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Nature of Business
12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2018
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Nature of Business

1. Nature of Business

Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (together with its subsidiaries, the “Company” or “GCE”) is a publicly traded education services company. GCE provides a full array of support services in the post-secondary education sector and has developed significant technological solutions, infrastructure and operational processes to provide service in these areas on a large scale.  GCE currently provides services to Grand Canyon University, an Arizona non-profit corporation (“GCU”), its client, that include technology and academic services, counseling services and support, marketing and communication services, and several back office services such as accounting, reporting, tax, human resources, and procurement services. On July 1, 2018 the Company consummated a transaction that impacted the nature of our business. See Note 2 to our consolidated financial statements for a full description of this transaction.  The Company’s wholly-owned subsidiaries were historically used to facilitate expansion of the university campus prior to the transaction.

GCU owns and operates a comprehensive regionally accredited university (the “University”) that offers over 240 graduate and undergraduate degree programs, emphases and certificates across nine colleges both online and on ground at its over 262 acre campus in Phoenix, Arizona, at leased facilities and at facilities owned by third party employers.

GCE was formed in Delaware in November 2003 as a limited liability company, under the name Significant Education, LLC, for the purchase of acquiring the assets of the University from a non-profit foundation on February 2, 2004. On August 24, 2005, the Company converted from a limited liability company to a corporation and changed its name to Significant Education, Inc. On May 9, 2008, the Company changed its name to Grand Canyon Education, Inc.