Baptist Colleges

Any label that says Baptist

The test is a text match on the affiliation, not a hand roster of conventions. A new IPEDS label that contains Baptist joins the page without a rewrite. A label that does not contain the word stays off, even if the college is Baptist in some other sense.

The column matters more here than on the United Methodist page, because the strings differ. Two rows can both be Baptist and still name different conventions. That difference is data. It is not clutter.

Other Christian colleges

Methodist, Catholic, Presbyterian, and Lutheran colleges stay off unless their own label also contains Baptist, which it does not. The Christian page holds the wider set. This page is the Baptist slice of it.

A college that used to be Baptist and now reports no affiliation, or reports nondenominational, stays off. The current string is the rule. A historical tie in the college's story is not.

Use the column as a filter

Scan the fact column if you care about the convention. Then use state to narrow the geography. Size and price below describe the whole Baptist set, so a small college and a university are mixed. Open a row before you treat them as interchangeable.

Admission policy is not implied by the affiliation. Test requirements and admission rates are separate fields. A Baptist college can sit on the test-optional page, the test-required page, or neither.

Why the conventions stay together

Separate pages for every Baptist label would be short, easy to confuse, and worse for the question most readers ask. One page, with the label visible, keeps the family together and the distinction available.

This is not a ranking of Baptist colleges and not a statement about doctrine. The site can show the reported affiliation and the Scorecard numbers. It cannot score faithfulness.

Where the schools are

These schools sit in 28 states. The largest groups are Texas (14), North Carolina (8), Arkansas (5), Kentucky (5), and Missouri (5). The rest of the roll is spread across the other states in the table.

Who runs them

Every school with a reported control is a private nonprofit college. Control is the Scorecard field. It is not a judgment about quality.

Predominant degree is the credential the campus awards most often. On this list it is a bachelor's degree at 85 schools, an associate degree at 4 schools, a certificate at 3 schools, and a graduate degree at 3 schools. A campus can still award other credentials.

How large they are

The largest undergraduate enrollments on this list are Baylor University in Waco, Texas, with 14,785 undergraduates, California Baptist University in Riverside, California, with 8,179 undergraduates, University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg, Kentucky, with 6,941 undergraduates, Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, with 4,206 undergraduates, and Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio, with 4,024 undergraduates. Enrollment is the undergraduate figure. It is not a ranking, and it leaves out graduate students.

2 schools do not report an undergraduate enrollment. Those campuses stay off the size order. A blank is not zero.

1 school is reported as online-only. The others are not marked that way in this file.

Admission

73 of 95 schools report an admission rate. The median of those rates is 78%. Schools with no reported rate stay out of the median. A missing rate is not an open door, and it is not a closed one.

The lowest reported admission rates on this list are Baptist Missionary Association Theological Seminary in Jacksonville, Texas, at 29%, Mississippi Christian University in Clinton, Mississippi, at 29%, and Baptist University of Florida in Graceville, Florida, at 36%. A lower rate is harder entry. It is not a score for the school.

The highest reported admission rates on this list are Shasta Bible College and Graduate School in Redding, California, at 100%, Simmons College of Kentucky in Louisville, Kentucky, at 100%, and Southeastern Baptist College in Laurel, Mississippi, at 100%.

What they charge

Among 90 private colleges that report a sticker price, the median is $20,550. 5 other private colleges on the list do not report one.

Sticker price is not net price. Grants, waivers, and a service commitment can move the bill by a wide margin. Open a school for the net-price figures.

Earnings and graduation

Among 80 schools that report earnings, the median of those school-level medians is $46,279. The clock starts at entry, not at graduation. The highest reported medians on this list are Baptist Health Sciences University in Memphis, Tennessee, at $72,529, Baylor University in Waco, Texas, at $65,793, and Bethel University in Saint Paul, Minnesota, at $63,764.

Among 85 schools that report a graduation rate, the median rate is 49%. A blank rate is left out. It is not treated as zero.

Athletics in this file

7 report NCAA Division I athletics, 1 plays FBS football, and 5 play FCS football. A blank athletics field means this file has no division for that campus. It does not prove the campus has no team.

Also on other lists

Some of these schools also meet the rule for another list on this site. The overlap is a second flag or a second classification. It is not a second ranking.

5 are also on liberal arts colleges. 10 are also on HBCU colleges. 13 are also on Hispanic-serving institutions.

How these figures work

Admission rate, enrollment, sticker price, earnings, and graduation rate all come from the College Scorecard. Earnings are the median 10 years after a student entered the school. Tuition for a public college is the in-state sticker price. Tuition for a private college is the published sticker price. None of these is net price after aid.

A blank field stays blank. This page does not turn a blank admission rate into an open door, a blank fee into a free application, or a blank earnings figure into zero. The table above is membership under the rule in this guide. Sort order is not a quality ranking.