Clearwater Christian College closing

30 years ago Dr. Bob Jones Jr. predicted that Christian Day Schools would become simply private schools that were Christian in name only. I think he was right. 30 years ago most of these schools had a strong spiritual emphasis (intensive Bible classes, chapel 4-5 times a week, admission restricted to Christian children from Christian families who attended fundamental churches) and promoted Christian colleges. While there are some good CDS today, they are few and far between. The overall number has nose-dived, most have open admission policies, and few promote Christian colleges.

Parents have discovered that state universities are the dens of iniquity that they were claimed to be, especially for young adults from good homes and churches. They also wanted value for their dollars and unaccredited degrees and poor academics were not worth the investment. It appears that a number of them have decided that Liberty is doing a lot of things right.

There are very few openings for “full-time” Christian workers. There are practically no opportunities for Christian school teachers or vocational ministers.

I could fill a small room with qualified Christian school teachers and pastors I know who are working at places like Chick-fil-A or IKEA.

[Jim]

Ken Woodard wrote:

I’m thinking the first century church was more like Bible college than todays church.

There was no tuition … otherwise I’m sure just about the same.

[Ken Woodard]

I’m thinking the first century church was more like Bible college than todays church.

Is this why many pastors seem to be obsessed with the college they went to decades after they graduate? I did not know this…

[CPHurst]

I came there in ‘02 which was Youstra’s last, and Stratton’s first, year as president. CCC was at the height of its enrollment with over 700 students (I think?). To no fault of his own, Stratton was the turning point in the enrollment drop. The word around campus was that CCC was going to become “BJ by the Bay”. Most students there did not want that. (In fact, that was pretty much a direct question Stratton answered at the student body Q&A we had with Stratton his first week there. The room was dead silent and I am pretty sure everyone was sweating bullets.) BJU was their own school and CCC its own, and each respected the other for that. Though CCC never became that, and though Stratton was not going to make it that, the perception quickly took root.

As a former student I really think that was the turning point for the school. I think CCC hired a good guy (Stratton) but from the wrong school (BJU). It was something that, unbeknownst to them, (or anyone else for that matter), would be the beginning of the end for CCC. The students are probably a schools greatest recruitment asset and if they lose confidence in their school then it is just a matter of time.

I have to admit that I was not a fan of Stratton in the beginning. Over time I likened up to him. I think if he had been from a different school or just came from the business world, and had graduated from BJU, then it might have been a different story.

Again, I don’t blame Stratton. It was a perception thing.

This is just one students opinion.

Um, was no one aware that Youstra was also from BJU? I don’t understand how Stratton’s deep ties to BJU were a problem if Youstra’s similarly deep ties to BJU were a non-issue.

Also, it appears that at least some local fundamentalists think Stratton’s problem was not that he was too BJU-like but that he wasn’t fundamental enough. http://heartofashepherd.com/2015/06/06/june-6-2015-from-the-front-pew-t…. In other words, like too many Northland bashers, they think CCM killed Clearwater. Good grief.

I don’t believe any of these schools closed or that they’re numbers are shrinking because they compromised in some manner. I was reminded recently that if I thought that God closed these schools because of their practices I needed to be open to the idea that Liberty is bursting at the seams because of theirs.

[Ron Bean]

I was reminded recently that if I thought that God closed these schools because of their practices I needed to be open to the idea that Liberty is bursting at the seams because of theirs.

And as much as that irritates many of the right-wing fundamentalist brethren, you’ve actually hit the nail on the head.

Meanwhile, little old MBU keeps chugging along.

[DLCreed]

Ron Bean wrote:

I was reminded recently that if I thought that God closed these schools because of their practices I needed to be open to the idea that Liberty is bursting at the seams because of theirs.

And as much as that irritates many of the right-wing fundamentalist brethren, you’ve actually hit the nail on the head.

[dmyers]

CPHurst wrote:

Um, was no one aware that Youstra was also from BJU? I don’t understand how Stratton’s deep ties to BJU were a problem if Youstra’s similarly deep ties to BJU were a non-issue.

Also, it appears that at least some local fundamentalists think Stratton’s problem was not that he was too BJU-like but that he wasn’t fundamental enough. http://heartofashepherd.com/2015/06/06/june-6-2015-from-the-front-pew-th…. In other words, like too many Northland bashers, they think CCM killed Clearwater. Good grief.

The article mentioned above never mentions BJU nor does it say that CCC’s problem was that CCM “killed” it. He just states that CCM was one of the characteristics of CCC in later years and reflected the changing standards and purposes of the school. I spoke in chapel twice at CCC in 2000. Truly a sad day in Christian education.

[dmyers]

CPHurst wrote:

I came there in ‘02 which was Youstra’s last, and Stratton’s first, year as president. CCC was at the height of its enrollment with over 700 students (I think?). To no fault of his own, Stratton was the turning point in the enrollment drop. The word around campus was that CCC was going to become “BJ by the Bay”. Most students there did not want that. (In fact, that was pretty much a direct question Stratton answered at the student body Q&A we had with Stratton his first week there. The room was dead silent and I am pretty sure everyone was sweating bullets.) BJU was their own school and CCC its own, and each respected the other for that. Though CCC never became that, and though Stratton was not going to make it that, the perception quickly took root.

As a former student I really think that was the turning point for the school. I think CCC hired a good guy (Stratton) but from the wrong school (BJU). It was something that, unbeknownst to them, (or anyone else for that matter), would be the beginning of the end for CCC. The students are probably a schools greatest recruitment asset and if they lose confidence in their school then it is just a matter of time.

I have to admit that I was not a fan of Stratton in the beginning. Over time I likened up to him. I think if he had been from a different school or just came from the business world, and had graduated from BJU, then it might have been a different story.

Again, I don’t blame Stratton. It was a perception thing.

This is just one students opinion.

Um, was no one aware that Youstra was also from BJU? I don’t understand how Stratton’s deep ties to BJU were a problem if Youstra’s similarly deep ties to BJU were a non-issue.

Also, it appears that at least some local fundamentalists think Stratton’s problem was not that he was too BJU-like but that he wasn’t fundamental enough. http://heartofashepherd.com/2015/06/06/june-6-2015-from-the-front-pew-th…. In other words, like too many Northland bashers, they think CCM killed Clearwater. Good grief.

Yes, Youstra was from BJU but the spirit of CCC had changed so much by the time I was there. CCC was the PCC & BJU alternative. Again, it was a perception thing for Stratton to be coming straight from BJU. Yes, he took some of the rules away but its ridiculous for anyone to think that laxing in some rules (which should not have even existed to begin with) brought the college down. There were probably other factors (cost of education being one) that were in the works that collided with the drop in enrollment after Stratton came.

[James K]

Ken Woodard wrote:

Going to a local secular college and their home church does not disciple them nearly as well as going away to a Christian college environment can.

This is one of the most biblically out of touch things I have ever read on this site. That is saying quite a bit.

I’m not quite going to say “out of touch”, but my experience with Bible college grads and secular college grads alike is that it really, really, really depends on the person. Some are great, some are just kinda there, and a lot of the time, you can tell which it’s going to be within three weeks of either entering either institution. You see that spark that indicates they’re going to take the things of God seriously, or you do not, and you can tell where they’re going. Another thought I have is that a fair number of people have told me that Bible college (lots of guilty parties) taught them what to think rather than how to think—now while secular colleges can be just as guilty (and I can name classes and professors of mine where that was 100% true), Bible colleges don’t have the excuse that they’re supposed to be that way. (well, strictly speaking, neither are secular colleges, but at least they have the excuse that the Holy Spirit is not theoretically indwelling everybody employed there!)

Another way of viewing things is that pastors are by and large the graduates of Bible colleges and Christian colleges. Now if the education at X Bible college is a great discipleship that enables people to carry out the Great Commission to make disciples, tell me why the high school graduates from these churches need to go to Bible college to be discipled. Why is that?

Christian education is a worthy investment. Today, many parents, like us, are sacrificing everything including working 50-60 hours (I Pastor full time and work another job part time) a week to provide a Christian education for our children for the first 18 years of their lives. So, when our children reach college age, there is zilcho for college. Multiply this around the Country, and it is one of the dynamics affecting decreasing enrollment in many Christian colleges.

That is why Clearwater will probably not be the last college closing we see.

Now part of the cost is room and board ($3-5k is typical, though ), but I have to wonder where all the money is going. You have a student/teacher ratio of 15:1, so the total amount of funds available per professor is about $300k. Even including benefits, I know very well that the professor isn’t getting most of this money—maybe a third of it. (when I was in college, for reference, my composition professor noted that back then, about 2/3 of funds went to professors.

If you want to solve the issues of Christian education, I think we’ve got to figure out why overhead has roughly doubled as a share of the college budget in the past 25 years, and work to resolve that issue. And yes, you’ve got to do that at the K-12 level, too.

[Ken Woodard]

I’m only an hour away from CCC. There are a lot of reasons for the decline of Christian Colleges. The biggest one is materialism. Parents and students don’t realize how good it is for the spiritual life of a young person to go to a Christian college that is serious about discipleship. Most parents just want the education to prepare them for a good paying job. The parents aren’t dedicated Christians so they don’t see the need to push their kids that direction.

I am not sure it is that simple. A lot of people in our church make somewhere in the neighborhood of $50K-$75K a year. To send their child off to a Christian College at somewhere around $25K is just not feasible. Materialistic or not. In addition, it makes no sense to be in serious debt over this. Either for the family or for the children. Add on top of that no accreditation, you really have to scratch your head. When I was attending Bob Jones in the late 80’s/early 90’s. The tuition with room and board was less than $6K. At that time, if I worked really hard, I made just enough money in one year to pay that bill. (I had no help from my parents, no savings and no loans). That same scenario isn’t possible now.

[Ken Woodard]

To “save” money that they will spend on temporal things they choose a local, often secular school. A study shows that students average only traveling 40 miles to college. The local community college gets most of them. Dual enrollment makes it possible for high schoolers to get college credit before a high school diploma. Since they are already connected to a local secular school they continue there.

For most families it isn’t really about saving money, but making ends meet. It doesn’t makes sense to take on debt to go to college anymore.

[Ken Woodard]

Going to a local secular college and their home church does not disciple them nearly as well as going away to a Christian college environment can.

I don’t think this is the case at all. To paint a Christian college as nirvana I think is overblowing the reality. Kids are drinking and having sex at Christian Colleges, just as you would find in a secular university. It may not be as rampant, and it may not be as tacitly supported, but it is still happening. Many kids have bad attitudes at Christian colleges and a lot of kids don’t want to be there. That isn’t to say that it may not be a good choice, I am thankful for going to a Christian college, but I am way more concerned about my children being involved in a local church and serving God than to go to a Christian college.