For prospective college students looking for schools that align with their Christian faith and demonstrate academic excellence, here are the best Christian colleges and universities in Michigan.
Dubbed the “Great Lake State,” Michigan is proud of its highly distinct education landscape with 98 colleges, including 14 Christian colleges. For students who wish to attend college in a faith-based environment, Michigan is the perfect state. Whether you are a devout Lutheran, Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, or Protestant, all the Christian colleges in Michigan welcome all students regardless of their denomination.
Choosing a Christian university is a perfect way for students to further strengthen their relationship with God, engage in smaller classes, expand their spiritual worldviews, join in meaningful service, and even prepare for seminaries.
Choosing the right college for you is crucial, so we have some tips that might help guide your decision.
Find out the school’s religious affiliation: You may attend a Baptist church, and that is familiar and comfortable for you. In that case, attending a Lutheran college may not be a good fit. However, this is a very personal decision. You may visit the school and realize that the teaching style, Bible study, and weekly church and worship services are exactly what you are looking for.
Our best advice? Let the denomination be a starting point, but don’t allow yourself to be bound by it, potentially ruling out a school where you could be very happy.
Check the majors being offered: Make sure that the college major you are most interested in is offered at the school. Also it is important to find out if the major is offered at both the undergraduate and graduate level.
Note that if you are considering a faith-based major like ministry or theology, a Christian college is a great choice.
Evaluate the quality of education: The schools included in this ranking are evaluated on many criteria including graduation rates, academic influence of the faculty, and accreditation, among other factors, so you can be confident in the quality of these programs.
Explore ministry and fellowship on campus: How a faith-based school showcases its faith via student life opportunities is an important factor in finding a Christian college.
Does the school have a Chapel or mass requirement? Is fellowship strongly encouraged? These are crucial questions you should ask especially when you’re visiting schools. Most Christian colleges have fellowship and ministry groups, and some even require their students to attend regular church or worship services.
Learn the school’s missionary and community service opportunities. For students who want to experience service opportunities to help build their résumé while they’re still in school, then check out what the top ranked Christian colleges offer in this respect.
A majority of Christian colleges have solid community and missionary service programs, and these schools take so much pride in them. From local to international opportunities, and even a combination of study abroad and missionary work programs, students can earn school credits while simultaneously doing something good in the world.
With over 80 public and private colleges to choose from, students hoping to earn their associate, bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree can find a program that suits their educational needs and budget. Michigan State University and the University of Michigan are the two largest schools, both serving around 42,000 students and costing $16,000 in tuition. Most of the schools in The Wolverine State, however, serve smaller student populations, with tuition fees ranging from $3,000 to $49,000.
Find college admissions consultants in your state.
Additionally, students pursuing their degree at a school with religious affiliations have more than 20 options to choose from, including Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, Grand Rapid’s Calvin College, and Hope College in Holland. Students attending one of Michigan’s private schools, like Davenport University, can earn their degrees in fields like nursing, education, criminal justice, and history. Michigan, like many other states, also provides a special loan forgiveness program to those in medical, dental, and mental health professions who work in underserved communities. Recipients can receive up to $200,000 of tax-free funds over an eight-year period.
The great state of Michigan famously serves as the major hub of the United States auto industry - and also boasts the longest freshwater coastline in the nation. Students who love the outdoors but are also drawn to the metropolitan energy of big cities like Detroit and Grand Rapids will feel very much at home in Michigan.
To find your degree program, explore some of the top schools in Michigan.
The following list of the best Christian schools consists entirely of colleges and universities that offer four-year undergraduate degrees. We’ve identified 16 Christian colleges in Michigan. In order to be included in this ranking list of best Christian colleges and universities, a school must self-identify as Christian, be fully accredited, and offer a broad range of bachelor degree programs.
Tuition + fees
$38K
Acceptance
75%
Graduation
77%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1210/26
Calvin University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$37K
Acceptance
92%
Graduation
81%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1200/26
Hope College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$30K
Acceptance
93%
Graduation
67%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1155/24
University of Detroit Mercy’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
82%
Graduation
72%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1205/24
Andrews University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$39K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
53%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1023/22
Adrian College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$25K
Acceptance
52%
Graduation
64%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1015/20
Madonna University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$31K
Acceptance
89%
Graduation
44%
Student body
<1K
Olivet College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$44K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
63%
Student body
2K
Alma College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
63%
Graduation
51%
Student body
1K
Concordia University Ann Arbor’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$31K
Acceptance
60%
Graduation
64%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1085/23
Spring Arbor University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$27K
Acceptance
91%
Graduation
59%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1050/22
Cornerstone University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$25K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
21%
Student body
<1K
Finlandia University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$29K
Acceptance
68%
Graduation
51%
Student body
2K
Siena Heights University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$25K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
50%
Student body
<1K
Kuyper College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$36K
Acceptance
89%
Graduation
60%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1115/23
Aquinas College ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$25K
Acceptance
98%
Graduation
40%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
950/20
Rochester College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Many of our 2022 undergraduate focused rankings look considerably different than 2021. That’s because we took a fundamentally different apporach. For 2021 we utilized our Concentrated Influence algorithm, designed to take away the size advantage larger schools have when we rank their faculty and alumni’s academic influence. Concentrated influence highlights smaller schools that are proportionally as successful as larger universities at cultivating influential alumni and faculty.