Most students attending area Christian colleges are firmly rooted in their school's founding faith.
Not surprisingly, Baptist students at Howard Payne and Hardin-Simmons, Church of Christ scholars at Abilene Christian, and Methodists at McMurry outnumber those of other beliefs at their individual schools. But religion isn't the only reason students elect to attend Christian schools, university officials say. In fact, faith and academics form a 50-50 bond for most students, said Bob Bicknell, vice president for academic affairs at Howard Payne. A lot of recruiting is done in churches, so naturally a lot of students come from those churches. But to say we have 71 percent Baptist students by design isn't correct.