, PhD, co-director and associate professor of the TGen’s Pathogen and Microbiome Division in Flagstaff. “We have the ability to sequence the genome of every strain from every patient. That’s what we are working toward.”

The Genomics Union is similar to other groups working to gain a foothold on the new coronavirus. Rapid sharing of data and analysis will provide a better understanding of the virus to the scientific, medical and public health community. The consortium of scientists hope that their regional sequencing will give Arizona health care providers and public policymakers an edge in responding to the pandemic.

Providing housing to first responders

Grand Canyon University (GCU), whose mission includes investing in the surrounding community, is reaching out during the pandemic in a number of ways including providing housing for first responders. 

GCU opened up the GCU Hotel for first responders from Phoenix Police, Phoenix Fire Department, Peoria Fire Department and potentially health-care workers. They now have a place to stay if they do not want to take that risk of infection back home to their families, school officials said. 

GCU to donate all stimulus funds to impacted students 

GCU recently announced it is giving 100 percent of the $22.3 million it is receiving from the federal government as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act directly to students in the form of emergency cash grants. 

Stipulations in the act require that half of the money allocated must go to students, with the other half for universities to cover costs associated with COVID-19. But GCU President Brian Mueller said the University is committed to providing the full amount to students.

“This was an easy decision to make,” Mueller said. “It is incumbent on us to take care of our students and families who are trying to navigate the challenges caused by this coronavirus pandemic.”

Students manufacture thousands of face masks daily  

Colleges also have been reaching out to their respective communities, manufacturing thousands of 3D masks every day and other protective gear for frontline workers. They also are donating laptops and school supplies to students whose families have been negatively impacted by the virus. 

All 10 Maricopa Community colleges are involved in projects to help.

For example, Glendale Community College has been delivering supplies to the front door of a local hospital emergency room. 

Phoenix College is donating $8,000 worth of protective gear from its Allied Health programs to local community partners. The college is redistributing personal protection equipment from its Phlebotomy and Medical Lab Technology programs to help those in the medical field. 

GateWay Community College in Phoenix has loaned more than 120 laptops and nearly 100 hotspots to students to help them transition to remote learning. GateWay also donated more than $3,300 in supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) to various healthcare partners in the Valley. It is lending ventilator and test lung equipment, valued at more than $260,000, to Dignity Health-Chandler Regional Medical Center. 

Free online academic access for teachers, students, public at large 

To reach out to parents, teachers, students and the public, the University of Phoenix is offering free academics, online advice, career services and more during the pandemic.

Free webinars and courses are available to anyone who needs them. From parents homeschooling for the first time, a high school needing help transitioning from classroom to job seekers wanting career advice.  

One of the first things the university did was to offer support to K-12 schools needing help transitioning from classroom to online instruction during the coronavirus shutdown. 

The university also opened up its continuing teacher education collection to K-12 educators. 

Anyone can jump online and sign up for on topics like Technology Survival for Educators, Using Apps in the Classroom, and Multimedia for Educators. 

ASU Biodesign Institute expanding rapid testing to save lives

To slow the viral spread and possible recurrence of COVID-19, ASU’s Biodesign Institute received funding from the Virginia G. Piper Trust Charitable Trust to increase its capacity for automated, rapid diagnostic testing.

“ASU is in a unique position to scale up our testing efforts to support round-the-clock testing and analyze hundreds of samples daily,” said Joshua LaBaer, director of the institute, who also serves as the Piper Chair in Personalized Medicine and leader of the Biodesign Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics. “We have an urgent window right now to make an impact through testing and save lives in our community.”

The Institute has shifted its research capabilities to support a clinically approved and certified COVID-19 testing center, a COVID-19 swab test kit production facility capable of assembling 2,000 kits per day, production of personal protective equipment such as face shields, and supporting drive-through COVID-19 testing at area hospitals.

This rapid shift was made possible by a Department of Defense $40 million investment in ASU back in 2009 as the lead contractor on a multi-year project aimed at helping to triage a population in the event of a nuclear emergency.

“This particular tool was specifically for measuring the absorbed dose of gamma radiation exposure to civilians if a nuclear bomb were detonated in a city or populated area,” LaBaer said. “Now, we just swapped out the genes for radiation detection for the coronavirus ones to do the test. We have all the automation and robots in place, and everything’s ready to go now.”  

For more information about the project, go to:

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Scottsdale-based real estate investment firm Caliber recently invested $6.8 million into apartment renovations near Grand Canyon University. The investment exemplifies the significant advantages that the Tax Cuts and Job Act’s opportunity zones provide.

In just eight years, GCU has grown its campus student body by over 1800 percent, expanding from just under a thousand students in 2009 to 19,000 in 2017. In fact, their online student body has jumped over 172 percent in the same timeframe as well. Caliber noticed the rapid growth in 2015 and bought the property for roughly $6.5 million – because of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, they can now invest more into the community with better tax incentives.

Further, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act created 168 opportunity zones across the state – under the law, investors can reinvest capital gains into one of these zones within 180 days to postpone tax payments on those capital gains. Additionally, all capital gains from the sale of opportunity zone investments are exempt from taxes after ten years. Consequently, this proves to be a major boon for both real estate investors and these areas that otherwise would be less likely to attract investors.

Caliber president and co-founder Jennifer Schrader expresses her excitement for this opportunity.  “When opportunity zones were first announced, we saw it as a great way to invest. The old way, we were limited to the 1031 (exchanges) or, in many cases, business owners not ready to sell because the tax consequences were too high,” says Schrader. “Now with Caliber’s Opportunity Zone Fund, it will provide Caliber another avenue to invest directly in the communities where it’s most needed.”

Caliber plans on capitalizing on this opportunity in other areas as well. Scott Celley, Caliber’s government relations liaison, explains that Downtown Mesa is Caliber’s next target, citing its rapid development as the main investment driver. “The light rail is completed in Downtown Mesa and they’ve had some other improvements. ASU has also talked about placing a new campus in Downtown Mesa — as a result, Caliber has acquired about 10 properties in Downtown Mesa,” he said. “A number of other Arizona developers have acquired properties in the area as well. They would show you about 20+ locations are being evaluated for redevelopment.”

The law is generating new development for lower income and rural communities. As investors pump more money into opportunity zones, they will create safer places to work and live, consequently attracting more residents and generating more job opportunities. Real estate like the apartments near Grand Canyon University will improve due to investment firms like Caliber capitalizing on these tax exemptions.

Related:

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