In April 2017, Arizona nursing board officials censured GCU after the school's nursing programs fell below 80% graduation rate for two consecutive years. GCU said it would implement a plan to increase graduation rates. Three months later, the nursing board announced it was pleased with the "tremendous improvements" the university had shown to addressing all concerns. In 2018, Grand Canyon's nursing program was censured by the Arizona State Board of Nursing over test passage rates. The censure came due to the number of first-time students failing to pass the registered nursing exam and after numerous complaints by students and faculty. In the second quarter of 2018, Grand Canyon University's nursing students posted a 95.65 percent first-time pass rate on the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX). This leads to a year-to-date rate of 92.86 percent, which is higher than the Arizona Board of Nursing's year-to-date statewide average of 91.89.