By Jennifer Davis Rash
Alabama Baptists believe in Christian higher education. In fact, the Alabama Baptist State Convention funds Christian higher education efforts in the state at nearly the same rate as it does international missions.
Alabama’s Cooperative Program 2005 base budget for international missions is $8,777,250. The 2005 base budget for Christian higher education is $8,735,449, which includes money going to the state’s three Baptist schools — Judson College, Samford University and the University of Mobile (UM).
“Christian educational institutions help to keep the denomination focused on young people, the hope of tomorrow,” said Samford University President Thomas E. Corts. “A young person should be confronted during college days with the claims of Christ on his life, with what she or he wants to do with life, with the part they should play in relating to the Lord, His people, His world.”
Bob Agee, executive director of the Association of Southern Baptist Colleges and Schools (ASBCS), said, “Christian higher education is important because it gives the student a chance to develop the whole person and not just to acquire knowledge.
“Christian scholars have thought about the worldview issue and the philosophical presuppositions that lie behind every body of knowledge and are going to deal with that knowledge without any regard to the values that lie behind that knowledge,” Agee said.
UM President Mark Foley encourages pastors and church leaders to advise college-bound students to consider Christian colleges “because of the critical nature … of a person’s college choice.” Foley said students should particularly consider UM, Judson and Samford.
More students interested
According to increased enrollment at Christian colleges, it appears more students are taking Foley’s advice.
While enrollment figures remain steady at Alabama’s three Baptist schools, enrollment nationwide is on the increase.
Nate Mouttet, communications manager for the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), said enrollment growth among Christian colleges outpaced other institutions of higher education between 1990 and 2003.
Enrollment in CCCU campuses skyrocketed with a 77 percent increase over the past 13 years, Mouttet noted. All independent religious colleges had a 38.5 percent increase from 1990 to 2003, while all private four-year schools increased enrollment by nearly 41 percent. Public four-year colleges had a 31 percent increase during the time frame studied, he said.
And according to the CCCU Web site (www.cccu.org), U.S. News & World Report has recognized nearly all of U.S. CCCU institutions in their recent years’ guide to the best colleges.
Agee added that in 2004, U.S. News & World Report recognized 45 member colleges and universities of the ASBCS among the nation’s best educational institutions.
“Twenty-three ASBCS member schools ranked in the top two tiers, 16 schools were ranked in the third tier in their respective categories, and six member institutions were ranked in the fourth tier,” he said.
“Our colleges and universities are committed to the highest quality of higher education,” Agee said. “But that education is offered in an atmosphere that is committed to being distinctively Christian.”
Corts pointed to the importance of having scholarly experts and specialists in the various academic fields who are also “people of strong Christian faith.”
“The intellectual world and the world of learning are not abandoned by serious Christian people,” he said. “Rather such persons at Christian colleges leaven the understanding of the church and the denomination by keeping in front of both the truths, realities and issues of the scientific and scholarly realm.”
The college environment is also important because “studies confirm that students make many of their most formative decisions during their university years,” Corts said, noting lifetime habits dealing with faith, fitness and values are formed during this time.
“[Students] generally define their profession or career path (while in college). … They often choose a mate or determine the type of mate they would like to live with for life.”
Mike Nuss, director of the office of collegiate and student ministries at the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, agreed.
“It is widely known that the young adult/college years are some of the most critical years in the human development process,” Nuss said. “College is generally a time when students are faced with life questions and issues that will ultimately shape their thinking on a multitude of subjects, including their own faith and spirituality.”
Foley said that along with facing the decision about a relationship with God, students also emerge from college “having solidified … how [the relationship with God] will be played out in their lives.”
“This happens under the influence of the university’s environment,” he said.
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