Word of caution about Hillsdale College

[Lyn]

I really had to chuckle about this...Grove City, a college very much like Hillsdale in curriculum and the fact that they don't accept public funds, uses Bon Appetit for its food service. This means that they too have no trans fats, no hormones in their milk or beef etc.

 

http://www.cafebonappetit.com/menu/your-cafe/grovecity'>http://www.cafebonappetit.com/menu/your-cafe/grovecity

 

You can search a college's name right here on the Bon Appetit site to see if they are a client.

 

http://www.cafebonappetit.com/

[Lyn]

Just wanted to post the following form Patrick Henry's FAQ page under its camps.

 

What is the food service like?

Food is served in the PHC dining commons and is provided by BON APPÉTIT Management Company. BON APPÉTIT was named #1 College Food Service in the country by the Princeton Review (2001) and was recipient of SAMCEDA’s Award of Excellence for service to the community (2006).

 

What about special dietary needs or allergies?

Special dietary needs are accommodated. Campers with special needs must advise camp staff both through the Health Form and upon registration.

 

So for parents who are looking for a conservative and possible Christian College who values the health and well being of students enough to offer some great dietary choices and accommodation for allergies etc. Here is a list worth considering:

 

Patrick Henry

Wheaton

Hope College

Grove City

[creekland]

Just wanted to post the following form Patrick Henry's FAQ page under its camps.

 

What is the food service like?

Food is served in the PHC dining commons and is provided by BON APPÉTIT Management Company. BON APPÉTIT was named #1 College Food Service in the country by the Princeton Review (2001) and was recipient of SAMCEDA’s Award of Excellence for service to the community (2006).

 

What about special dietary needs or allergies?

Special dietary needs are accommodated. Campers with special needs must advise camp staff both through the Health Form and upon registration.

 

So for parents who are looking for a conservative and possible Christian College who values the health and well being of students enough to offer some great dietary choices and accommodation for allergies etc. Here is a list worth considering:

 

Patrick Henry

Wheaton

Hope College

Grove City

 

Hope is a conservative Christian college? I always see them on lists of liberal Christian colleges. I have no personal knowledge as they were never one we looked at, but this just seems to contradict what I've seen listed elsewhere - probably on college confidential.

[Lyn]

Hope is a conservative Christian college? I always see them on lists of liberal Christian colleges. I have no personal knowledge as they were never one we looked at, but this just seems to contradict what I've seen listed elsewhere - probably on college confidential.

 

We toured Hope and I didn't run across anything that stuck me as overly liberal. Their chapel services are definitely contemporary. They have held the line on their views of homosexuality which is consistent with the Dutch Reformed Church. I am not intimately familiar with the teachings of the Dutch Reformed Church so perhaps there is something in there that some could construe as liberal. Didn't see any classes that struck me as bizarre.

 

Maybe some consider them liberal. Don't really know. Maybe someone who has a student there could offer something more definitive.

[Barbara H]

We toured Hope and I didn't run across anything that stuck me as overly liberal. Their chapel services are definitely contemporary. They have held the line on their views of homosexuality which is consistent with the Dutch Reformed Church. I am not intimately familiar with the teachings of the Dutch Reformed Church so perhaps there is something in there that some could construe as liberal. Didn't see any classes that struck me as bizarre.

 

Maybe some consider them liberal. Don't really know. Maybe someone who has a student there could offer something more definitive.

 

Hope is affiliated with the Reformed Church of America if that is helpful to anyone who wants to look further into the beliefs and philosophies. There are some differences between the various denominations that come from this tradition.

 

I agree people define liberal and conservative differently so it is hard question to give a single answer. Personally I would classify Hope as a conservative college, but some others such as Calvin are more conservative. In its advertisements for professors, Calvin advertises that they only hire Christian faculty. Hope specifies that they'd like faculty to uphold the mission of the college and they are interested in a diverse faculty and follow federal nondiscrimination laws. They do have faculty members who are not Christian.

[creekland]

 

In its advertisements for professors, Calvin advertises that they only hire Christian faculty. Hope specifies that they'd like faculty to uphold the mission of the college and they are interested in a diverse faculty and follow federal nondiscrimination laws. They do have faculty members who are not Christian.

 

I suspect this is the difference. Many who choose Christian colleges expect profs to be Christian even if they all aren't from the exact same cookie cutter mold.

[dirty ethel rackham]

My son is going to Hope and we have several friends here who have sent their kids there. I would not put them up there with Wheaton as a conservative Christian college. However, the student body is more conservative than your average college (even some so-called Catholic stalwarts such as Notre Dame and Georgetown.) What we like about it is that they have a very strong science department (tons of undergraduate research opportunities) and that it is a place that is unapologetic about being Christian, but open enough to be welcoming of students of a variety of faith traditions. We are Catholic so we definitely don't fit the mold of conservative Christian that the other schools mentioned would appeal to. We felt that it was a place where it was easy to follow your faith, even if it was different than the church that they affiilate with. My son likes that it is a dry campus as he has no desire to spend lots of time around stupid drunk people:).

[Barbara H]

What we like about it is that they have a very strong science department (tons of undergraduate research opportunities).

 

The science facilities and research opportunities are very strong and that can be a difficult thing to find at a small liberal arts college.

 

Best of luck to your son!

[Karenciavo]

Yes, PHC's food is pretty good. Love the salad bar.

 

Just wanted to post the following form Patrick Henry's FAQ page under its camps.

 

What is the food service like?

Food is served in the PHC dining commons and is provided by BON APPÉTIT Management Company. BON APPÉTIT was named #1 College Food Service in the country by the Princeton Review (2001) and was recipient of SAMCEDA’s Award of Excellence for service to the community (2006).

 

What about special dietary needs or allergies?

Special dietary needs are accommodated. Campers with special needs must advise camp staff both through the Health Form and upon registration.

 

So for parents who are looking for a conservative and possible Christian College who values the health and well being of students enough to offer some great dietary choices and accommodation for allergies etc. Here is a list worth considering:

 

Patrick Henry

Wheaton

Hope College

Grove City

[Lyn]

When looking at a college it is always a good idea to look at their financials. A good place to look is charity navigator.

 

Here is a link to charity charity navigators info on Hillsdale College:

 

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3823

 

Your can see that an unusually large percentage of their budget goes to their president's salary of 1.9 million. This is way out of skew with similar colleges. Just look up Grove City College. Also, lots and lots of money is spent on marketing at Hillsdale. You can use charity navigator to look up other colleges and compare...then draw your own conclusions.

[QueenCat]

I concur, most university/college towns have problems between the townies and the school kids. The first time I heard it was at Smith.

 

 

Yep. I went to St. Mary's College of MD. We called the people who didn't go to the college "townies". Unless they were in the Navy (we had a Naval Air Station nearby). However, it was somewhat "cool" to date a townie or a Navy guy.

[QueenCat]

Ugh.... just realized this an old thread.

[Nicole M]

 

 

 

I agree that many of the students who would have been accepted a number of years ago would now no longer be accepted. The college came to the realization that their retention was low. The students they were accepting were not capable of the high level of academic work. So, they made the concerted effort to raise their ACT scores by a huge jump. Just their Honors Program ACT score went from a 30 to a 32, with a corresponding raise for scholarships. Their retention numbers went from somewhere in the 70s to the 90s if my memory serves me well. As a sidenote, their swim team improved a great deal too... :D

 

 

I just wanted to respond to this bit, because I'm finding the opposite to be true. I think the issue is a tiny bit more complex than scores — the economy and the prevalence of severe mental health issues are also playing a role here. Retention is a huge issue, yes, but many small LACs (I work at one) are finding that they must accept anyone who has a remote chance of success because they are desperate to fill the beds. They are casting a very wide net. So I think they standards are actually going the other way and that it is actually *easier* to get into many small LACs.

 

Also, many schools sell themselves as being a place where "we will take care of your child." So many students who have severe issues who wouldn't have gone to college at all twenty or even ten years ago actually have a shot at a college education, because of the availability of medications and improved mental health care facilities on campuses. (There was an article recently, perhaps in the chronicle, that reported that something like 10% of the students who present at campus health facilities have very severe problems, bipolar disorder, etc. — a dramatic increase over the last decade.) And then there is the Adderall addiction issue, too, which is affecting retention and money spent on health services. (Another article recently addresses this, too — I'll see if I can find that for you kids.) This is partly why the nonchalance about food issues surprises me. It seems entirely valid to expect a professional response to inquiries about food, and for there to be adequate choices for students with many different needs, especially in a climate where families are paying so much money to send a child to a private school.

 

The OP made several excellent points. I wanted to respond to some other remarks, but need to scoot out the door. I'm sorry if this is disjointed.

[Nicole M]

Ugh.... just realized this an old thread.

 

 

Oh, shoot. I didn't realize that before I posted. Darn.

[JFSinIL]

Thought I'd toss in our experience with the deposits - when DS first applied, one school (Carthage, in WI) responded the next week with an acceptance and pressure to put in a deposit ASAP as the kids would be prioritized for housing on a first-paid, first selected basis. The deposit was refundable if the student decided to not attend after all. But they pressured us to make that $300 in NOVEMBER! To insure he'd get in a decent dorm, and not end up sharing a motel room a long bus-ride away from campus (where some students were placed). So some schools do ask for a deposit before May 1st - although refundable.

No - DS did not go there, and they did refund the $$.

[Lyn]

Nicole:

 

I too was surprised about the nonchalance about food, but the number of posts in this vein is rather small so perhaps it is not really representative. So many colleges have improved food quality and have realized that it directly impacts their students health, behavior and performance.

 

Margaret:

 

It is that college selection time of year and this is a very widely read thread with lots of good info. It even provides food for thought ( no pun intended) for parents who are not even looking at Hillsdale.

 

Often parents and students are overwhelmed during the college selection process and forget that the quality of the administration will impact the student. It is important to look at the school's financials, their food service, placement department, special needs depts., etc..

[Catherine]

1.9 million dollars. That is TRULY stunning.

[plansrme]

I have no dog in this fight, but I question whether the $1.9 million does not have an explanation behind if. If you Google the issue, there are numerous articles that pop up discussing his salary in the $500,000-600,000 range. The $1.9 million is nowhere even close to that, obviously. Perhaps, and this happens occasionally, he had a big deferred compensation payout in 2011. If so, the contributions to that deferred comp plan would have been included in previous years' figures as well, so the bulk of the excess would have been counted twice, over the entire term of his presidency. I don't know, of course, but this amount is so far out of line that my first thought would be that there is a likely explanation, not to warn everyone away. Of course Hillsdale has not committed the grievous offense of not accepting my chiropractor's note about my kid's allergies or served me non-organic dairy products, so take my speculation with a grain of salt.

 

 

[Susan Wise Bauer]

Zombie thread!