Grand Canyon University Freezes Tuition For Eighth Straight Year

Students pay an average of $7,900 per year; room and board costs also remain below the national average

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Sep 29, 2015, 07:00 ET

PHOENIX, Sept. 29, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Grand Canyon University, one of the nation's premier Christian universities, is freezing tuition on its west Phoenix campus for the eighth consecutive year.

Tuition for the 2016-17 school year will remain at $16,500 for current and incoming students, a figure that has not changed since 2009. However, more than 90 percent of GCU students also receive institutional scholarships that bring the average tuition cost to $7,900 – on par with state universities and well below other private universities. That total does not include federal aid such as pell grants and subsidized student loans, which lowers students' out-of-pocket expenses further.

"The cost of higher education continues to rise across the country, and it is incumbent on us to keep private, Christian education affordable to all," said Brian Mueller, GCU's president.

The university's room and board costs, which start at $6,250, also are lower than the national average. According to the College Board, the average cost of room and board in 2014-15 ranged from $9,804 at four-year public schools to $11,188 at private schools.

Along with low tuition and housing costs, GCU continues to transform its 200-acre campus, with new classrooms, laboratories and residence halls, and additional programs of study being developed in the last year. Among the newest additions is an 80,000-square-foot building for GCU's College of Science, Engineering and Technology. A second 170,000-square-foot engineering building will break ground in October.

GCU also expanded its academic offerings in the Colangelo College of Business, with a new hospitality management, golf and tennis programs, and opened a 50,000-square-foot general classroom building that houses a new music recording studio for GCU's Center for Worship Arts.

Other notable additions include four six-story residence halls; a restaurant row and outdoor dining pavilion; and a 3,000-seat soccer stadium with additional grass berm and pavilion seating on three sides of the field.

"Our goal is to create the best possible educational environment, while keeping the average classroom size to 25 students," Mueller said. "At the same time, we are doing all we can to keep tuition costs affordable."

About Grand Canyon University -- Grand Canyon University was founded in 1949 and is Arizona's premier private Christian university. GCU is regionally accredited and emphasizes individual attention for both traditional undergraduate students and the working professional. GCU offers traditional programs on its growing campus, as well as online bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs. The university's curriculum fuses academic and clinical rigor with Christian values to prepare its students to be skilled, caring professionals.

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SOURCE Grand Canyon University