•AVERAGE: 69
Founded in 1891, Union College is a Seventh-Day Adventist institution in Lincoln, NE. When the Adventist church was seeking to establish its first Midwestern college, the city of Lincoln made the best case, and the college, built on a hill at the edge of the city, became the center of the College View neighborhood. Today the Seventh-Day Adventist system is the second-largest religious education system in the world, and Union College is an acclaimed and trusted liberal arts college, regularly featured in the top tier of Midwestern regional institutions by U.S. News & World Report. Union is also known as a top value, with the lowest tuition rate of any private college in Nebraska.
Academic Programs
Union College is a proud Christian institution, and biblical standards, Christ-centered faith, and traditional wisdom are central to Union’s curriculum. As a primarily undergraduate college, Union is also dedicated to the classical liberal arts, the foundation for all academic and professional learning, with life-long learning and mentoring put at the forefront. With an 11:1 student/faculty ratio, Union is able to prioritize mentorship and active engagement between teachers and students, both scholarly and spiritually. An average class size of 15 further allows student to build bonds with one another and their instructors.Union offers more than 50 majors and minors, excellent student support, and access to a growing job market in Lincoln, NE, and all the numbers show that Union’s approach to education is working. Union has the highest rate of alumni support of any Seventh-Day Adventist school, and more than a quarter of every student’s tuition is paid by alumni gifts – more than 98% of students receive scholarships or grants. A student loan default rate of less than 3% – far less than the national average of 14% – shows that Union graduates are getting jobs and experiencing financial success, at a more than 90% rate for job placement or graduate schooling.
Student Life
Union College has a student body of just under 1000 students, more than 90% of whom are traditional college-aged undergraduates. With 60% women, Union is exceptionally supportive of female students, and Union is the most diverse college in its class in the Midwest, with nearly a quarter of students coming from a Hispanic/Latino background. Nearly all 50 states and more than 30 nations are represented in Union’s student body. The largest proportion of students belong to the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, with more than 90% taking part in weekly worship services; as such, faith is central to student life at Union College.Due to its Christian values and the Adventist dedication to missions, nearly all of Union’s students – more than 800 annually – take part in community service efforts, including Project Impact, a day of service activities around Lincoln. Students are also highly active in official on-campus events (twice the national average, according to surveys), from student-led clubs to weekly events sponsored by Student Services. Union’s close-knit, highly interactive environment stretches to include the city of Lincoln, which, with its many parks, miles of walking and biking paths, and growing population, gives students a place to go during their college career, and a place to grow after graduation.