Which US University Profits the Most From Taxpayer Dollars?

Every year, taxpayers in the United States provide more than $100 billion to higher education. According to a study conducted by the HEA Group, a research and consulting agency focusing on higher education access, Grand Canyon University, a private for-profit Christian university in Arizona, receives a larger amount in federal grants and loans to support its students.

New data released this month show that $1,156 million in federal grants and loans was provided to Grand Canyon University from American taxpayers in the fiscal year 2020/21, of which the loan volume was $960 million, grants accounted for $190 million, while $6 million were allocated for campus programs, Erudera.com reports.

HEA Group President Michael Itzkowitz, who analyzed the data, classified federal higher-education allocations into three groups.

• student loans, which include Stafford, Parent PLUS, and Graduate PLUS
• student grants - Pell Grants, TEACH Program, and Iraq and Afghanistan Service Grant Program
• campus-based programs - Federal Work Study, Perkins Loan, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)

Grand Canyon University is followed by Arizona State University, which secured a total of $900 million during the year. Among this total, loans totaled $702 million, grants accounted for $184 million, while the campus-based volume was $14 million.

The list of top three is completed with Liberty University, which received $830 million in federal loans and grants in a year, with the amount allocated for loans being $597 million, for grants $225 million, and $9 million for campus investment.

The other seven higher education institutions from the top ten that benefit large amounts from taxpayers are:

• University of Phoenix - $830 million
• Walden University - $782 million
• Southern New Hampshire University - $773 million
• Western Governors University - $710 million
• University of Southern California - $631 million
• New York University - $615 million
• Strayer University - $603 million

Of the total federal grants and loans allocated to New York University, one of the best private universities in New York City, $570 million was allocated for student loan programs, $29 million for grants, and $16 million for campus-based awards.

According to data, Ivy League Schools received the following amount in federal grants and loans for students:

• Columbia University - $309 million
• University of Pennsylvania - $202 million
• Cornell University - $140 million
• Harvard University - $104 million
• Yale University - $88 million
• Dartmouth College - $40 million
• Brown University - $42 million
• Princeton University - $9 million

Grand Canyon University enrolls 63,752 undergraduate students and has an acceptance rate of 81 percent. In the 2022/23 academic year, the cost of attendance for undergraduate students at the university was $25,600. Last year, Grand Canyon University managed to sell $1.2 billion of debt.

Photo: engin akyurt | Unsplash