STEUBENVILLE, Ohio, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Small U.S. conservative colleges that stress Christian values are seeing an upsurge in enrollment that includes top-rated students.
Catherine Shultis, a National Merit Scholar with a perfect SAT score, opted not for an Ivy League school but the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, reports the Christian Science Monitor.
The East Coast elite universities "lack a grounding in the Christian faith, and they're turning away from core principles and becoming more and more liberal," she says.
Cost and the desire to be closer to home also are noted as reasons for the rush to such small colleges that see themselves as standard bearers of Christian values and laissez-faire governance.
Such choices are perhaps a boon to those who intend to pursue careers in politics, since conservative think tanks increasingly are recruiting from these colleges, the newspaper reported.
"Their students are usually of very high caliber," says Elizabeth Williams at the conservative Heritage Foundation.
