Going to college is a decision many young adults face every year. However, it is not always a question of if they are going, but where they are going. For young Christians, however, the question is more about where they can study and still continue to learn more about the teachings of the Bible while not being condemned for it.
There are not many Christian colleges or universities for these young adults to choose from, but there is a new one on the map. Sattler College, founded in 2016, has opened enrollment for the inaugural class, which will begin in Fall 2018.
Sattler College is a four-year liberal arts college founded by Dr. Finny Kuruvilla in Boston, Massachusetts. It’s foundational idea is to provide Christian higher education while also addressing some of the ways that the traditional university model fails. The model that Sattler College is using focuses on the three C’s: Christian character, a rigorous core curriculum, an a cost that is affordable.
At the core of it all, Sattler College wants to transform how the Christian higher education system operates and is perceived. They want to be able to provide a quality Christian education, complete with rigorous academics, while also ensuring that faith is not lost along the way. In order to do this, the first thing that they set out to do was to find some quality professors. To do this, the administrators pulled faculty from some extremely prestigious universities all over the country including Stanford and Harvard.
“During my time as an advisor and instructor at Harvard, I saw many students leave unprepared for life beyond academics and others lose their faith,” Dr. Kuruvilla said. “Realizing this occurs at universities across the nation, I felt led to start Sattler College as an alternative education option for Christian families.”
Dr. Kuruvilla has an impressive resume to back him up as well. He received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School as well as his Ph.D. in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from Harvard. Beyond that, he even has a Masters from MIT in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. In the work force, he is a managing partner, co-founder, and a portfolio manager at Eventide Asset Management, LLC in addition to his time working as an advisor and instructor at Harvard.
Kuruvilla decided to model the private Christian college based on classical Christian education principles. The plan is to offer bachelor degrees in the fields of biblical studies, business, computer science, human biology, and history in the first year with ultimate goals of adding more degree programs. Not only will the students take courses that will get them these degrees, but they will also have a requirement of completing courses that are focus on the Bible such as church history, apologetics, Old and New Testament, and biblical Greek and Hebrew.
“We want our students to be well-rounded and see this as an opportunity to help them grow in their faith through study and mentorship,” Dr. Kuruvilla added. “Our goal is to train the next generation of students to be great disciples of Jesus.”
Not only is the goal to provide a quality education that allows students to focus on their core beliefs, but Sattler College also wants to make higher education more affordable than many of the other universities at this level.
Currently the tuition per year at Sattler College is set at around $9,000 per year, which is a lot less than the average $33,480 per year many private universities ask for. Beyond that, Sattler College is choosing to offer the inaugural class a year of free tuition to help even more with the cost. It is no surprise that the cost of education is continuing to rise and causing a debt issue with many students today.
We have been blessed to start with no debt, which allows us to in turn bless our students,” Dr. Kuruvilla continued. “Many college students graduate from schools not only poorly prepared for their career but with over $37,000 in loans, making it impossible for them to be successful. We want students to graduate with strong job skills and not be saddled with debt.”
~ 1776 Christian
