The school has not, however, lowered the academic bar to bring in more students. The median SATs of incoming freshmen have climbed from 1030 in 1995 to 1113 last year, mirroring a trend of rising qualifications at evangelical institutions.
At Azusa Pacific and at other evangelical schools, however, the atmosphere and course content sometimes are very different from those of secular institutions.
Azusa Pacific requires undergraduates to attend each of three weekly chapel programs. They also must participate every year in a community service "ministry," such as tutoring elementary school students or building houses with Habitat for Humanity.
Classes often begin with a prayer, and smoking is banned on campus.
Some commentary in the classroom might create a stir at a secular school.
For example, an instructor for a required freshman personal development course at the beginning of the semester broached the subject of the Holocaust to his 300 students. He referred to its importance in showing that "we have a responsibility" to make sure that such evils end.
The teacher, Phil Shahbaz, went on to add that the Holocaust "is a huge thing to talk about, because it happened to one of the most important people groups in the Bible, the Jews. OK? And the Jews," he said, "are not, are not taught to forgive. They don't forgive, and you have forgiveness inside your heart. That's what you've been taught to do as a Christian."
Asked about the comment later, Shahbaz said he was trying to paraphrase a Jewish Holocaust survivor who gives a talk to his classes every semester and that he "could have been clearer with my students."
"My intention ... was not to say, 'This is how Jews are.' That's like the complete opposite of what we're trying to do," Shahbaz said.
Some scholars who have studied religious schools contend that they offer a narrow intellectual and social perspective.
While he admires the way evangelical schools try to develop students' character and spirituality, Larry Braskamp, a professor of education at Loyola University in Chicago, said, "They're not as integrated into the mainstream of society, and they don't mix a lot with other backgrounds, so sometimes I think they carry stereotypes with them."
Still, for an increasing number of students, the schools offer a haven that secular campuses can't match.
Meehan Dellar, a freshman at Azusa Pacific, said she hadn't even been sure she wanted to go to college, but had been won over after visiting the campus.
