An opportunity for faithful higher education

Confidence in American higher education has seemingly hit rock bottom. Americans on both the right and the left share many common concerns. The cost of education has never been higher, and the perceived return on investment has never been more in question. It seems like every month another school closes its doors, leading to uncertainty about the entire sector. A growing chorus is sounding the alarm against the impact of sports betting on college students, especially as some major universities ink deals with gambling companies to generate additional revenue in the age of NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) contracts and the transfer portal. Meanwhile, everyone is wondering how artificial intelligence will impact higher education.

Other concerns are unique to conservatives, including many Christians. Conservatives are rightly frustrated with the combination of progressive ideology and illiberal gatekeeping that dominates academia. Critical theories, intersectionality, DEI, and transgressive sexualities were all advocated in university classrooms for decades before they entered into public discourse in the late 2010s. The left-wing echo-chamber that characterizes so many schools represents the bitter fruit of the “tenured radicals” who have controlled higher education since the 1960s.

A common complaint on the right is that campus free speech seems attuned to the progressive “thee” but is rarely afforded to the conservative “me.” This was especially evident when elite university presidents refused to unequivocally denounce anti-Semitic students and their faculty enablers following the barbaric attack on Israel by Hamas on Oct.7, 2023. Left-wing students were exercising free speech when they chanted “from the river to the sea,” but conservative students were guilty of hate speech when they argued that transgenderism is self-mutilation or that homosexual “marriage” is contrary to nature and authentic human flourishing.

It should come as no surprise that conservatives have increasingly questioned whether a four-year college degree is really worth it. Isn’t it better to enter the workforce right out of high school, or perhaps seek alternative forms of academic credentialling, rather than committing valuable time and financial resources to a college education? Four years in college seem at least as likely to lead to progressive indoctrination as a robust education, let alone gainful employment and upward mobility following graduation. This critical posture has fueled the growing influence of the late Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA, the non-profit he founded in 2012, among Generation Z and their parents.

The Chronicle of Higher Education and Inside Higher Education are the most widely read industry periodicals. Both are widely available online, with daily emails sent to professors, administrators, and graduate students all over the world. For the most part, contributors to these periodicals, as well as newspapers and websites associated with legacy media, have circled the wagons, accused conservatives of being anti-education, and opposed any reform initiative that originates with the Trump Administration or its allies. Occasional dissenting voices will acknowledge that colleges and universities have lost trust, though most of the time they focus on the sorts of “ecumenical” issues I referenced in the opening paragraph rather than the critiques of conservatives.

One noteworthy exception is Yale University’s Committee on Trust in Higher Education, which was appointed in spring 2025. Last month, the committee published a 58-page report that has generated considerable discussion within the academy and in mainstream media outlets. Many observers from across the ideological spectrum appreciate that the report acknowledges that the lack of trust in higher education is understandable and that widespread reform is needed. But the report also acknowledged concerns anti-Semitism, the underrepresentation of conservatives on faculty, and the perception among many conservative students that their views were not welcome. The committee noted that, “While such issues remain contested, nearly everyone we spoke to agreed on one thing: Echo chambers do not produce the best teaching, research, or scholarship.”

The conservative mistrust of higher education creates an opportunity for faithful Christian colleges and universities to attract students who want an education that aligns with their beliefs. There are over 200 evangelical schools across America that offer a Christ-centered higher education. This number includes liberal arts colleges, comprehensive universities, and Bible colleges. Many of them are theologically and socially conservative, and even those that might be described as more “centrist” are well to the right of the mainstream academy. They are affiliated with groups such as the International Alliance for Christian Education (IACE), the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE), and the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU).

Almost all of evangelical colleges and universities are institutions that prioritize classroom instruction and the task of teaching over faculty research. Most are also small enough that students are able to get to know the faculty. The Center for Academic Faithfulness and Flourishing publishes an online College Guide to help prospective students and their parents make wise choices about schools’ academic programs, confessional commitments, denominational affiliation, and other distinctives.