CCCU Enrollment Figures Surpass Other Higher Education Institutions
This fall, CCCU member campuses surpassed all other higher education institutions with a staggering 70.6 percent increase in total fall enrollment, from 134,592 students to 229,649.
Higher education institutions have experienced an increasing number of enrolled students over the past 14 years while member campuses of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) have taken the lead in growth among all four-year campuses.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, which measured enrollment growth from 1990 to 2004, public four-year institutions grew 12.8 percent, independent four-year campuses grew 28 percent and independent religious four-year schools grew 27.5 percent.
This fall, CCCU member campuses surpassed all other higher education institutions with a staggering 70.6 percent increase in total fall enrollment, from 134,592 students to 229,649.
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"We believe a big factor in the growth is academic quality," said CCCU President Robert C. Andringa in a statement by the organization. "More evangelicals embrace higher learning. More leave universities with Ph.D.'s and want to work where their faith is encouraged and is allowed to be integrated into their teaching. The CCCU has emphasized professional development, good assessment practices, better marketing research and other services to help make our campuses more excellent. Whatever the combination of reasons is, we are grateful for such growth."
Many CCCU campuses have reported record enrollment for fall of 2005, including Bethel University in Minnesota, which doubled its enrollment from 1992 and Whitworth College in Washington, which grew 67 percent.
According to a recent survey conducted by UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute, more students are showing a higher level of interest and involvement in spirituality and religion. Results revealed that three-fourths say they are "searching for meaning or purpose in life," and that they have high expectations for the role their universities will play in their spiritual and emotional development.
More than two-thirds say it is "essential" or "very important" that their college enhances their self-understanding and similarly, 67 percent rate highly the role they want their college to play in developing their personal values.
One alumni from Trinity International University, Galen Carey, gave praise to a broadened life perspective he gained at his Christian college.
"Trinity broadened my worldview, my understanding of the scope of God's creation," said Garey, who now serves as the Director of World Relief in Indonesia. "It opened my mind to a much broader perspective than I otherwise would have had, and helped me to see what God’s purpose for me would be. I would have had a much narrower view of life otherwise."
According to the U.S. Department of Education, there are about 4,000 degree-granting institutions of higher education in the United States alone. Approximately 1,600 of those are private, nonprofit campuses and about 900 of these colleges and universities are self-defined as “religiously affiliated.”
The CCCU, founded in 1976, is an international higher education association of 105 Christian colleges and universities in North America and 71 affiliate institutions in 24 countries. This October, the CCCU is celebrating the sixth anniversary of Christian Higher Education month.
