Higher Education, Higher Purpose

About Higher Education, Higher Purpose

In today's ever-changing college admissions landscape, we're here to provide you with the latest insights and guidance. Whether you're a concerned parent, an eager student, a dedicated school counselor, or an admissions professional, our Higher Education, Higher Purpose podcast covers it all. Expect expert interviews, timely updates, personal stories, tips, and strategies to navigate the competitive world of college admissions. We're here to answer your pressing questions and empower you to confidently find the perfect fit for your higher education journey.

Publisher

NACCAP

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

15 Mar 2022

Latest episode

13 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

30 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   13 Oct 2026

   When the Enrollment Professional Becomes the Parent

   After more than two decades in enrollment management, Dr. Molly Smith has helped thousands of students get to college. Then she sent her own son. In this episode, host Keith Ramsdell welcomes Molly, Associate Vice President of Undergraduate Admissions at Biola University and until recently a member of the NACCAP team, to talk about what changed when she moved from the professional's side of the desk to the parent's side. Her son, Jackson, is now a college freshman. The paperwork and portals weren't what surprised her most. The emotion was. "Why do I feel like this college is stealing my child?" she remembers asking herself as move-in day approached. From there, Molly gives families practical advice. Parents should lean on admissions counselors, who are there to help. On campus visits, she says to look past facilities and program lists and pay attention to the people and to student life. She also recommends visiting top choices more than once, so you see an ordinary day and not just a polished preview event. She argues that students should be free to ask the "what if" questions parents often dread, such as what happens if they change majors or don't get along with a roommate. She is also candid about her own profession, calling out templated mailings and the assumption that students pass information along to their parents. The conversation ends with what Molly would do differently. Families should agree early on how college will be paid for and how often parents will hear from their student. Parents should also figure out their own role in a process their student should lead. Her one word for families just starting out is "options." Keith and Molly close on prayer, and on why Molly wanted Jackson surrounded by mentors, friends, and a community where she knew God would be with him. Key Takeaways ● Use the admissions team. Molly encourages families to reach out with questions, reminding them: "There are people in place, you're not bothering them. This is their job." ● Look past the facilities. Notice whether faculty and staff take an interest in your student personally, and watch how students connect with each other. For Jackson, a worship night and conversations with students mattered more than food options or housing. ● Visit your top choices twice. Preview days and scholarship weekends are a show. A second visit on an ordinary day shows what nights, weekends, the cafeteria, and chapel are really like. Molly took Jackson to each of his top three schools twice. ● Let students ask the "what if" questions. Changing majors, getting injured, and roommate trouble are real possibilities. Choose a school that has a clear way to handle change. ● Settle expectations before move-in. Talk early about finances, scholarships, jobs, and who pays for what. Also set a regular time to connect once your student is on campus. ● Start with options and prayer. Explore a wide range of schools, check your own assumptions, and keep the search in prayer from the start. Connect ● Higher Ed, Higher Purpose Podcast: https://www.naccap.org ● NACCAP: https://www.naccap.org ● Find Your Christian College: https://www.findyourchristiancollege.com ● Keith Ramsdell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-ramsdell-06784945/ ● Dr. Molly Smith, Biola University, on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/molly-smith-dsl/ #NACCAP #ChristianHigherEd #FaithIntegration #HigherEdHigherPurpose #ChristianCollege #BiolaUniversity #CollegeSearch #CollegeAdmissions #ParentingThroughCollege #EnrollmentManagement

2. 

   18 May 2026

   Faithful Innovation: The Story of Montreat College

   When Dr. Paul Maurer became president of Montreat College in 2014, the institution was quietly drifting. Theological language had been softened, the statement of faith had been narrowed, and the school sat on the kind of financial cliff that has ended the story for many small Christian colleges. A decade later, Montreat is a different place: record enrollment, a nationally recognized cybersecurity program, a contract relationship with the National Security Agency, and a Christ-centered identity that is again written into every corner of the institution. In this conversation with host Keith Ramsdell, Maurer walks through how it happened. The throughline of the episode is conviction paired with rigor. Maurer makes the case that Christian higher education's most defensible competitive advantage is its willingness to name a moral compass out loud, and then to back that compass with serious academic programs that yield a genuine return on investment for families. He explains why Montreat doubled down on cybersecurity in 2015, why the NSA wanted a faith-based institution at the table, and why the liberal arts are not in tension with career preparation but the most durable foundation for it. The conversation closes on the personal and the providential. Maurer reflects on his sense of call, the role of an anonymous $6 million pledge that arrived by email just before he took office, and Sarah Zylstra's 2019 Gospel Coalition piece naming the turnaround "the Montreat Miracle." His charge to Christian educators is direct: stop chasing elite or wealthy, and start aspiring to be truly great. Key Takeaways ● Mission clarity is a strategy, not a slogan. Montreat's turnaround began with reclaiming a high view of Scripture and asking employees to affirm the statement of faith and a community life covenant. ● The new CCCU and NACCAP market research confirms what Montreat bet on a decade ago: families want both a biblical worldview and measurable academic outcomes. ● Cybersecurity became Montreat's signature program because faith-based institutions can speak fluently about ethics and character, the human factor that secular peers struggle to name. ● The liberal arts do not prepare students for a job, they prepare students for any job. Employers want graduates who can write, think, collaborate, and solve problems. ● Montreat's three-part promise to students is intellectual development, spiritual development, and preparation for calling and career, framed as one integrated formation. ● Greatness, not eliteness or wealth, is the right aspiration for Christian higher education, and stewarding a miracle is daily work. Connect ● Higher Ed, Higher Purpose Podcast: https://www.naccap.org ● NACCAP: https://www.naccap.org ● Keith Ramsdell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-ramsdell ● Montreat College: https://www.montreat.edu ● Dr. Paul Maurer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-maurer #NACCAP #ChristianHigherEd #FaithIntegration #HigherEdHigherPurpose #ChristianCollege #MontreatCollege #Cybersecurity #LiberalArts #ChristCenteredEducation #CollegePresident

3. 

   4 May 2026

   Beyond the Transaction: The Real Value of a Faith-Integrated Education

   Provost Dr. Christina Schnyders of Malone University joins host Keith Ramsdell for a conversation that pushes past the easy assumptions about faith integration. It is not, she argues, a verse stapled to a syllabus or a prayer offered before a lecture. Drawing on William Hasker's enduring definition, Christina describes faith integration as the integral relationships that already exist between Christian faith and every academic discipline, relationships faculty discover and steward rather than manufacture. From there, the conversation widens. Christina unpacks the "bilingual education" model where students grow academically and theologically in the same breath, the faculty formation seminars at Malone that train professors to find the natural integration points in their fields, and what shifts in a classroom when every student is treated as an image bearer of God. Keith and Christina trade perspectives as a parent of college-age kids and a longtime educator, landing on a shared conviction: spiritual and character formation is the unique value proposition of Christian higher education, not a bonus feature added to career readiness. The episode closes on real-world fruit. Internship supervisors and clinical placements tell Malone students they look "categorically different," even when those students cannot yet name why. Christina answers the bubble critique with the rhythm of Jesus's own life, solitude, community, and ministry, and reframes the Great Commission in its literal Greek: in your going, make disciples. For prospective families, current students, and anyone weighing what Christian higher education can actually do, this conversation makes the case with depth and warmth. Connect: ● NACCAP: https://www.naccap.org ● Keith Ramsdell, President, NACCAP: https://www.naccap.org ● Dr. Christina Schnyders, Malone University: https://www.malone.edu Hashtags: #NACCAP #ChristianHigherEd #FaithIntegration #HigherEdHigherPurpose #ChristianCollege #MaloneUniversity #FaithAndLearning #VocationalCalling #ChristianEducation #WholePersonFormation

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 12 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

14

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

27

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Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.