A person could easily drive past Crown College without detailed directions. The only indication that the college even exists is a small, electronic sign welcoming students and displaying the time, date, and temperature. After turning at the sign and driving down the surprisingly long driveway, one will approach a single, large main building with several smaller buildings scattered nearby. Of course, a birds-eye-view would reveal that the building is in the shape of a cross-something that many students never realize after attending for four years.
Facilities
The cross-shaped building is the hive of Crown College, with students filing in and out all day-except during chapel. Inside, there is one floor of classrooms, one floor for the newly renovated library, and two floors for dorms and offices. The recently finished athletic center features a double gymnasium, locker rooms, and a weight training center (in addition to the lifetime fitness room). The Wild Athletic Center is where chapel is held every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning and Thursday night, but there is also a much smaller and more traditional chapel, tucked in the middle of the main building, fully equipped with stained glass and original brick walls.
Furthermore, there is a large and fairly contemporary café on the second floor, featuring a mezzanine, fireplace, extra large projection screen, and even a climbing wall. When the small selection of baked goods and beverages available at the café won’t do, Crown College offers a small cafeteria for meals, a store for food to take back to one’s dorm, and an even smaller bookstore for between-class snacks. Students can also take their food to the student union, which features pool tables, games, and couches. Many students feel, however, that the eating facilities are much more satisfying than the food at Crown College.
The most recently remodeled section of Crown College is the library, which holds 99,000 volumes, plenty of new computers (in addition to the separate computer lab), and comprehensive access to nearly all of the best internet resources. The library has been greatly improved by these renovations, which reduced clutter and gave students enough space to maneuver the library.
Since many of the facilities at Crown College have only been around for a few years, most of the main building is pristine and up to date. As of July, 2006, there are still renovations being made. Unfortunately, it seems that the contractors have not gotten to the classrooms or offices. The offices are cramped and could use renovation, but more importantly, some of the classrooms are only large enough to hold under 30 students while a few can accomodate many more.Luckily for the college, remodeling the classrooms would not be that big of an undertaking; there are less than 20 classrooms in the entire college.
Academics
Because Crown College is a low profile school, many people do not realize that it is one of the leading biblical colleges in the nation. To achieve this status, however, the administrators seemed to have neglected other fields of study. For instance, although Crown offers a multitude of different evangelical classes ranging from apologetics to youth ministry, the highest level of mathematics available is college algebra, a class comparable to upper level high school algebra. That is not to say that the math professors are not qualified to teach more advanced classes, it simply seems that not enough students would want to take the class.
The science department at Crown College has more to offer than the math department, but still lags behind other private colleges. The professors in this department are extremely competent and cover the material well. Unfortunately, much like the mathematics professors, they are limited to teaching only basic courses.
The other notable department is the history department. Crown offers quite a few classes in this field of study, some of which are bible oriented. The professors in this department are committed to making the material understood by students and are not reluctant to put forth extra effort to do so.
It goes without saying that Crown College is predominantly a bible college. There are a multitude of different majors available for this field of study and Crown is known for the quality education provided to religion majors. Although Crown does offer many other majors that aren’t religious in nature, it is clear where the focus of the college lies.
Classes at Crown College are relatively small, ranging from only a handful of students to upwards of forty students. Due to the size of the rooms, students experience an uncommon amount of personal interaction with professors and will know the name of everyone in the class by the second week of class. Furthermore, the professors are usually eager to use their fairly new multimedia equipment, so most classes are accompanied by a PowerPoint presentation at the least.
Student Life
The Crown College administration is very committed to making sure its students are having good clean fun when they aren’t hitting the books. That means, no parties, no fraternities or sororities, no venturing into the opposite sex’s living areas, and, most importantly, no dancing. The student handbook clearly designates any social dancing as strictly prohibited. To compensate, the faculty plan recreational events for students, such as jumping into the frozen pond during the winter and playing hide and seek with the professors at the Mall of America.
For musical students, Crown College has a College Choir, Chamber Choir, Women’s Choir, Pep Band, Chamber String Ensemble, Jazz Ensemble, and Crown Brass, some of which tour both the United States annually and sometimes overseas as well. The music theory classes available are limited, however, and the instrumental and vocal lessons are noticeably more relaxed than other private colleges.
As the recent completion of the Wild Athletic Center suggests, Crown College does offer several choices in regards to sports. Soccer, golf, football, cross-country, basketball, and baseball are available for men and volleyball, soccer, golf, cross-country, basketball, and softball for women. In addition to sports, students can participate in the student government, Crown Republican Club (no Democrat Club seems likely in the near future), or in one of the many mission trips organized by Crown every semester.
Perhaps one of the most important features Crown College has to offer is its easily reachable faculty. Because there are only between one and two thousand students at Crown College, there is always a professor, advisor, or other college personal available to meet with you. Professors in particular can be accessed in class, in their regular office hours, by phone, email, internal mail, or simply in the hallways.
It is important to note that Crown College has been both praised and criticized for its close-knit, sheltered community. Students see the environment as an oasis for devoted Christians to worship while others see it as a bubble to keep out the secular world. Before considering attending Crown College, a student should decide whether or not he or she would be able to function in and enjoy the sheltered environment.
Finances
The tuition for a year consisting of twelve to eighteen credits at Crown College is estimated at around $15,646. Room and board would raise that to $22,204. Compared to other private colleges, Crown College is not very expensive. However, an investment of that scale would really only benefit students looking for a college centered around Christianity.
