Find Christian colleges and universities with strong Christian identities, where Christian values and spiritual growth are part of the campus life and curricula.
The Council of Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) is an organization composed of about 180 member institutions worldwide, with approximately 140 in the U.S. The schools represent 37 different Protestant denominations.
CCCU schools are accredited, comprehensive colleges and universities whose missions are Christ-centered and rooted in the historic Christian faith. Although many self-identify as evangelical, the defining doctrines for all member institutions are that they:
Many of the nation’s leading private colleges and universities had their origins as religious institutions affiliated with a specific denomination within the broad Christian tradition. Duke is an example, as are Emory, Yale, and Wesleyan University. And while some private schools still accept funding from the church of their founding, many no longer hold any religious expectations for their students, nor do they align their curricular or extracurricular offerings with particular religious beliefs or practices.
In contrast, CCCU colleges are devoted to fostering Christian virtues in their graduates. They develop their curricula, their expectations for student behavior, their hiring of faculty and staff, and their co-curricular programs with that goal in mind. Most do so within the context of a liberal arts framework.
The list of colleges which follows ranks the Best CCCU colleges for undergraduates, those schools which have retained their Christian orientation while achieving academic excellence and conveying profound influence through the achievements of their professors and graduates.
Tuition + fees
$50K
Acceptance
68%
Graduation
79%
Student body
17K
Median SAT/ACT
1290/29
Baylor University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
42%
Graduation
89%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1340/29
Pepperdine University’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
$35K
Acceptance
84%
Graduation
77%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1160/26
Samford University’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
$44K
Acceptance
64%
Graduation
71%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1195/24
Biola University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$38K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
56%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1130/22
Campbell University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$36K
Acceptance
91%
Graduation
65%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1135/22
Seattle Pacific University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$42K
Acceptance
94%
Graduation
66%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1145/23
Azusa Pacific 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:
Student body
1K
Fuller Theological Seminary’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
$19K
Acceptance
50%
Graduation
61%
Student body
6K
Median SAT/ACT
1105/22
Regent University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$16K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
65%
Student body
<1K
Median SAT/ACT
1190/24
Houghton University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$29K
Acceptance
91%
Graduation
72%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1125/23
Indiana Wesleyan University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$20K
Acceptance
29%
Graduation
65%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1145/25
Mississippi College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$23K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
27%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1080/20
Faulkner University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$27K
Acceptance
97%
Graduation
43%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
945/20
Nyack College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$36K
Acceptance
62%
Graduation
69%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1185/26
Lipscomb University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$36K
Acceptance
72%
Graduation
47%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1100/21
Houston Baptist University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$22K
Acceptance
55%
Graduation
72%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1165/25
Harding University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$36K
Acceptance
64%
Graduation
58%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1130/23
Eastern University ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$26K
Acceptance
95%
Graduation
55%
Student body
2K
Evangel University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$37K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
62%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1100/21
California Baptist University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
86%
Graduation
53%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1045/22
Trinity International University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$34K
Acceptance
99%
Graduation
56%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1140/23
Dallas Baptist University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$39K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
59%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1100/21
Concordia University Irvine’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
98%
Graduation
62%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1095/20
Moody Bible Institute’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$25K
Acceptance
61%
Graduation
60%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1125/24
Oklahoma Christian University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Student body
2K
Dallas Theological Seminary’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$25K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
36%
Student body
8K
Campbellsville University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
60%
Graduation
50%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1097/22
King University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$21K
Acceptance
83%
Graduation
63%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1070/24
Lee University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$40K
Acceptance
84%
Graduation
72%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1225/26
Point Loma Nazarene University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
71%
Graduation
61%
Student body
4K
Concordia University Wisconsin’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$37K
Acceptance
70%
Graduation
78%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1195/25
Taylor University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$29K
Acceptance
59%
Graduation
64%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1160/26
John Brown University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$26K
Acceptance
68%
Graduation
72%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1185/25
Gordon College ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
67%
Graduation
64%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1080/22
Anderson College, Indiana’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$31K
Graduation
59%
Student body
2K
Walla Walla University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$40K
Acceptance
87%
Graduation
74%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1160/24
Bethel University ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
44%
Graduation
59%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1075/22
North Park University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$49K
Acceptance
70%
Graduation
72%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1215/25
Westmont College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$34K
Acceptance
92%
Graduation
57%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1090/23
Palm Beach Atlantic University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$28K
Acceptance
50%
Graduation
47%
Student body
4K
Belhaven University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$22K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
25%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
970/19
Wayland Baptist University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$39K
Acceptance
91%
Graduation
66%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1150/23
George Fox University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$30K
Acceptance
62%
Graduation
60%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1155/24
Ouachita Baptist University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
54%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1054/22
Malone University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$33K
Acceptance
64%
Graduation
64%
Student body
1K
Median SAT/ACT
1060/23
Trinity Christian College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Mike Nietzel, author and senior contributor at Forbes, as well as president emeritus of Missouri State University Missouri State University. After earning his B.A. from Wheaton College , Nietzel was awarded a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1973. He then joined the faculty at the University of Kentucky, where he progressed through the professorial ranks and served as director of the Clinical Psychology Program, chair of the department of psychology, dean of the graduate school, and provost. In 2005, Nietzel was appointed president of Missouri State University. Following retirement from Missouri State in 2011, he became senior policy advisor to Missouri Governor Jay Nixon. Recently, Nietzel has authored two books: Degrees and Pedigrees: The Education of America’s Top Executives (2017) and Coming to Grips With Higher Education (2018), both published by Rowman & Littlefield.
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: Baylor University Quad, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
