Summit Christian College in Gering, Neb. has been named first on a list of the top 50 Most Affordable Small Private Colleges in America. The ranking, generated by AffordableColleges.com, cited Summit’s low tuition, low student debt, and low student-to-faculty ratio, which allows for a high success rate for student achievement. Summit Christian College received a score of 8.86 out of 10 among the top 50 private colleges in the United States with enrollments under 2,000 students. That is a lot of colleges!
Summit Christian College, established in 1951 at Platte Valley Bible College in Scottsbluff, currently offers five areas of instruction, Bachelor of Arts in Bible, Bachelor of Science in Bible, Bachelor of Science in Ministries, Associate of Arts in Bible, and a Certificate in Christian Foundations. The college is also currently in the process of developing a new online option, Summit Bridge, which utilizes the Zoom video streaming technology.
“We are very focused in what type of degrees we offer in order to meet the needs of the students we are attracting,” said SCC President David Parrish.
In ranking the top 50 Most Affordable Small Private colleges in America, AffordableColleges used 11 areas of criteria including student enrollment rate, full-time retention rate, graduation rate, and student-to-faculty ratio, which measures how invested a school is in taking care of its students. This data is crucial in determining how much value students are getting for their money, and helps to differentiate quality, affordable schools from schools that are simply cheap.
The study also noted the academic success at a small private college where courses are taught by professors with a terminal degree. According to Mr. Parrish, there are more than 50 years of direct cross-cultural experience represented on campus and well over 75 years of combined teaching experience. This is extraordinary when considering the college’s size. All of Summit’s professors have graduate level degrees and love teaching in the close interactive atmosphere that the college student/teacher ratios foster.
“All of our professors have great quality field experience, having served on missions boards, as pastors, in foreign mission fields or even as Bible translators. They bring quality field experience that our students can rely on,” Parrish said. “Students have told me that they believe that what the professors are teaching is credible because their experience and effectiveness in ministry makes what they teach practical.”
Academic Dean Scott Gribble said the college has historically tried to offer quality programs at a very affordable price so that students going into ministry can do so without debt associated to their college education.
