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Nature of Business	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2017
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
Nature of Business	1. Nature of Business Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, the “University”) was formed in Delaware in November 2003 as a limited liability company, under the name Significant Education, LLC, for the purpose of acquiring the assets of Grand Canyon University from a non-profit foundation on February 2, 2004. On August 24, 2005, the University converted from a limited liability company to a corporation and changed its name to Significant Education, Inc. On May 9, 2008, the University changed its name to Grand Canyon Education, Inc. The University is a comprehensive regionally accredited university that offers over 225 graduate and undergraduate degree programs, emphases and certificates across nine colleges both online and on ground at our over 275 acre campus in Phoenix, Arizona, at leased facilities and at facilities owned by third party employers. Our undergraduate programs are designed to be innovative and to meet the future needs of employers, while providing students with the needed critical thinking and effective communication skills developed through a Christian, liberal arts foundation. We offer master’s and doctoral degrees in contemporary fields that are designed to provide students with the capacity for transformational leadership in their chosen industry, emphasizing the immediate relevance of theory, application, and evaluation to promote personal and organizational change. The University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The University’s wholly owned subsidiaries are primarily used to facilitate expansion of the University campus.

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- Definition

The entire disclosure for the nature of an entity's business, major products or services, principal markets including location, and the relative importance of its operations in each business and the basis for the determination, including but not limited to, assets, revenues, or earnings. For an entity that has not commenced principal operations, disclosures about the risks and uncertainties related to the activities in which the entity is currently engaged and an understanding of what those activities are being directed toward.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 275
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/topic&trid=2134479

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- References

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