Cornerstone University — Attraction in Grand Rapids

Let's just do this in bullet points for simplicity.

My best friend was assaulted by his upstairs neighbor in Knol. After they decided not to press charges, Campus Safety told him and his wife to stay away from their own apartment building until the offender had moved out. That's victim blaming. They should have posted a campus safety officer outside the building at all times until the offender left. The victims shouldn't have to leave their own home.

Campus Services is 100% incompetent. Our stovetop fan broke, so they unhooked it, now every time we cook it steams up our whole apartment. My friend's A/C broke last year, so they literally just cut the cord. Two years ago my door frame broke entirely off because the apartment building was in such disrepair, so they just nail gunned it like 30 times. 95% of all the repairs they do are wrong or not done at all.

Chapels are TERRIBLE. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to chapel and not even heard a single verse read. And you can get out of chapels by paying a ten dollar fine per one you miss, so basically they're saying "If you're rich, you don't need to do this mandatory thing". It's like buying indulgences.

They are putting $1.2 million dollar stained glass windows in the new chapel, but the new media facilities we were promised were scrapped almost entirely. This isn't hearsay; they have stated the cost of the new windows repeatedly, including in chapels. As a consolation prize, they gave the audio and video departments a little bit of money to improve the already existing facilities, AKA the recording studio that isn't soundproof and the film department without a proper soundstage. The science department facilities are also deplorable, though I can't speak to specifics as I am not in that department.

The "student contract" is hilariously misguided. Telling students over the age of 21 they can't have a single beer off campus is insane. Do you know how ridiculous it feels to turn down a drink when your PASTOR offers you one? It's not a university's place to punish their students. If the quality of the spiritual content at the university improved, it would naturally attract students with morals the school agrees with.

I've given Cornerstone every benefit of the doubt. I was a leader in their "Terra Firma" program, I was an RA, and I've met with the school leaders about the issues I see on several occasions. They consistently have let me down and done inane, nonsensical things to distance me from the school. When people ask where I go to school, I CRINGE when they ask whether they should send their kid there, because I have to be the one to say "No, don't waste your money, if I could do it again I absolutely would not have gone to CU." This is not an indictment of the church. I love the Body of Christ, I love my local church, I love God, and I think Cornerstone is doing a terrible job of representing Christ to the world.

Cornerstone gets two stars instead of one because of a handful of the professors. To name a couple, I was educated exceptionally by Randy Miller and Pete Muir of the Media department, and Doug Mohrmann and Andy Smith of the...

I've had a great experience at Cornerstone. I believe the professors truly care about our success and they challenge us to think critically about the world we live in. CU does a great job with incoming freshmen and making sure they feel welcome, but there's also campus activities that take place to entertain everyone else. There isn't much of a "party" scene, but I personally like that. We still manage to have a good time on the weekends; we just think of other things to do other than drink away stress. Student Activities hosts events: dances (sometimes downtown, which is really nice), game nights, etc. Dorms also have their own events, like powderpuff, craft nights, Capture the Flag, etc. Also, there's extracurricular clubs and intramurals that keep people busy. Not to mention how there's usually some kind of sporting event that can people can go to. I also really like how we have the option of going to chapel three times a week. There are so many people around the world that would LOVE to have the chapel that CU has and the option of publicly worshipping as a community. They sing songs that are biblically sound (and even popular hymns) and they read scripture occasionally during the worship. The worship teams are ran by students, so it kind of depends on the day. I also have really enjoyed the speakers; we once had a guy come in that works in the prison ministry and his story was really neat. Overall, college is going to be what you make it. If you don't like making new friends and just expect them to fall into your lap, you may struggle. Mostly everyone is friendly and I love the community, but if you isolate yourself from people and only depend on your roommate being your go-to friend and that doesn't happen (luckily my roommates were great my freshmen year)..you really can't blame the school for that. They have great teachers and they try to create a welcoming environment for everyone, no matter what denomination or background you come from. There is less clubs and majors offered (although I think they have a decent variety) than state schools, obviously, but for a private school I think they...

Christian schools often encourage "MRS" degrees. It's kind of expected to see when you're living among a lot of people who supposedly share your values and beliefs. My brother did propose to my sister-in-law while she was still a student there, though she was almost done with her degree (which hasn't been useful for employment as of yet. Neither has mine for me, but I earned it elsewhere). They didn't meet there, though; they met on an intense mission trip the summer after their junior year of high school, and went on another trip the next year. All three of us went to Cornerstone as sophomores, at the same time, and she and I roomed together. But it was too expensive, and a couple years later my brother and I were taking courses at the community college - not intentionally at the same time. He got out of private college and through community college before racking up a ton of debt, ending up in a field he loves that Cornerstone doesn't/never will offer.

I don't think any of us feel our time there was very beneficial. A "Christian" college seemed ideal, and I wanted to get out and experience dorm life. It wasn't worth it, I should have gone straight to community college for some gen eds. That's probably a better choice for most people. IMO, a "Christian" college is only useful for those pursuing work in...