Grand Canyon University is pushing back the start of in-person classes and its fall semester due to the surge of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations in Arizona, it announced on Friday.
GCU students will now begin the fall semester virtually on Sept. 8; in-person classes will begin Sept. 28. The semester will end on Dec. 18.
“We really believe that we need to do everything that we can to be part of the solution to this thing and not contribute more to the problem and bringing 20,000 students from all over the world onto the campus, I'm not sure that that’s going to make the problem worse, but it might," said University President Brian Mueller.
He said the delay may gave Arizona a chance to flatten its curve.
Students in programs such as nursing and athletic training who have clinical placements already scheduled will be allowed to start earlier.
GCU had initially planned to start in-person classes on Aug. 24 and switch to an online modality after Thanksgiving. Mueller said when it released that plan, Arizona's COVID cases weren't as widespread as they are today. He adds that the health and safety of the university's employees, including faculty, were part of the decision to the delay classes.
The change also means students won’t be able to move into their dorms until the week of Sept. 21.
Mueller said the school will offer assistance to students who had already made plans to move to the campus or the Phoenix area in August.
“We will be giving them grants of about $500 and so we hope that will help with some of the change in travel plans that some students are going to have to make," he said.
GCU will adjust fall semester housing and meal plan costs due to the delayed move-in dates.
