Who Enrolls the Most Students? The Top 5 Christian Universities

By now you’ve probably heard about the impending “demographic cliff” that is expected to impact colleges and universities as early as next year.¹ This as many institutions are already experiencing shrinking enrollment.²

Yet despite the challenges in the present landscape, many Christian schools are thriving. In fact, nearly 350,000 US undergraduates are currently studying at a Christian institution, representing about 2 percent of all students enrolled.³

In this article, we’ll look at five of the top Christian schools by US enrollment, including a snapshot of some key institutional characteristics.

1. Liberty University
2. Baylor University
3. Southeastern University
4. California Baptist University
5. Campbellsville University

A brief comment on methodology

But first, it’s important to clarify what I mean by “Christian institution.” For the purposes of this article, a Christian institution is any school affiliated with the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE), the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU), or the International Alliance for Christian Education (IACE). All of these organizations espouse an unapologetically Christ-centered educational philosophy for their members.

In contrast, many schools have a “religious affiliation” (a technical phrase used by the federal government) but not a clear Christian identity. These institutions may have a historical connection to a Christian tradition but are not distinctly Christian in their educational mission. These are excluded from my analysis.

Second, I’ve purposely limited the stats provided to ease readability. More detailed information about each institution can be found on its respective website or the free online CAFF College Guide.⁴

Finally, this analysis is limited to undergraduate enrollment numbers. Although many universities also have graduate programs, those figures are not included in the information provided below.

Top 5 Christian universities by enrollment

Here are the top five Christian universities based on undergraduate enrollment in the US.

1. Liberty University

• Location: Lynchburg, VA
• Founded: 1971
• Affiliation: Baptist
• Fall 2023 undergraduate enrollment: 52,823
• Enrollment change since 2018: +15%
• % of undergraduates age 25 and over: 45%
• % of undergraduates studying fully online: 74%
• Graduation rate: 66%

Liberty provides Logos to its students through a Logos for Education partnership.

Liberty is perhaps best known for its online offerings, but the school also fosters a vibrant environment for its nearly 10,000 on-campus undergraduate students.

Twice-a-week convocation (chapel) services often feature nationally known speakers, and there are more than twenty Division I athletic teams to cheer for.

2. Baylor University

• Location: Waco, TX
• Founded: 1845
• Affiliation: Baptist
• Fall 2023 undergraduate enrollment: 15,155
• Enrollment change since 2018: +6.8%
• % of undergraduates age 25 and over: 2%
• % of undergraduates studying fully online: 2%
• Graduation rate: 80%

Baylor is the only Christian school to be recognized as a top-tier research university by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.

Outside the classroom, students receive spiritual support through required chapel experiences and a variety of campus ministries. Baylor is also well-known for its athletics program, with the men’s and women’s basketball teams each having won a national championship within the past decade.

3. Southeastern University

• Location: Lakeland, FL
• Founded: 1935
• Affiliation: Assemblies of God
• Fall 2023 undergraduate enrollment: 9,167
• Enrollment change since 2018: +19%
• % of undergraduates age 25 and over: 8%
• % of undergraduates studying fully online: 31%
• Graduation rate: 49%

Southeastern provides Logos to its students through a Logos for Education partnership.

Southeastern is among the top 1% of fastest-growing private universities in the country, a surge fueled largely by new academic programs and expanded degree-completion options.

Spiritual growth is supported through multiple weekly chapel service options, a student worship movement (SEU Worship), and annual student-led mission trips.

4. California Baptist University

• Location: Riverside, CA
• Founded: 1950
• Affiliation: Baptist
• Fall 2023 undergraduate enrollment: 8,110
• Enrollment change since 2018: +3.2%
• % of undergraduates age 25 and over: 19%
• % of undergraduates studying fully online: 20%
• Graduation rate: 60%

California Baptist provides Logos to its students through a Logos for Education partnership.

California Baptist is one of the largest private universities in the state of California. It also has the distinction of graduating the highest number of Hispanic students among all Christian institutions.

On-campus students’ spiritual lives are supported through weekly chapel services, Bible study communities, and weekly discipleship celebrations.

5. Campbellsville University

• Location: Campbellsville, KY
• Founded: 1906
• Affiliation: Baptist
• Fall 2023 undergraduate enrollment: 6,853
• Enrollment change since 2018: +70.5%
• % of undergraduates age 25 and over: not reported
• % of undergraduates studying fully online: 7%
• Graduation rate: 46%

Campbellsville provides Logos to its students through a Logos for Education partnership.

Campbellsville is currently the fastest-growing university on the list and recently reported generating nearly $300 million in economic impact for its local Kentucky economy. Although the school does offer more than thirty online degrees, nearly 90 percent of its undergraduate students are taking courses only on campus—which is the highest percentage of any school on this top-five list.

---

Logos for Education

Logos is the most advanced platform for studying God’s Word and accessing scholarly resources: anytime, anywhere, and all in one place—for life. Our academic solutions support your students with textbook delivery and a custom resource library delivered through your LMS.

“Logos is a marvelous tool for ministry putting an entire library at the disposal of every user and making the most serious and practical tools for Bible study accessible instantly and always. Logos is unprecedented and a great gift to those who will study the Bible in this generation.”
—Albert Mohler

Experience our industry-leading support as you bring the power of Logos to your faculty, students, and administration. Start equipping your students with Logos.

Related articles

• Exegetical Crises of Faith: 12 Tips for Struggling Students & Professors
• How to Stay Christian in College: 3 Key Principles
• Is It Time to Retire “Christian Worldview” in Education? 7 Reconsiderations
• Equipped for the Future: How to Find the Seminary for You
• Learning by Doing: How to Train Seminary Students for Ministry

1. Graham Vyse, “What Is the Demographic Cliff?,” Chronicle of Higher Education, March 3, 2025, www.chronicle.com/special-projects/the-different-voices-of-student-success/becoming-a-student-centric-institution/what-is-the-demographic-cliff.
2. According to the most recently available data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), compared to ten years ago, nearly 1.5 million fewer American undergraduate students are enrolled in college (a decline of 8.5 percent). See Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), “Undergraduate Enrollment in Degree-Granting Institutions: Fall 2014 and Fall 2023,” National Center for Education Statistics.
3. To calculate this, I gathered the enrollment data for all 221 Christian schools that were part of my analysis, then divided the total number of Christian undergraduate students (340,887) into the total number of undergraduate students (15,825,762), which comes to 2.2 percent.
4. For those who are curious, here are a few additional notes about the information listed for each school. The enrollment data, which come from IPEDS, are self-reported by each institution and are from the fall 2023 semester (the most recent information available to the public). Technically the category I’ve labeled “% of Undergraduates Studying Fully Online” refers to any student taking a course via “distance education.” The federal government includes a number of delivery options within this category, but most students within this category are completing courses online. The graduation rate refers to the percentage of students who completed a bachelor’s degree within six years.