Great cover story in World magazine about the challenges of Christian higher education, with input from schools in California, Texas, Louisiana, and Missouri. A few highlights:
- A 2012 study by Bain & Co. consultants examining the financial sustainability of U.S. colleges and universities found that 36 percent of CCCU schools are sustainable, 32 percent are at risk, and 32 percent are unsustainable.
- The four-year cost of attending a Christian college is now $100,000 (presumably for four years).
- Federal regulations add to cost, as do amenities.
- Students utilizing dual credit programs and online offerings see lower overall costs.
- “Our investigation found that several key factors may doom a Christian institution: incompetent financial planning, poor leadership, indistinctive education, and unorthodox professors. CCCU schools can err at either extreme: On one end, coddling students within a “Christian bubble” and quarantining them from “bad ideas,” and on the other offering a nearly secular education, relegating the “Christian” part of higher education to chapel and campus ministries.”
Read the whole thing (which may require a subscription–totally worth it).