The 20 Most Conservative Colleges in America

North Greenville University is a private liberal arts school located in Tigerville in the northwestern part of South Carolina. According to a Niche survey of the school’s students, 60% feel that the political beliefs of the campus as a whole are either conservative or very conservative. Just 15% feel the campus politics are moderate, and 24% are unsure.

Like nearly every other school on this list, North Greenville University is religiously affiliated with a Christian church — in this case, with the South Carolina Baptist Convention.

At Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, 62% of students associate themselves with the Republican Party, according to a Niche survey of students. Comparatively, just 5% associate with the Democratic Party, 19% are independent, and 14% said they did not care about politics.

Samford University students tend to have relatively high earnings after leaving the college. The median earnings of students in the workforce no longer enrolled in classes 10 years after first entering Samford was $49,900 — one of the higher medians among schools and the second highest earnings among the schools on this list.

LeTourneau University in Longview, Texas, ranks as one of the most conservative colleges in America. According to a Niche student survey, 70% of students affiliate themselves with the Republican Party, compared to just 7% who align with the Democratic Party.

The university has produced a number of Republican politicians, including Patricia Harless, who served in the Texas House of Representatives from 2007 to 2017, former Texas gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina, and Vicki Strong, who has served in the Vermont House of Representatives since 2011.

The University of Tennessee-Martin is one of just a handful of public universities to rank among the most conservative in the country. Just 15% of UT-Martin students feel the overall political leanings of the campus are liberal, and just 13% feel it is moderate.

Public schools tend to be much less expensive than private colleges, and UT-Martin is no exception. It is one of just six schools on this list with average annual costs of attendance under $20,000.

Franciscan University of Steubenville is a private Catholic university in Ohio, just across the Ohio River from West Virginia. There is little doubt among Franciscan University of Steubenville students that the campus leans to the right. In a Niche survey, 44% of respondents said the political beliefs on campus were conservative, and an additional 53% said they were very conservative. Just 2% said the beliefs on campus were moderate.

Maranatha Baptist University is a private, liberal arts college located about 40 miles west of Milwaukee in Watertown, Wisconsin. According to the school, “All of our courses are “taught from a biblical worldview by our passionate Christian faculty.” According to a Niche survey, all respondents at the school felt the campus’ political beliefs were either conservative or very conservative. The school’s student body is 86% white.

Grove City College is a private Christian college located about 50 miles north of Pittsburgh. The institution touts itself as “a beacon of laissez-faire economic freedom,” and even took a legal dispute related to its ideology all the way up to the Supreme Court in the 1980s. In the case, the federal government threatened to withdraw student financial aid if GCC did not sign a form affirming its compliance with anti gender discrimination laws. GCC said the form “represented an attempt by the government to take control of private education.” After losing the case, GCC withdrew from the federal program.

According to the Niche survey, more than 90% of GCC students feel that the political beliefs of the campus as a whole are either conservative or very conservative. Over 91% of Grove City College students identify as white alone.

Taylor University is a private, Christian college in Upland, Indiana, about 60 miles northeast of Indianapolis. The majority of students agree the school’s culture is right-leaning — 75% feel the campus beliefs are either conservative or very conservative, compared to just 10% who feel it is liberal, per a Niche survey.

Taylor University has produced several Republican politicians, including Rep. Jackie Walorski from Indiana’s 2nd District, Rep. Tim Walberg from Michigan’s 7th District, and Stephen Johnson, who served as EPA Administrator under former President George W. Bush.

At private Christian college Palm Beach Atlantic University, 72% of students feel the overall campus beliefs are either conservative or very conservative, compared to 4% who feel it is either liberal or very liberal, per a Niche survey.

Palm Beach Atlantic University has one of the highest admission rates of any school on this list as well as in the nation, as it admits more than 95% of applicants.

The University of North Georgia is one of the newer schools on this list. It was formed in 2013, when North Georgia College & State University and Gainesville State College were merged. UNG is a military school, and students must participate in its Reserve Officer Training Corps program.

Surveys have indicated that military members have tended to lean more conservative in recent years. A 2018 Military Times poll found that active duty readers were more than twice as likely to support the Republican Party than the Democratic Party. Though UNG students are not required to serve in the armed forces, they tend to have a similar conservative preference, with students in the Niche poll favoring the Republican Party over the Democratic Party by a 48%-17% margin.

The University of Wyoming is one of just a handful of public schools to rank among the most conservative in the country. Students are more than twice as likely to associate themselves with the Republican Party than the Democratic party, according to a Niche survey. Students are also more likely to be independent than Democratic.

The University of Wyoming is one of three schools on this list in which some kind of nursing major is the most popular degree field. It is also one of the least expensive schools to rank as the most conservative, with an average annual attendance cost under $20,000.

Utah State University is Utah’s only public land grant college, and one of just a handful of public schools on this list. According to a Niche survey, 44% of students associate themselves with the Republican Party. Students are more likely to identify as an independent (23%) or say they are not interested in politics (17%) than they are to identify as a Democrat (13%).

There are a number of Republican politicians who earned degrees from Utah State, including former Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, and Paula Hawkins, who became the first woman to represent a Southern state in the senate after winning her election in Florida in 1980.

Lee University is located just northeast of Chattanooga in Tennessee. Initially known as Bible Training School, Lee College has embraced the Evangelical community and is one of many schools on this list with strong Christian ties.

According to a Niche survey of students at Lee University, 62% feel the campus’s political beliefs as a whole are either conservative or very conservative, compared to just 1% who feel the campus is progressive.

At Biola University, in La Mirada, California, 69% of students feel the political beliefs of the campus are either conservative or very conservative. Just 2% feel the campus is liberal. Biola University is the only school to rank among the 20 most conservative colleges in America in which less than half of the student population identifies as white alone. The school’s student body is made up of 22% Hispanic students and 18% Asian students.

With an average annual cost of attendance exceeding $53,000, Biola University is the most expensive college on this list, and one of the pricier colleges in the nation.

Bob Jones University students are among the most likely college attendees to identify as Republican or conservative — 70% identify as Republicans, and 89% of students describe the campus political orientation as either conservative or very conservative, according to a Niche survey. Just 2% feel it is liberal.

Bob Jones University is a private Christian college located in Greenville, South Carolina. On-campus students are required to attend chapel or other faith-based group meetings Monday through Friday. The school has drawn criticism in the past for some of its stances on student behavior. For instance, the school dropped its ban on interracial dating only in 2000.

Colorado Christian University is an interdenominational Christan college located in Lakewood, just outside of Denver.

At the university, 54% of students associate themselves with the Republican Party, while just 9% associate with the Democratic Party, according to a Niche survey. The survey also found that 55% of respondents said the political beliefs of the campus as a whole were either conservative or very conservative, while just 3% said the campus was either liberal or very liberal.

Brigham Young University-Provo, known as BYU, is a large private college that is “founded, supported, and guided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” making it one of a large number of religiously affiliated schools on this list.

BYU students tend to be financially well-off after graduating, as a student who is working and not enrolled in college 10 years after entering BYU has a median annual income of nearly $60,000.

Cedarville University is a private Christian college located in Cedarville, Ohio, just east of Dayton. When it was first established in 1887, it was affiliated with the Reformed Presbyterian Church, but it has since changed its religious affiliation to Baptist. The school’s students are among the most likely to be Repulican or conservative-leaning in the country. Roughly 85% of the student body identifies as white alone.

Liberty University was founded in 1971 as Lynchburg Baptist College by pastor Jerry Falwell Sr. Among the schools on this list, Liberty University is one of the most selective, admitting just over half of applicants.

The school has been active in politics, and has been described by the Washington Post as a “pilgrimage site for GOP candidates” and a “bastion of the Christian right.” Former Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr., son of the school’s founder, was a staunch supporter of Donald Trump during his 2016 election campaign.

BYU Idaho is the most conservative college in America, according to a Niche survey of students about their political leanings, as well as the perceived leanings of their peers. Among respondents, 53% associated with the Republican party, 23% said they were independent, and just 4% associated with the Deomcratic Party. The rest were either non-affiliated or felt affiliated with another party not mentioned.

Like many other colleges on this list, BYU Idaho is religiously affiliated, in this case with the Church of Latter Day Saints. It is one of three BYU campuses, along with the flagship school in Provo, Utah and BYU, Hawaii.