Grace College Ranked as a “Best Value” in Christian Colleges

Grace College, Winona Lake, Ind., has been named #8 in the “Top 50 Best Value Christian Colleges and Universities” and #1 in the Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois region by Christian Universities Online. Check out a portion of the story below. Click here to see the complete listing. (It also earned a #31 spot on the website’s “Top 50 Christian Colleges and Universities Exceeding Expectations” list with a predicted graduation rate of 55 percent, actual graduation rate of 58 percent, and an Exceeding Expectations value: 3)

50 Best Value Christian Colleges and Universities

The famous Irish writer and poet, Oscar Wilde, once wrote, “Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” To oversimplify your college search by focusing too much on price could cause you to err in at least two areas. The first error could be in thinking the more I pay for my education then the higher the quality. The second error would be to limit yourself by eliminating schools too quickly simply because their “sticker price” is out of your budget. This ranking seeks to focus on the value of certain institutions without letting the financials dominate the landscape. We also want to help prospective students and parents to look past the sticker price and dig deeper for the net tuition cost, for many times you will be pleasantly surprised. This list attempts to take our overall best data and our affordability data and consider both in order to achieve a focus on what you are getting for your money.

This ranking was built using publicly available data from U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics. The methodology we followed was based on methodology employed by U.S. News and World Report. We calculated a ratio of quality to price by dividing the school’s overall best score to its net cost. The higher the ratio then the higher the score. This accounted for 70% of the best value score. Next we considered the overall discount which was calculated by comparing the sticker cost for each school to its net cost (calculated by subtracting the average amount of grant or scholarship aid from the tuition, books, room & board). This overall discount value accounted for 30% of the best value score. The colleges and universities on this list had to be accredited by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) or a member/affiliate of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU).

 

8. Grace College & Seminary

Located in the historic resort town of Winona Lake, near Warsaw, IN, Grace College and Seminary(GCS) was established in 1948. GCS has already found a spot in our exceeding expectations ranking through its combination of a high acceptance and retention rate. Grace’s affordability and abundance of financial aid options coupled with its strengths of admissions and retention has earned the school this high ranking position. Students at GCS also have some unique program options to consider that both strive to further reduce education cost and reduce the risk of post-graduation employment or graduate school placement. The first program is the 3-year accelerated degree program offered that can reduce education cost by 25% and the second is the “Grace Placement Promise” that offers qualifying students who do not find employment or graduate school placement within 6 months of their graduation an additional year of undergraduate education tuition-free!

Click here to see the complete listing.