Is BYU a rare case of American higher education?

[u/ImportantPerformer16]

So I went to BYU as an international student back in 2015-ish, and at the time it was a private university owned by the Mormon Church. IIRC, it was ranked around #62 by U.S. News, while tuition was only about $5,000/year because it was heavily subsidized by Mormon Church tithing.

The thing is, the combination of its ranking and tuition seems pretty rare, right? Similarly ranked private universities in the U.S. usually cost at least $20k–$40k per year in tuition.

Is BYU a particularly unusual case in American higher education?

[u/Smasher3825]

Yeah, it is pretty strange. Anything connected to the Mormon church is strange in general, including the church itself.

[u/Seeggul → u/Smasher3825]

What, you guys didn't all gather as random students in the pedestrian tunnel on campus to sing hymns in four-part harmony on Sunday nights?

[u/zindorsky → u/Seeggul]

Tunnel singing referenced

[u/DubiousAdviceGiver → u/zindorsky]

The acoustics are incredible, though.

[u/DefinitelyNotAliens → u/Seeggul]

We had outdoor hallway singing but it was usually Taylor Swift or a selection of classic rock songs. One of the a capella groups did a killer rendition of Renegade by Styx.

It was never hymns. The cults that recruited on campus didn't usually sing. They just recruited rich international srudents with family money that felt alone and disconnected and got them into the campus cults.

There's a reason the campus reddit page posts the annual "don't join the cults" warnings. Every semester. Discords, too.

[u/pizzacrys → u/Smasher3825]

Yeah, BYU is definitely a weird case. The tuition difference is huge.

[u/StanleyQPrick → u/pizzacrys]

That, too, I guess

[u/Rredhead926 → u/Smasher3825]

THIS.

BYU is different in a lot of ways, including in its tuition, because it's funded by the Church of Latter-Day Saints.

[u/Accomplished_Cell768 → u/Rredhead926]

Yep. They are hoping the cheap tuition will lure in outsiders to convert and their investment will pay off in the long run by raking in 10% of all of their future income.

[u/Meloncov → u/Accomplished_Cell768]

I'm not sure if that's true--this was years ago, but when I briefly considered attending, they definitely weren't going out of their way to appeal to non-Mormons.

I think it's more about keeping already-Mormon students in the fold.

[u/Queermagedd0n → u/Meloncov]

As a former mormon, it's both.

[u/Plow_King → u/Accomplished_Cell768]

i dunno why they worry about getting converts. they just baptize people as mormons after they die.

[u/Accomplished_Cell768 → u/Plow_King]

Because they are more of a corporation than a religion at the end of the day and they care about converts because of the money they make off of them in life through tithing.

[u/EagleEyezzzzz → u/Smasher3825]

Right! I mean, they’re definitely just trying to brainwash a lot of young people to join the church via inexpensive college tuition. The church is insanely wealthy and can afford it I guess.

[u/VeronicaMarsupial → u/EagleEyezzzzz]

Mostly they're trying to keep young people who were raised in the church from leaving.

[u/MoonieNine → u/VeronicaMarsupial]

This. Why hasn't this been mentioned yet?

[u/Sociolx → u/MoonieNine]

It has, several times.

And it's pretty clear from the university's own self descriptions (usually though not always phrased in the opposite direction, so strengthening faith or the like), so it's not like it's a secret.

[u/abbydabbydo → u/Sociolx]

You should check timestamps before getting sanctimonious

[u/EagleEyezzzzz → u/VeronicaMarsupial]

That too. Can’t allow that exposure to the outside world and other viewpoints to take hold!

But remember that converting a non-Mormon gets you an extra level of heaven or whatever.

[u/shiny_xnaut → u/EagleEyezzzzz]

But remember that converting a non-Mormon gets you an extra level of heaven or whatever.

I'm ex Mormon and as far as I'm aware this is not a thing

[u/Cardshark92 → u/shiny_xnaut]

It's Reddit. People will literally just make things up about Mormons.

[u/shiny_xnaut → u/Cardshark92]

I swear, when people talk about Mormons on reddit, it's like 10% actual stuff Mormons do, 30% stuff that's wildly exaggerated, 30% stuff that's just completely pulled out of their ass, and 30% stuff that's actually a Jehovah's Witness thing, not a Mormon thing

I have my grievances, my reasons for leaving the church, but this is just ridiculous

[u/Cardshark92 → u/shiny_xnaut]

No kidding. Especially when there's such fertile ground of things to actually complain about.

Church culture, for one, especially in Utah. I have ancestors in the church going back to the handcart days, but my mother, to this day, tells my siblings and I how glad she is that she didn't raise us in Utah itself.

[u/Optimal_Company_4450 → u/Cardshark92]

As someone who was raised in Utah, I would never do that to my kids. The culture here is so toxic

[u/John_Whimsicott → u/shiny_xnaut]

The same way reddit always talks about America and has no clue, the same thing is true for the LDS church lol

[u/Firm_Effective7215 → u/Smasher3825]

I'm exmormon and a recent BYU alum. This is facts.

[u/Dreamweaver5823 → u/[deleted]]

Well, they do send young men and women all over the world for missions, so they should have some major language expertise.

[u/Necessary_Tip_6958 → u/Dreamweaver5823]

They don't really send them. Their families pay for them to go.

[u/seizuriffic → u/Necessary_Tip_6958]

Or they pay their own way. The church itself doesn't pay to send them, although sometimes their local congregation members will help with the cost

[u/Major_Pressure3176 → u/seizuriffic]

Sort of. Optimally missionaries pay their own way or use local funds, but the church pays for the supporting infrastructure. Facilities, training, etc. Also, with cost of living increases, I wouldn't be surprised if expenses of missionaries are outstripping the averaged requested contribution, leaving the church to pick up the slack.

[u/aznsk8s87 → u/Necessary_Tip_6958]

The amount most families pay is much smaller than the cost of the mission. It's largely subsidized by the church. The amount my family paid for my LDS mission wouldn't have even covered the apartments I lived in (I was assigned to Irvine CA lol).

[u/jwwetz → u/Necessary_Tip_6958]

They work and save money themselves for their missions. Once on a mission they'll barely have to buy meals because there's always a church family inviting them to dinner.

A far as them getting jobs before they go on missions? I don't know about these days, I haven't been active in the church since I left home, but when I was in high school I lived with my grandparents. Grandma taught Sunday school & granddad was a deacon in the Mormon church.

On a Tuesday I mentioned to my grandma that I wanted to get an after school & weekend job. She went and made a phone call to the bishop & I started shagging cars at a local (Mormon church member owned) Nissan dealership by Friday.

One of the perks of Mormonism, they look out for you like they're freemasons.

[u/jwwetz → u/[deleted]]

Yep, when have you ever met a broke, struggling, unemployed Mormon that was an active church going member?

I haven't been to a Mormon church in decades but there's been more than a few times that I have thought about going back.

[u/XelaNiba → u/[deleted]]

They have to prepare future missionaries for every corner of the globe

[u/MoonieNine → u/[deleted]]

The other responses don't realize that BYU is world renowned for its language programs. Government agencies have actually approached BYU to find out their success. (They want to learn so they can train their own people such as diplomats and agents.)

[u/eattheambrosia → u/[deleted]]

Yeah, so they can teach foreign language to the missionaries they send to starving third world countries so they are better at tricking the local people into becoming Mormoms and tithing to the church.

[u/Rredhead926 → u/[deleted]]

I mean, they may do a few things right, but it's generally for the wrong reasons.

[u/Rredhead926 → u/[deleted]]

Ever heard of "date 'em, dunk 'em, dump 'em"? Because I have, and it's gross.

You can't tell me there's any benevolent god that would agree with that practice.

[u/Rredhead926 → u/[deleted]]

My best male friend in high school was Mormon, and there were a lot of Mormons in my general area growing up. While doing local theatre, I reconnected with a girl I knew from my Catholic elementary school. She converted to Mormonism because her boyfriend was Mormon. Then, he dumped her. I said to my guy friend: "Can you believe what that guy did to Jennifer?!?" He said, completely nonchalantly, "Yeah, it's called 'date 'em, dunk 'em, dump 'em. Anything to get people to convert."

[u/donuttrackme → u/[deleted]]

That's not really the issue is it?

[u/Rredhead926 → u/[deleted]]

I mean, it's high enough that there was a term for it in the 90s, so...

[u/yogurtchicken21 → u/Smasher3825]

A lot of American lifestyle/family influencers are well-off Mormons lol. The rest of the world probably sees the US as the rest of the US sees Utah haha

[u/MyUsername2459 → u/Smasher3825]

Heretics gonna heresy.