The spiritual engagement of students entering institutions that belong to the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities

Abstract

Religion has been connected to higher education throughout its history in the United States and recent research suggests that the development of spirituality, as a part of the pursuit of higher education, is important to today’s college student. In an effort to understand twenty-first century college students’ perspectives on spirituality in relation to their education, this study examines the relationship between student pre-college characteristics and the spiritual engagement of students entering institutions affiliated with the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. Data for this study were drawn from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program’s Freshman Survey and the College Students’ Beliefs and Values survey administered to 112,232 entering freshman at 236 colleges and universities across the United States during the fall semester of 2004. The subjects examined in this study were the 9,838 students who enrolled at colleges and universities affiliated with the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities and who participated in both portions of the 2004 survey. Findings of this research suggest that students’ gender, race or ethnicity, high-school academic achievement, high-school type, and religious identification are informative in understanding their spiritual engagement as they enter colleges and universities affiliated with the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. These findings may be useful to researchers and practitioners as they design ways to encourage students in their unique journeys toward spiritual maturity during their college years.