Questions

How does the New Saint Andrews College tuition compare to that of other private colleges?

The college’s tuition rate is among the lowest of any private college in the country, and with our optional tuition lock deposit, that rate can remain fixed for five consecutive years from the date of first enrollment. In a day when private college tuition averages over $35K (even most government-subsidized public universities charge over $10K), NSA charges less than 40% of the private college average. We keep it that low without compromising our Christian mission and vision by avoiding dependence on government support; we refuse, on principle, to accept any government funding or “aid.”

Why should I attend a Christian college like New Saint Andrews if I’ve already had a good Christian high school education?

Education at any age is never religiously neutral; Christian primary and secondary education provide a good foundation, but college is where students either build on that foundation or begin to neglect it. College sharpens—for good or ill—personal values and perspectives on the world, and NSA helps students take delight in their development of a deep, biblically grounded worldview.

So many historically Christian colleges have been apostates longer than they were faithful, and more are faltering. How will New Saint Andrews maintain its faithfulness?

The college purposely accepts no state or federal funds because we refuse to compromise our Christian testimony or biblical principles; all state or federal government funding comes with secular strings attached. Also, the college’s trustees, administrators, faculty, and staff have an unwavering commitment—pledged in writing annually—to the historic Reformed faith and biblical worldview.

Why does New Saint Andrews keep a small student body size and low student/faculty ratio?

The college is designed for students to enjoy close personal attention from the senior scholars of our faculty and experience Christian community in tangible ways. NSA’s academics are modeled after Oxford and 17th century Harvard, with small weekly break-out sections for recitations led by the faculty member who delivered the weekly lecture, not just a Teaching Assistant. Our students don’t just hear lectures, they interact personally with the material as they discuss and debate it; great weight is placed on faculty/student interaction in these recitation sections.

Does New Saint Andrews offer a distance education program?

Our robust undergraduate liberal arts education in the classical, Christian tradition can only be delivered within a face-to-face Christian community. Only our 16-credit Graduate Certificate degree in the Classical Christian Studies program is available exclusively online, but the graduate level CCS program’s MSt. degree is a low-residency distance education program which requires only two weeklong summer courses in residency at NSA.

How many undergraduate majors does New Saint Andrews College offer?

Actually, none. New Saint Andrews follows the classical Christian tradition, which offers undergraduates a single, time-honored, integrated liberal arts degree with a four-year (BA) option. This degree emphasizes the languages, literature, philosophy, history, and culture of Western civilization from a reformational Christian worldview.

If New Saint Andrews was established in 1994, how can its curriculum be “time-honored?”

The great Christian universities of Europe and the United States (such as Harvard and Princeton) were established with classical curricula designed to enrich the spirit through the pursuit of biblical truth, beauty, and goodness. The first “major” was not offered in the United States until 1878, and only after the turn of the 20th century did undergraduate specialization begin to displace the classical liberal arts education that had been synonymous with higher education.

Wouldn’t I have more career options at a college with more specialized programs and majors?

In other words, how will I get a job with a liberal arts degree?

No undergraduate degree comes with a “union card” guarantee of a job. Even if it did, there is no guarantee that the job will still be there in two to five years. Only those who are broadly and deeply educated will be able to adapt well to changing circumstances and job markets. In fact, many employers have come to recognize that narrowly-trained specialists are less adaptable to change and less likely to advance into positions of leadership and management.

The best place to specialize is at the advanced or graduate level, not the undergraduate level. Getting a classical Christian education at the undergraduate level is one of the best ways to prepare intellectually and spiritually for advanced studies and specialized training in particular fields or careers.

New Saint Andrews College is a fully accredited member of both the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) and the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS). Both are institutional accreditors recognized by the United States Department of Education (ED) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA); TRACS is also a member of the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE). NWCCU awarded NSA full accreditation in July of 2023, and TRACS awarded NSA a second 10-year Reaffirmation of Accreditation during May 2020. The college’s authorization to issue degrees is also recognized by the Idaho State Board of Education.