It’s no surprise that a college in America’s Southwest is well attended by Hispanics, and Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, Arizona certainly is. In quarter three of 2021, nearly 19 percent of GCU’s 6,219 graduates at both the undergraduate and graduate level identified as Hispanic. Twenty-one percent of those who graduated with advanced degrees identified as Hispanic. Numbers like these have placed GCU number two on Hispanic Outlook’s list of top 100 schools that grant master’s degrees to Hispanics. 

  Without question, GCU’s location makes it popular with those Hispanics who reside in the Southwest. About 38 percent of its students come from Arizona, California, Colorado, and New Mexico. Brian Mueller, President of GCU, says that although GCU is identified with the American Southwest, it does attract students from all fifty states, both on the ground and online.

More than Just Location 

GCU’s location is not the only reason Hispanics find it inviting. Over the last decade, GCU has “held the line on tuition” for both ground and online students. “From a ground perspective, we are very, very inexpensive and from an online perspective, we’re in the bottom third from a tuition perspective,” says Mueller. Additionally, GCU has blazed an online trail and is now a leader in delivering education over the internet across more than 200 academic programs. It’s unusual, Mueller says, that a school offers such a broad base. 

And, of course, there’s spirituality. GCU was founded in 1949 as a Christian college whose mission is biblically rooted. GCU researches the reasons why its students make their choices and explores how those choices affect their lives. “There’s a strong faith-based element in the Hispanic culture,” says Mueller. “The spiritual component of what we do here has resonated with our online and ground students.” 

Righting the Ship by Investing in Back Office

When Mueller came to GCU in 2008 from the Apollo Group (the parent company of the for-profit University of Phoenix), the school’s finances were dire. Twenty-two years at the University of Phoenix and time spent as a teacher and coach taught Mueller that there are two segments, or markets, in higher education: traditional students, who are served by non-profit schools, and working adult students, who are served by for-profit schools. Mueller saw an opportunity to tap into both markets simultaneously by leveraging GCU’s common infrastructure and offering more online classes. But he had a slight problem.

Although GCU had been offering online classes since 2005, it lacked the back-office technology to scale its online offerings. Further, there was no off-the-shelf software that would allow GCU to scale. Mueller needed software that would streamline the admission process, collect and evaluate transcripts, build schedules, schedule and pay faculty, and assess learning outcomes. “When you can do all of that in an automated fashion, it gives you that ability to scale in a way that still makes it feel small to the student,” says Mueller. Mueller Invested $1.6 billion in campus infrastructure, with $250 million of that for an advanced automated system that manages GCU’s back-office functions.

It’s Not as Easy as it Sounds

Offering online programs is not as simple as putting classes on the school’s website. It requires significant investment in actual teaching and learning. “More than people might think,” says Mueller. “The administrative part of it is huge, and it can’t be done in a manual fashion.” 

Online students at GCU attend class once per week for eight weeks - as opposed to the 12 to 14 weeks of a typical fall or spring semester. GCU’s back-office system is responsible for placing students in sections every eight weeks. “That can’t be done manually,” says Mueller. 

Once the system divides the students into sections, it assigns a faculty member based on their performance in the classroom, pays the faculty member, and assesses the learning outcomes. The system also guides students through the admissions process, helps them collect their transcripts, builds student schedules, and helps them apply for financial aid.

Mueller’s foresight to offer more online classes and his investment in GCU’s back-office system paid off. Today GCU has 90,000 online students, many of whom are working adults, and about 50 percent of whom are in graduate programs. Its ground campus services nearly 23,000 students. 

“Two large student bodies in two (separate) markets that leverage a common infrastructure created huge efficiencies,” says Mueller. Leveraging campus facilities and the additional overhead required to run a university across the school’s 113,000 students drove the cost of a GCU education down. The average student on campus pays $8600, while an online student pays $9000 in tuition after scholarships.

An Emerging Market

Traditionally, small and elite schools enjoy high rankings, says Mueller. But that’s changing. Today, he says, schools that have large student bodies, with individuals from a variety of markets, and have the creativity and wherewithal to leverage their infrastructure across those student bodies, will succeed. Today’s schools must be large and flexible to win, he says.

In addition to traditional students and working adults, Mueller has identified a third emerging market. He sees a significant number of adult learners enrolling in hybrid programs, those requiring students to attend class both on the ground and online. “Schools must deliver education in a multitude of fashions depending on the life circumstance of their students,” Mueller says.      

Transforming an Entire Neighborhood

Mueller sees inequity in education but believes that if education fulfills its intended role, it can become a great equalizer. To help nudge that inequity arrow in GCU’s community, Mueller implemented a plan to revitalize West Phoenix. 

This neighborhood, to which GCU belongs, has a diverse population in which 45 languages are spoken, but it’s ravaged by poverty and crime. “The government has failed miserably with regards to the Great Society and the War on Poverty. Our inner cities continue to deteriorate,” says Mueller. 

It’s not good enough that a university teaches about equality and transformation, says Mueller, it must also live it. Under Mueller, GSU has created 14,000 jobs in the community and has spun off 10 new businesses that created an additional 500 jobs. GCU hires entry-level workers that can send their children to GCU tuition-free. 

“Kids need to feel safe walking to and from school and business owners need to feel safe running their businesses,” says Mueller. To rid West Phoenix of drugs and prostitution, GCU implemented a multi-million dollar project. Through Habitat for Humanity, it’s built almost 400 homes. Mueller hopes to build 400 more. 

When elementary school students are dismissed from West Phoenix schools, many are left to their own devices. Their parents, most of whom are working minimum wage jobs, don’t have the resources for afterschool care or the education to help their children with algebra. As a result, these students fall behind academically. Mueller created a daily learning lounge from 3 to 8 pm to ensure these at-risk students stay on track. GCU students tutor these students, most of whom are Hispanic, at no cost. “That program just exploded. We have 1,200 students providing tutoring every day after school,” says Mueller. 

When Mueller came to GCU his goal was to make private, Christian education affordable to all socioeconomic classes of Americans. “We believed that if we did that, we would create a very diverse student body which is our goal,” says Mueller. By any standard, he’s succeeded. •