FTC Sues Grand Canyon University For Illegal Telemarketing

(RTTNews) - The Federal Trade Commission is suing Grand Canyon Education alleging that it misrepresented itself as a non-profit organization.

In a complaint filed on Wednesday, the FTC alleged that the company, operating as a for-profit institution, misrepresented itself in advertising and marketing. The complaint also alleges the company misled consumers with the marketing of its doctoral programs and violated telemarketing rules.

The Federal Trade Commission has filed suit against Grand Canyon Education (GCE), Inc., Grand Canyon University (GCU), and Brian Mueller—the CEO of GCE and president of GCU—for deceiving prospective doctoral students about the cost and course requirements of its doctoral programs and about being a nonprofit, while also engaging in deceptive and abusive telemarketing practices.

"Grand Canyon deceived students by holding itself out as a non-profit institution and misrepresenting the costs and number of courses required to earn doctoral degrees," said Samuel Levine, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. "We will continue to aggressively pursue those who seek to take advantage of students."

The FTC says the defendants' deceptive claims and abusive telemarketing calls violated the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule and asks the court to provide redress to consumers and prohibit the institution from further violations of the law.