Grand Canyon was established by the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention on August 1, 1949, in Prescott, Arizona, as Grand Canyon College. In 1999–2000, the university ended its affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention. Suffering financial and other difficulties in the early part of the 21st century, the school's trustees authorized its sale in January 2004 to California-based Significant Education, LLC, making it the first for-profit Christian college in the United States. Following that purchase, the university became the first and only for-profit to participate in NCAA Division I athletics. In 2018 the university received approval to return to non-profit status from its regional accreditor as well as the IRS and the Arizona State Board for Private Postsecondary Education. However, the U.S. Department of Education rejected the university's request to reclassify it as a non-profit and continues to classify the university as for-profit. The university operations partner directly alongside the for-profit publicly traded corporation, Grand Canyon Education, Inc. (formerly Significant Education) that bundles services for the university to operate. The university president, Brian Meuller, also serves as the CEO of Grand Canyon Education.