Everyone knows about the church owned universities such as BYU, BYU-Idaho, BYU-Hawaii and LDS Business College but did you realize that there is another east coast university that is catered to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
Southern Virginia University…
Their mission statement:
Our mission is to prepare leader-servants in the workplace and the world, in the community and the church, and in the home. We serve faithful members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and welcome all who live our values. We accomplish our mission by providing the finest undergraduate education available in letters, arts, and sciences within a wholesome Latter-day Saint environment. Students, faculty, and staff at Southern Virginia University are committed to being academically or professionally accomplished, spiritually rooted, service oriented, and self-reliant. We embody Southern Virginia’s core values, which are scholarship, discipleship, accountability, enthusiasm, and refinement. Southern Virginia University seeks to establish a replicable self-sustaining model of higher education that can serve Latter-day Saints throughout the world.
- Nine-in-ten students are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and one-in-three are RMs
- Home to the largest Institute of Religion on the East Coast and the first YSA stake created outside of the Wasatch Front
- 95% of eligible students earn an academic, talent, or need-based scholarship or grant
- Placement rates above 90% for business, medical, and law professional programs which is well above the national average
- Have a similar “Honor code” to that of the other LDS owned schools
How did it become an LDS school?
In the late 1980s and early 1990s enrollment began to slip and the college became financially unstable, which led to a loss of regional accreditation in 1996. In the spring of that year, a group of Latter-day Saints in Virginia stepped forward to renew the college, assuming responsibility for its assets and liabilities. Since then the institution has experienced phenomenal growth.
Weekly Devotionals
Just like the other schools, SVU holds weekly devotionals to strengthen the value of the educational and spiritual experience for students, faculty and staff.
Missionary Focus
Very similar to colleges like LDS Business College, SVU offers a $1,500 returned missionary scholarship, flexible deadlines, and the ability to apply before a mission to guarantee pre-mission rates.
To learn more about Southern Virginia University and to see if it would be a good fit for you, check out their website at SVU.edu
