Guide
Which Presbyterian labels share this page
A college is on this page when its IPEDS affiliation contains Presbyterian. That covers Presbyterian Church (USA), the plain Presbyterian label, Presbyterian Church in America, Cumberland Presbyterian, and Reformed Presbyterian. The fact column shows the exact string. The table sorts by state.
The page follows the same idea as the Baptist and Lutheran pages. One tradition, several official labels, one list, with the label left visible. It is not a ranking, and it is not limited to one synod.
- Schools
- 57
- States
- 27
- Median admit rate
- 68%
- 43 report a rate
- Median earnings
- $52,214
- 10 years after entry
A text match on the affiliation
Any affiliation string that contains Presbyterian qualifies. The match is case-sensitive in the ordinary sense that it looks for that word in the IPEDS label. A college does not need the word in its campus name. The affiliation field is enough.
The column is how you tell PC(USA) from the Presbyterian Church in America and from Cumberland Presbyterian. Those are different reported labels. Putting them on one page does not claim they are the same church.
Reformed is not always Presbyterian
A Reformed church label that does not contain the word Presbyterian stays off. The rule is the word, not a map of the whole Reformed tradition. If a label is Presbyterian, it is in. If it is not, it is out.
Other Christian colleges stay off this page and stay on the Christian page. A college that dropped a Presbyterian affiliation and now reports nothing stays off. The current field wins.
Read the string, then the state
Start with the fact column if the denomination inside the Presbyterian family matters to you. Then use the state column. The figures below mix every label on purpose, so they describe the family as this page defined it.
Price and enrollment still vary. A small college and a university can share a Presbyterian label. Open the profile before you compare net price. The sticker price in the guide is not the bill after aid.
Why one page holds the family
Readers search for Presbyterian colleges, not for one IPEDS punctuation of the name. Splitting the labels into several thin pages would match the database and miss the question. The column keeps the database detail.
Jewish, Catholic, and Methodist colleges are different pages. A multi-denominational college is on this list only when the string it reports contains Presbyterian.
Where the schools are
These schools sit in 27 states. The largest groups are Pennsylvania (6), Tennessee (6), Illinois (4), North Carolina (4), and Texas (4). 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 48 schools and a graduate degree at 9 schools. A campus can still award other credentials.
How large they are
The largest undergraduate enrollments on this list are University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with 2,813 undergraduates, Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, with 2,757 undergraduates, Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin, with 2,523 undergraduates, Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, with 2,505 undergraduates, and Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, with 2,131 undergraduates. Enrollment is the undergraduate figure. It is not a ranking, and it leaves out graduate students.
9 schools do not report an undergraduate enrollment. Those campuses stay off the size order. A blank is not zero.
Admission
43 of 57 schools report an admission rate. The median of those rates is 68%. 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 Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina, at 13%, Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, at 26%, and Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, at 29%. A lower rate is harder entry. It is not a score for the school.
The highest reported admission rates on this list are King University in Bristol, Tennessee, at 100%, Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia, at 94%, and William Peace University in Raleigh, North Carolina, at 94%.
What they charge
Among 48 private colleges that report a sticker price, the median is $38,223. 9 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 46 schools that report earnings, the median of those school-level medians is $52,214. The clock starts at entry, not at graduation. The highest reported medians on this list are Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, at $91,410, Davidson College in Davidson, North Carolina, at $81,400, and Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, at $71,668.
Among 46 schools that report a graduation rate, the median rate is 59%. A blank rate is left out. It is not treated as zero.
Athletics in this file
4 report NCAA Division I athletics, 1 plays FBS football, and 2 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.
18 are also on liberal arts colleges.
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.