The Next Step for Ohio's High School Graduates
Each year, countless Ohio high school juniors and seniors commence their search for the college or university that will best suit them. The unguided, less motivated, or at worst apathetic of these students often settle into a massive state or semi-private institution, bringing high or low aspirations but lacking either sufficient willpower or the right college to drive them. A few will excel intellectually and academically no matter what college they choose, but most will pass their four years unchallenged—and worse, uncritically.
The bright-eyed, sharp-minded students—those seeking intense intellectual and moral cultivation, attentive to society’s problems and needs, and aware that time is of the essence—desire a more worthwhile environment to invest their time and money. They tend to desire an invaluable product: a premium liberal arts education. The cream of this crop boldly pursues truth in the classroom while gleaning the rich contributions of the great thinkers of the Western tradition. They pine for an institution whose faculty and student body challenge and grow them, and that share the foundational American ideals of personal freedom, individual responsibility, private property, and limited government. They seek an academic curriculum that upholds the past’s intellectual and spiritual legacy, not one that doubles as a political platform dangerous to liberty.
These young adults are America’s future. The finest of them will emerge from their four-year investment well-rounded, incomparably appreciative of the higher things, and fathoms deeper intellectually and spiritually. Their arduous efforts and critical studies, conducted under institutions concerned with and dedicated to truth, will uniquely equip them to fill the roles of America’s policymakers, educators, writers, and physicians.
Unfortunately, the number of institutions for higher learning expressly devoted to the cause of pursuing, defending, and advancing truth and freedom, as well as to preserving the rich heritage of the Western tradition, is slight. To help guide Ohio’s critically thinking young adults in their college searches, The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions lists a handful of the region’s most quality liberal arts colleges:
Founded: 1844 Located: Hillsdale, MI Enrollment: 1200 Tuition, room & board: $25,290
“Hillsdale College is an independent, nonsectarian institution of higher learning founded in 1844 by men and women ‘grateful to God for the inestimable blessings’ resulting from civil and religious liberty and ‘believing that the diffusion of learning is essential to the perpetuity of these blessings.’ / The College considers itself a trustee of modern man's intellectual and spiritual inheritance from the Judeo-Christian faith and Greco-Roman culture, a heritage finding its clearest expression in the American experiment of self-government under law. / By training the young in the liberal arts, Hillsdale College prepares students to become leaders worthy of that legacy. By encouraging the scholarship of its faculty, it contributes to the preservation of that legacy for future generations. By publicly defending that legacy, it enlists the aid of other friends of free civilization and thus secures the conditions of its own survival and independence.” –excerpts from Hillsdale College Mission Statement
Hillsdale College is one of two accredited colleges (and the only secular college) in the nation that 100% rejects federal funding. Its commitment to independence enables it to offer a quality, classical liberal arts education irrespective of nation, race, and gender.
Founded: 1876 Located: Grove City, Pennsylvania Enrollment: 2300 Tuition, room & board: $16,800
“Since its founding in 1876, Grove City College, committed to Christian principles, has striven to be equal in academic quality to the finest four year colleges. It seeks to provide liberal and professional education of the highest quality that is within the reach of families with modest means who desire a college that will strengthen their children's spiritual and moral character. / Grove City College remains true to the vision of its founders. Rejecting relativism and secularism, it fosters intellectual, moral, spiritual, and social development consistent with a commitment to Christian truth, morals, and freedom. Rather than political, ideological, or philosophical agendas, objective truth continues as the goal of liberal learning. / And while many points of view are examined, the College unapologetically advocates preservation of America's religious, political, and economic heritage of individual freedom and responsibility.” –excerpts from Grove City College Mission Statement
Grove City College is the other of two accredited colleges in the nation that completely rejects federal funding, enabling it to offer a Christian, classical liberal arts education irrespective of nation, race, and gender, at an affordable price.
Founded: 2000 Located: Purcellville, Virginia Enrollment: 282 Tuition, room & board: $21,800
“The mission of Patrick Henry College is to train Christian men and women who will lead our nation and shape our culture with timeless biblical values and fidelity to the spirit of the American founding.” PHC holds “a commitment to a high priority on biblical Truth, Christian character, and the Lordship of Jesus Christ in every aspect of instruction and college life,” and offers “an elite, classical American education offering broad academic knowledge critical to political and cultural leadership.” –excerpts from Patrick Henry College Mission Statement
PHC also maintains “a policy of financial independence, which means no debt and no government funding of any kind.” It is awaiting full accreditation status from Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS).
Founded: 1956 Located: Dallas, Texas Enrollment: 1,200 undergraduate; 1,950 graduate Tuition: $32,000/year
“The University of Dallas is a Catholic institution that seeks to educate its students to develop the intellectual and moral virtues, to prepare themselves for life and work, and to become leaders in the community. Through intensive teaching, interactive discourse, and critical analysis, the university pursues truth, virtue, and wisdom in the liberal arts and professional studies. / The University of Dallas is committed to the study and development of the western tradition of liberal education, and the Catholic intellectual tradition. / The University of Dallas understands human nature to be spiritual and physical, rational and free. It is guided by principles of learning that acknowledge transcendent standards of truth and excellence that are themselves objects of inquiry and research.” –excerpts from University of Dallas Mission Statement and Core Values
Yorktown University College of Liberal Arts
Online College Founded: 2001 Tuition: $3,000/semester
“The vision of Yorktown University is to establish a presence on the Internet for scholarship on free enterprise, market economics, the philosophical ground of a free society, the principles and history of the American Founding, and the history and philosophy of education, religion, and culture. / The philosophic motivation for founding Yorktown University is to educate a new leadership elite that may claim to have inquired into the principles and history of American political order, of the Judaeo-Christian tradition, classical Greek philosophy, philosophy of religion, and the relationship between economic and political freedom.” –excerpts from Yorktown University Mission Statement
