Bethel University — Attraction in Mishawaka

I attended my freshman year (2023-2024) and had a mixed experience. I really felt that the school genuinely valued incorporating God into courses. I enjoyed the chapels and learned a lot. There are, however, a few red flags. As the majority of students play a sport at Bethel, as a student who did not I felt that the admin and programs were very biased towards student-athletes. All of the school's money was poured into athletics opposed to academics which is the major reason why I am transferring. They would never tell new students this but their science department, along with other departments such as psychology, as slowly deteriorating. I had several major courses that I was set to take my Sophomore year but no professors qualified and solidified to teach. I felt that this was very hidden from students as I talked to staff personally. I was very disappointed in their lack of honesty. In fact, a prof came into one of our classes to "assure" us that we should stay at Bethel and not worry about the lack of profs for the coming year. Her only "assurance" was that God would provide profs to fill the positions. Despite being a Christian, this does not guarantee that God will provide teachers. Another factor is the cost of attendance. The cost is NOT worth the actual education/experience. It is crazy to attend a school for 42 k /yr that makes students commute to other local schools to take classes due to a lack of profs. Not to mention the living situations. The freshman female/male dorms are a joke. The rooms are very old and not updated. For the cost of rooming you could easily afford an apartment that is much better quality than the dorms. My door would randomly open almost every day as the lock was bad and despite filling multiple reports throughout the year was never fixed or looked at. The closet doors did not shut all of the way. The paint was chipping off of the doors badly and paint fell from the ceiling onto my toilet every day. I would say the same for many other buildings on campus. I did meet many sweet friends and had great experiences with the profs I did have, but it is NOT worth the money. If you look up recent tax forms for the school, you will see that they are loosing money and in debt which is why few of these issues such as teachers/facilities are not being addressed as they should. Update: My friends still at Bethel did indeed not have an in-person professor and took organic chemistry ONLINE with a professor not living in IN. Funny how professors claimed that there would, per God Himself, for sure be a professor in person and not to transfer. Thank goodness I did! Most of my friends dropped out or failed the course. The Bethel students who did not are in fact now commuting to IUSB and paying the Bethel tuition cost...

Professors are amazing according to my student. But everything is far below what I expected from a college with a motto “ Christ at the helm..” The administration dropped the ball on my child more than once & more than once is too many for me. Where do I begin? They lost my son’s SAT results that had already been sent... so without it, he couldn’t register for classes he needed . It just created stress & unnecessary obstacles. They paired him with an international student. Neither had anything in common except RACE. They were like night & day and within a week, they separated. My student had no roommate for the entire year because of their lack of care. When Fall break came, he had no place to go. He spent the entire break in a ghost campus... they shut down food too. So he had McDonald’s the whole time. Whatever happened to “ bethel will be like a second family?” That’s what the president said during orientation. They told me not to worry and that my student would be cared for! Bethel failed on their promise ; they don’t know what “intentionality” means. So many staff and yet no one knew how to reach out to students who have no place to go during holidays. I had to call them to ask if someone would reach out! No one went above &beyond. And on thanksgiving break, I had to drive 15 hrs to bring him home. Don’t these people know what it really means when you say Christ is at the Helm? It means... LOVE. It means do everything as Christ would want us to do. Reach out & be intentional about it!! Then comes meals. Shouldn’t 20 meals mean students can eat 20 meals per week? But no! They put so many restrictions on these meal plans. My student had to use his own Money to buy food, too often because he missed the time limit. There’s no excuse when we pay over $2k for meals. The students should be permitted to eat whenever they want as long as they don’t go over # of meals that have already been purchased. They dropped the ball on my child too many times. I don’t have enough room to write. Do not send your child here if you don’t reside in the area. I can only thank all the wonderful professors who made bethel worthwhile for my student. It’s hard being a first time college student just coming out of HS & traveling across the country. He didn’t do as well as he could. Although they gave him permission to return to bethel for 2018-2019, no financial assistance would be given. That’s unfair when Bethel didn’t do all they could to help him succeed. I am relieved that he will not be returning to this institution. I am not the kind of person who gives negative reviews... this is my first. I always choose to be silent in the end but not this time. People need to hear one...

Never felt more disconnected with my advisor, professors and students. So much for helping any lost transfers. Find a different, better, Christian college.

There wasn't any help for me when I transferred. It's felt like all the classes that I had taken previously didn't matter, and was only "extra curricular". They said I didn't have any English classes, which was bull. It's felt like they were trying to treat me as a Freshman.

Nobody greeted me and made me feel the least bit welcomed. I didn't know where things were or who was who, and nobody came to help. I felt like a lost freshman, but I wasn't. I knew my level of education. Bethel made me feel like I was going backwards in academic challenges. I never expected multiple choice, true/false, or fill in the blank tests for all of my classes in college. It wasn't challenging enough...