It’s vital to ask hard questions. Be forewarned: Questions the average parent thinks will be hard or awkward won’t be. You may feel awkward asking about evolution or sexuality, for example, but administrators will anticipate them…. Above all, parent, remember you are the one paying for the Christian college education. Don’t be afraid to ensure that’s actually what you’re getting.

You looked at the college website. You glanced at a brochure. But let’s be honest: you’re busy making money for tuition; you’re not getting paid to research Christian colleges and universities.

That’s understandable, but problematic, since it’s fair to ask: How Christian is your kid’s Christian college?

Parents make an expensive choice to send their child to a Christian college. One of the common reasons motivating this decision is the school’s faculty and their explicitly Christian beliefs. But because students often readily embrace what their professors teach them, it’s wise to have a notion of what is, in fact, being taught at this “Christian” school and by its “Christian” professors.

You can’t rest on an institution’s pedigree. Take one recent example: The Mennonite Church USA affirmsthat “God intends marriage to be a covenant between one man and one woman for life.” Eastern Mennonite University (EMU) calls itself “an institution of Mennonite Church USA” that is “rooted in the Christian tradition and the Mennonite Anabaptist perspective.” Despite this, EMU recently came under national attention in Christian circles for changing its policy to include employees in same-sex marriages, a change that resulted in its voluntary departure from the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. Parents of EMU students may embrace such changes or deplore them. I’m not thinking about them. I’m thinking about the ones who are uninformed.

So if you’re paying for a Christian education, you should consider what kind of Christian education it is. You can’t just hope for the best.

Know the School’s Theology—and Your Own

First and foremost, know your own theological positions, as well their biblical foundations. You will find it impossible to discern how Christian your kid’s college is if you’re unclear about your own faith.

Second, be honest about how broad you are theologically. I don’t want to make parents unduly suspicious of Christian colleges, nor do I want to encourage partisan narrow-mindedness. But it’s good to think about how comfortable you’d be with your daughter deciding she doesn’t want to be a Reformed Baptist anymore but wants to be an evangelical Presbyterian instead—or a Roman Catholic. If the college is narrower than you are, you can explain how you’re broadminded about certain things the college holds dear. If the institution is broader than you are, you can alert your son or daughter to the areas where that’s the case.

Third, read the institution’s formal statement of faith. You won’t know whether it’s broader or narrower than you without exploring its professed beliefs. Colleges that seek to be explicit about their beliefs have every freedom to do so. Institutions that choose not to be explicit, then, often do so for a reason.

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