Posted on by Dean Clancy

A list of colleges that don’t take federal money

In order to preserve their freedom and independence.

The following colleges in the United States, in order to preserve their liberty and independence, do not accept grants from the federal government or participate in any federal financial-aid or student-loan program.

  1. Aletheia Christian College (Idaho)
  2. Bethlehem College & Seminary (Minnesota)
  3. Boyce College (Kentucky)
  4. Christendom College (Virginia)
  5. Crown College (Tennessee)
  6. Faith Bible College (Maine)
  7. Grove City College (Pennsylvania)
  8. Gutenberg College (Oregon)
  9. Hildegard College (California)
  10. Highlands College (Alabama)
  11. Hillsdale College (Michigan)
  12. Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary (Tennessee)
  13. Mount Liberty College (Utah)
  14. New College Franklin (Tennessee)
  15. New Saint Andrews College (Idaho)
  16. Patrick Henry College (Virginia)
  17. Pensacola Christian College (Florida)
  18. Principia College (Illinois)
  19. Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Kentucky)
  20. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (Texas)
  21. Weimar University (California)
  22. Wyoming Catholic College (Wyoming)

Government aid comes with government strings, whether it goes directly to a school or directly to its students. To avoid these strings, a school must decline aid, both to itself and to its students, meaning it must decline to participate, or facilitate its students’ participation, in government funded or sponsored loan and grant programs.

Most of the schools on the list refuse state and local aid as well as federal.

The list only includes traditional bricks-and-mortar institutions (no online or purely digital entities).

To submit updates or corrections to this list, please contact us.

Updated 1 Nov 2024

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89 Replies to “A list of colleges that don’t take federal money”

  1. I don’t think Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, CA takes any federal funding, as well as Benedictine College in Atchison, KS.

    Reply

    1. Thomas Aquinas College (Calif.) is frequently suggested as a candidate for this list, but it does not meet the definition. It declines campus-based federal financial aid but allows students to accept personal federal financial aid, which latter policy excludes it from our definition.
      https://thomasaquinas.edu/support/why-no-government-funding

      Benedictine College (Kansas) is excluded from the definition because it both accepts campus-based federal financial aid and allows students to accept personal federal financial aid.
      https://www.benedictine.edu/admission/financial-aid/index

      Reply
  2. Pingback: Private universities accept federal money. So why aren’t they subject to Freedom of Information Act requests? | The College Fix

  3. Curious if there are any non government funded middle schools or high schools? And what laws regulate these levels?

    Reply

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