A number of schools are trying various methods of not charging tuition, born out of their convictions about debt and hopes for students to choose a Christian education.
As Christian schools adapt their education models to an unfriendly market, several are experimenting with offering free tuition to some or all of their students.
Starting this semester, Sattler College, a small Anabaptist college in Boston, announced that it will not be charging any of its students tuition. The president, Zack Johnson, said some students came to his office in tears of happiness after the announcement.
Uriah O’Terry is a student at Sattler, and the first in his family to go to college. He said in past years finding the money for tuition was “a point of stress,” and he had to take out a loan. He’s happy for the change.
“I am being prepared for a life of effective Christian living without the burden of debt,” he said in an email. “So the way I pay for my ‘free’ college education is by serving Jesus and the people around me with the skills and knowledge that I have gained at Sattler.”
Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, also announced that in fall 2024 it would not charge tuition for Pennsylvania students whose families make under $70,000 a year. In fall 2023, Grace College in Winona Lake, Indiana, began offering free tuition to Indiana students whose families make less than $65,000. That program will continue next school year, now for families making less than $60,000.
Hope College in Holland, Michigan, is in its third year of a pilot program to offer free tuition. It is currently covering tuition for a small group of students who go through a character-based application as it tries to raise funds to cover more and more of its students.
“The reception has been a wide range of things from people who are inspired by it to people who think we’re …
