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How Much Peril Do U.S. Evangelical Colleges Face?

How Much Peril Do U.S. Evangelical Colleges Face?

Last updated on: September 22, 2026 at 9:58 am by Richard Ostling

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How Much Peril Do U.S. Evangelical Colleges Face? 2026-09-22T09:58:49-04:00 Richard Ostling

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300 colleges have closed; 80 more may follow / Getty Images @ unsplash.com

Demographers tell us fewer young Americans have been dating with an eye toward marriage, fewer have married, and those who marry have fewer children. That means in coming years the pool of high school graduates will shrink and most U.S. colleges are destined to face ever-fiercer competition for applicants.

Get ready for the “enrollment cliff.”

An August Fortune magazine overview said 3.9 million high school graduates in 2025 was a record high to be followed by inexorable decline that one projection puts at 13% by 2041. University of Tennessee expert Robert Kelchen says “nearly every college in the country is facing some kind of financial pressure.”

Here’s why. A sliver of elite schools with ample applicants get significant endowment income. But even as fixed costs rise, most small private colleges largely live off tuition income. Declining enrollment brings less tuition income and raising the cost to make up the difference risks turning off applicants. It takes yet more money to seek enrollment boosts by increased scholarship aid, tuition discounts or flashy marketing.

“Mismanagement”

There’s further pressure from cuts in federal and state funding and a nearly 20% decrease of international students who typically pay full tuition. Plus there’s more public discussion on whether a college degree is worth the price. And Forbes magazine reported in May that “rampant mismanagement is driving hundreds of private colleges to raid their endowments.”

Thus it’s no surprise that some 300 colleges have closed since 2008, or that the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia estimates another 80 could disband by 2029. Just since 2020, 49 schools have disappeared by merger or shutting down, according to a bestcolleges.com listing. Eight were identifiably Protestant and generally conservative: Alliance (formerly Nyack), Concordia of New York, Eastern Nazarene, The King’s College, Lincoln Christian, Nebraska Christian, St. Louis Christian, and Trinity Christian of Illinois.

According to Department of Education statistics, the U.S. has 4,300-plus institutions of higher education, with just over 1,000 having religious affiliations. Christian college trends were examined in a February article for The Gospel Coalition by Perry Glanzer, an education professor at Baylor University. He calculated federal enrollment data over the 2014-24 decade by categories.

Three declining sectors

There were collective enrollment declines for the Historically Black colleges, down 14.1%; the Catholic, down 6.7%; and the “Mainline” Protestant, down 5.5%. This Q and A article will bypass these categories. The complex Catholic and Black community situations need intensive research. Colleges from the “Mainline” heritage, with notable exceptions, differ little from secular colleges and have limited impact on American Christianity.

By contrast, colleges are central to the dynamism of conservative or “Evangelical” Protestantism, and they are the reason Protestant enrollment as a whole increased 10.9% over that decade. “Protestant higher education is actually bucking the downward trend among secular institutions,” Glanzer writes, noting the comparative enrollment slide of 7.1% for private colleges and 3.9% for public universities. “It is time for Protestants to stop the doomsaying once and for all,” he asserts.

And yet, will past upbeat patterns continue? Yes, conservative schools gain advantages from devoted believers and churches that supply applicants and donations. But questions arise with the “Christian College Guide” booklet distributed with the current print edition of evangelicalism’s Christianity Today magazine. The Guide covers schools associated with the following four conservative, Protestant-oriented U.S. organizations. Eliminating overlapping memberships and Canadian and overseas affiliates, it posts data on 222 campuses.

Four alliances

The Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU), founded in 1976, is a fellowship with 140 U.S. schools, including most of the nationally prominent Evangelical liberal arts colleges, with 29 on The Wall Street Journal’s “America’s Best Colleges” list. CCCU members are committed to “Christ-centered higher education,” believing the Bible is “divinely inspired, true, and authoritative” and should shape all academic subjects.

The International Alliance for Christian Education (IACE), organized in 2019, has 85 member colleges and seminaries that affirm “the truthfulness and authority of Holy Scripture” and historic Christian creeds. Its founder, David Dockery, took Union University out of CCCU when he was its president, after two member colleges hired employees in same-sex relationships. Both organizations downplay rivalry and many schools have duel memberships. The crisis abated when those two schools left CCCU and it reaffirmed traditional marriage teaching. IACE partners with pro-life and religious-liberty advocates.

The Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE) was recognized by the Department of Education in 1952 as an accrediting agency for specialized Bible colleges. Members profess that the Scriptures are “the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.” Counting accredited plus affiliated members, ABHE represents some 200 of North America’s estimated 1,000 Bible colleges. This unique academic sector originated in 1882 with New York’s Missionary Training Institute, renamed Nyack College, then Alliance University, and now defunct. The other pioneer, Moody Bible Institute, still operates in Chicago.

The Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS), after some controversy, was recognized by the Department of Education in 1991 as an accrediting agency for 109 campuses known for Creationism. They affirm the Bible’s “unique, divine, plenary, verbal inspiration and absolute authority,” and that it is “free from error of any sort, in all matters with which it deals, scientific, historical, moral, and theological.” That includes a literal Adam and Eve and a “worldwide” Flood. The best-known member is Bob Jones University. Liberty University withdrew from membership in 2008. According to theeduledger.com, TRACS provides a “lifeline” to small Historically Black colleges that lack accreditation, typically due to finances.

The crunch: A majority of schools in the Guide do not consider ACT or SAT scores from applicants. That suggests open admission and the possibility that academic strength could be a long-term drag on applications. The Chronicle of Higher Education also cites this standard rule of thumb: “Colleges with 1,000 students or fewer may be headed for intensive care, or worse.” Solid academic programs and operations become difficult to sustain. On that note, look at Guide data for the two states with the most schools. California has Azusa Pacific, California Baptist, and Pepperdine, but 12 of its 23 do have enrollments under 1,000. Texas schools include Abilene Christian, Baylor, and Houston Christian, but 14 of the 24 enroll fewer than 1,000 students. If forecasts are correct, consolidation could be coming.

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