Faith-based universities are growing for a reason

At a time when colleges and universities are closing at the rate of one school per week and American higher education is concerned about college participation, the rate of enrollment in religious universities is exceeding the national average — and has been for decades.
Of course, this seems to conflict with two popular narratives: declining interest in college and weakening religiosity in young people. What’s really happening?
Let’s start with the data. Nationally, during the last decade, higher education enrollment has declined gradually. By 2021, the number of 18- to 24-year-olds enrolled in college was down about 2.4 million students from its 2010 peak. Yet overall enrollment at religious colleges and universities is growing and has been for some time. From 1980 through 2020, the National Center for Education Statistics reports that enrollment growth in religious universities (+82 percent) outpaced the national average (+57 percent). Even with the recent declines coming out of the Covid pandemic, religious universities contracted at rates significantly lower than the national average — and today roughly 1.8 million students are enrolled in America’s religious universities.
Our own university networks further reflect this oft-overlooked enrollment growth. For example, from 2000 to 2023, enrollment in universities governed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including BYU, BYU-Idaho and BYU-Pathway, grew nearly threefold, increasing from 60,000 students to nearly 150,000 students. Similarly, between 2004 to 2022, institutions within the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities grew by an average of 27 percent.
At a time of rising skepticism about religion, could religious mission be what is driving enrollment at these universities? Our colleague, Rabbi Ari Berman, president of Yeshiva University, a Jewish institution in New York City, recently made the counterintuitive argument about the faith of today’s young people, stating, “There is a crisis in America today. It is not a crisis of faith but a crisis of meaning. Our youth are seeking purpose, and they are not finding it in the ephemeral answers offered by our consumer society.” In a world increasingly adrift, students are looking for deeper meaning, and a growing cohort is finding it in faith-based universities.
But what is attracting these students to religious schools? The first is a sense of belonging. A first-generation student from inner-city Boston recently shared his experience. “I grew up as a religious minority. When I arrived at BYU, I felt like I fit in for the first time in my life — there were thousands of other students who shared my values and welcomed me into this community of faith.” This experience is common at faith-based universities. Students come for a season to a gathered community of faith but spend the bulk of their professional lives as religious minorities. Their experience at a faith-based university becomes foundational to their extended sense of identity.
A related benefit of faith-based universities is how they create safe spaces for religious students who often feel hostility from an increasingly secular world. According to the Ruffalo Noel Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory, 72 percent of students attending a CCCU school believe that their campus is safe and secure for all students as compared to 64 percent of students nationally who report feeling their campus is safe and secure.
As Eboo Patel, president of Interfaith America, observes, “I love that there is a place in our society where the experiences of Black men and women are affirmed (in historically Black colleges and universities). And of course, by that logic, it makes perfect sense that people with a particular religious identity also need a place where they can have their identity supported, especially when that religion has a history of facing bigotry, as the Latter-day Saints, Jews and Catholics certainly have.”
Third, religious mission can enable access and affordability at a time when many feel university education is beyond their reach. For many religious communities, making college affordable is part of their pastoral duty of care. Religious schools such as Berea College, BYU-Hawaii and College of the Ozarks all have innovative work-study programs — once students are admitted, their tuition costs are mostly covered. Similarly, BYU-Pathway has used religious purpose to help inspire students who never thought a college education was possible. By teaching the dignity of work and encouraging heaven’s help in achieving human potential, tens of thousands of first-generation and low-income students are finding the confidence to succeed in college.
Fourth, religious mission can sharpen efforts on retention. The Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education shows that less than half of students who start college actually complete college. Lower-income students face the most acute challenges. Students from the lowest quartile of household income are nearly six times less likely to complete college than those in the highest quartile. The same pastoral duty of care that encourages religious schools to make college affordable can also motivate faculty and guidance counselors to help students complete their education. From a religious perspective, if God is in relentless pursuit of His children, religious university leaders should do the same. Ilana Horwitz in her book, “God, Grades, and Graduation,” has shown a strong linkage between religious community and academic persistence. An example of this is Catholic University, where students who attend weekly worship services have higher rates of completion and a great sense of belonging.
While some might say that religious mission does not free faith-based institutions from finding ways to adapt and innovate, our firsthand observation is that religious mission demands it. As national leaders are rethinking important questions in higher education, we hope many will recognize how faith-based universities open access, provide a sense of belonging and increase affordability for a growing number of students who are seeking a leg-up as they enter the postcollege world.
Elder Clark G. Gilbert is a General Authority Seventy and the Commissioner of Education for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Shirley Hoogstra is the president of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities. They currently co-chair the Commission on Faith-based Universities at the American Council on Education.
This story appears in the September 2024 issue of Deseret Magazine. Learn more about how to subscribe.