The federal government announced Tuesday that it will fine the nation’s largest Christian university $37.7 million after an investigation concluded it misled students about the cost and time required to complete doctoral degrees.

The fine against Grand Canyon University, a for-profit institution of more than 100,000 students based in Phoenix, is reportedly the largest the Education Department has ever levied.

The department’s Federal Student Aid office said in a statement that investigators concluded GCU lied over several years via advertising that suggested the cost of completing some programs would be less than what 98% of students ended up paying for additional “continuation courses.”

“GCU’s lies harmed students, broke their trust, and led to unexpectedly high levels of student debt,” said Richard Cordray, FSA’s chief operating officer. “Today, we are holding GCU accountable for its actions, protecting students and taxpayers, and upholding the integrity of the federal student aid programs.”

The agency, which is encouraging more than 7,500 former Grand Canyon students to file borrower defense to repayment claims to have their federal student loan debt canceled, said Grand Canyon has 20 days to challenge the fine.

In a statement, GCU vowed to fight the decision in court and said it “categorically refutes the Department of Education’s lies and deceptive statements” that it did not disclose on its website that added course hours could be required to complete some degrees.

“GCU’s disclosure is in full-size red type and placed above the Degree Program Calculator calculation in order to bring attention to it,” the university said. “Continuation courses are common in higher education doctoral programs in addition to the total cost of the required 60 credits. In fact, we believe our disclosures related to continuation courses are more extensive than other universities, yet only GCU is being targeted by the Department.”

• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.