Good morning/afternoon. I’m Glen Stroman, and I am a veteran who attended Grand Canyon University to earn my doctorate.

I am a teacher and I have advised students on college choices, so I did my due diligence when I decided to go back to school. I was initially somewhat skeptical of Grand Canyon, but they said all the right things. They assured me that they were very attentive and military-friendly and that I would always be able to contact someone if I had a problem.

Early on, I had reservations about the quality of some of the classes. The teachers weren’t teaching quality work. I took three classes that were basically the exact same course with a different name. But I continued on, making the most of this opportunity that I had to advance my career.

When I ran out of GI Bill benefits, suddenly it was hard to get anyone from the school to communicate with me. I reached out to ask questions about whether the school had correctly applied a military discount for me and was told I was out of luck, because they couldn’t change it now. I asked if there was any financial help available for me to finish out my final three classes. I was told that there was nothing. I felt completely alienated by the school and told them I would have to take a break to secure funding to finish my degree.

The entire time that I was away, Grand Canyon pestered me about coming back. I would ask them if there was any financial help and they would say no. But they didn’t stop calling me.

After an almost five year break, I contacted Grand Canyon about returning to finish my last three classes. Even though they had been calling me the whole time I was away to come back to finish, they told me that I would have to start my doctoral program over. I told them that I was not going to do that, so then they told me that I could earn my Ed.S. degree if I took just one more class.

I didn’t want to walk away with nothing, so I paid out of pocket to take this one class, which finished in the fall of 2022. The quality of instruction was terrible. And the degree wasn’t in the same field that I was initially studying.

Overall, I was left with the impression that Grand Canyon just wanted my GI Bill money. Once it was gone, it was hard to get anyone to help me. I wouldn’t recommend Grand Canyon to anyone who asked me.

I hope that you will take in my experience and make rules that would prevent schools from treating students the way Grand Canyon treated me. I thank you for your time today.

Student Veteran Submission- Glen Stroman