9 Higher Education Trends to Follow in 2020-21
From deregulations to mergers to relaxed ethical standards, higher education issues and challenges continue to make headlines, especially in the current election cycle. Nonprofit Christian higher education institutions face unique challenges of their own. Here are...
From Danbury to D.C. – The Role of Government in Today’s Christian Colleges
The concerns about religious liberties among Christian college administrators is as real today as it was for those of the Danbury Baptist Association in 1801. In fact, over 80% of Christian college administrators surveyed by the Association of Business Administrators...
Why Add Bible Certificates to Accredited Degree Offerings
I have worked in Christian higher education for 11 years and often encounter people cringing at the mention of certificate programs in Bible. At best, certificates are viewed as remedial and something only offered by smaller Bible colleges that do not have the...
6 Reasons You Shouldn’t Ask for a Grant Writer’s Success Rate
Like most facets of fundraising, hiring a full-time grant writer or a consultant requires an investment. We've all heard the saying before: "You have to spend money to make money." This rule is as true in nonprofit development as it is in business. But money that is...
What to Do About “Bundling”
As former Apple CEO John Sculley reminded us, the future belongs to those who are first to see possibilities. The latest possibility for fundraisers, including at Christian colleges and universities, involves how best to respond to the latest trend in donor behavior,...
Improve Student Retention: Teach Financial Literacy
Student loan debt exceeds a staggering $1.5 trillion among 42 million people.[1] Many of the students in our Christian higher education schools are part of that statistic. When our students lack financial literacy, they suffer, but so does our school. While we are in...
Financing Education: 5 Financial Resources for Students
Christian college is a big investment, but each future Christian leader is vitally important to our communities. This is why financial stewardship skills can be a great addition to the education students receive in a Christian college. After all, it’s part of a...
Can Colleges Assess Students’ Character Development?
Why measure student character development? Today college admissions fiercely compete for students. For many, necessity dictates that solvency transcends mission as students cannot learn if the school closes. With many higher...
Hallmarks of a Christian Campus: A Checklist of Components for Mission Integration
Standards for accreditation are meant to ensure a robust academic environment, but what are some of the components to ensure a robust Christian environment? While no list is going to be comprehensive, the following are ten things to consider, not ranked in any...
Creating a High-Performing, Mission-True Culture Based on Your School’s Values!
Most Christian institutions understand the importance of developing and maintaining a High-Performing Culture based on Christian values interwoven with the school’s mission. But few know exactly what that actually “looks like” or how to establish one. In those special...
Importance of Religious Liberty Protections for Christian Educational Institutions
Religious liberty in education has been under an alarming attack since the federal government began to use federal aid as a mechanism for influencing and controlling the education landscape in the mid-20th century.[/caption] Everyone must care about...
Gay-Student Groups & their Goals
Do gay-identifying students want to form an official gay-student groups on your campus? Their efforts might seem innocent enough and your desires to be tolerant might also seem innocent enough, but be aware that different types of gay-student groups have different...
Muslim Students in Christian Schools: Problem or Opportunity?
Editor’s Note: "From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him,...
Case Study on Improving Christian University Governance
In a previous article for Christian Academia Press, I wrote about the governance crisis in Christian higher ed. Much of this has to do with how the trustees at Christian colleges and universities are constituted. The majority of their members have little if any board...
4 Reasons Why Board Training Is Critical to Ministry Success
Why do some boards in Christian universities demonstrate a culture of excellence year after year while some seem to struggle just to get a majority of directors to show up for meetings or to make important decisions? Could board training be key? Why do some schools...
Avoiding USDE Audits by Improving Financial Aid Verification
Give back the money!? That's right. Violations of financial aid verification remain in the top 10 most common audit and program review findings for the past three years and that can lead to students receiving ineligible disbursements and schools having to return their...
Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act: What Higher Ed Institutions Need to Do
Given the increasing and rapidly changing risk, cybersecurity should be a key focus for all higher education institutions. Institutions collect and store a wide variety of data across many departments, ranging from health and financial information to intellectual...
Conference Profile: Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS)
The Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) is recognized by both the United States Department of Education (USDOE) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) as a national institutional accrediting agency for Christian...