Christian liberal arts colleges are a great option for students seeking a higher education that combines faith with a well-rounded undergraduate experience. The best Christian liberal arts colleges are schools that offer a diverse set of degree programs and personalized instruction through a Christian lens.
Christian colleges are private, independent schools that receive their funding through a combination of endowment income and student tuition fees, as well as in some cases through denominational giving. The best Christian colleges in America will create learning opportunities that balance academic inquiry with Christian faith and tradition. For many students, Christian college also represents the chance to earn an undergraduate degree in a wholesome environment among classmates who share a common set of Christian values.
Some will argue that many of these technically Christian schools no longer actively advocate Christian values, and that they are as secularized as any secular university. If that is your concern, we have ranked Christian colleges and universities that meet the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU standards for promoting Christian values on campus.
Back to TopChristian colleges come in all shapes and sizes, from highly observant religious institutions to largely secular schools steeped in Christian history and tradition. As you seek the right school, it’s entirely possible that your search will lead you to a Christian college. The primary reason a non-Christian might enroll in a Christian college is because it may be a good academic, financial, and cultural match regardless of its religious affiliation.
Back to TopOften referred to as “teaching colleges” liberal arts colleges put a premium on undergraduate studies and offers a broad range of subjects for students to study. A college of liberal arts typically provides smaller class sizes, more direct engagement with professors, and, most importantly, the opportunity to sample a wide range of subject areas on the way to a bachelor’s degree.
Read more about the differences between research universities and liberal arts colleges.
Back to Top
The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great! If you are serious about finding the best colleges and universities for a bachelor’s degree, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching and whether their graduates are themselves advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence in their fields of study.
Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is freer from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.
To rank the influence of schools, we first determine the influence of scholars and professionals based on the number of citations and publications they have had over the past 10 years. In addition to publications and citations, we consider the web links to and from these sources, and the page views of those sources. We then match the influential people to their alma maters and institutions of employment, so that their influence is attributed to those schools. Our machine-learning Influence Ranking algorithm produces a numerical score of academic achievements, merits, and citations across Wikipedia, wikidata, Crossref, Semantic Scholar and an ever-growing body of data. If you are interested in exploring how and why we rank by influence, explore our methodology in more depth.
The following list of the best Christian liberal arts colleges consists entirely of liberal arts colleges and universities that offer bachelor’s degrees. We’ve identified a total of 486 Christian liberal arts colleges in the US. In order to be included in this ranking list of best Christian colleges and universities, a schools must be regionally accredited, classified as a liberal arts college, and it must self-identify as being a Christian institution.
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
38%
Graduation
93%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1345/30
College of the Holy Cross’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$38K
Acceptance
73%
Graduation
75%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1250/27
Calvin University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$61K
Acceptance
39%
Graduation
93%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1415/31
Macalester College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$23K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
62%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1095/21
Ashland University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$37K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
76%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1230/26
Hope College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$41K
Acceptance
87%
Graduation
88%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1330/29
Wheaton College ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$50K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
84%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1250/26
University of Portland’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$53K
Acceptance
56%
Graduation
82%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1280/28
Fairfield University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
36%
Graduation
90%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1345/30
Lafayette College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$47K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
70%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1170/25
Manhattan College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$55K
Acceptance
20%
Graduation
93%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1397/31
Davidson College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$46K
Acceptance
88%
Graduation
75%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1180/25
John Carroll University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$47K
Acceptance
34%
Graduation
79%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1370/30
Trinity University ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$54K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
81%
Student body
5K
Loyola University Maryland’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$36K
Acceptance
92%
Graduation
77%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1125/23
Niagara University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$49K
Acceptance
59%
Graduation
67%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1235/26
Earlham College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$43K
Acceptance
86%
Graduation
60%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1080/23
Iona College ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
54%
Graduation
85%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1280/29
Providence College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$49K
Acceptance
68%
Graduation
67%
Student body
2K
Ohio Wesleyan University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$43K
Acceptance
73%
Graduation
69%
Student body
2K
Drew University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$42K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
69%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1175/25
Xavier University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$51K
Acceptance
51%
Graduation
82%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1325/29
Rhodes College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$26K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
50%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1075/23
Xavier University of Louisiana’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$49K
Acceptance
56%
Graduation
80%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1245/27
Sewanee: The University of the South’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
65%
Student body
4K
La Salle University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$31K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
69%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1150/24
Canisius College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$48K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
81%
Student body
6K
Median SAT/ACT
1210/26
Saint Joseph's University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$39K
Acceptance
63%
Graduation
66%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1122/24
Abilene Christian University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$50K
Acceptance
70%
Graduation
73%
Student body
2K
Wagner College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$42K
Acceptance
97%
Graduation
63%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1112/23
Wittenberg University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$46K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
65%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1130/22
Hamline University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
85%
Graduation
59%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1130/23
St. Mary's University, Texas’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$37K
Acceptance
75%
Graduation
78%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1176/25
Le Moyne College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$47K
Acceptance
54%
Graduation
69%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1245/27
University of Dallas’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$53K
Acceptance
51%
Graduation
85%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1310/29
St. Olaf College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
71%
Graduation
65%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1255/29
Hendrix College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$41K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
81%
Student body
3K
Siena College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$39K
Acceptance
50%
Graduation
68%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1192/26
Florida Southern College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$19K
Acceptance
65%
Graduation
50%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1050/21
Dillard University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$50K
Acceptance
71%
Graduation
78%
Student body
2K
Gustavus Adolphus College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$48K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
65%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1185/26
Eckerd College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$48K
Acceptance
79%
Graduation
82%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1215/26
University of Scranton’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$40K
Acceptance
64%
Graduation
67%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1189/26
University of Evansville’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$19K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
83%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1257/26
Grove City College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$40K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
69%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1175/25
High Point University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
56%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1114/21
Oral Roberts University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$35K
Acceptance
65%
Graduation
76%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1204/25
Ohio Northern University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$48K
Acceptance
69%
Graduation
82%
Student body
3K
Stonehill College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$52K
Acceptance
77%
Graduation
73%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1150/25
Saint Mary's College of California’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$50K
Acceptance
53%
Graduation
80%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1270/28
Wofford 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 utiulized 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.
Photo Credit: College of the Holy Cross, Carlin Hall. By Taliskerbay, via Wikimedia Commons, CC by 3.0.
Get the latest Academic Influence news, information, and rankings with our upcoming newsletter.
Stay informed!