Cornerstone Universtity Review

This is a university that loves Jesus and not money. Wonderful learning!

This is a great school. I went here for a Master's in Counseling through the seminary, Grand Rapids Theological Seminary. I was given the support that I needed to finish strong.

I've been at cornerstone for longer than I planned mostly because of my grades fluctuating because of financial worries.

Growing up in a strict missionary home, I had more rules at CU to follow than at home.

I attended CU as a international student as they told me I'd be eligible for a missionary kid scholarship that would cover everything besides books. Once I flew over and started classes, accounting department put a hold on my classes until I figured out a payment plan. I was confused so I talked to them and then and there they told me that I had to be a US citizen to be eligible for the scholarship. With no immediate family in the US I was distraught and found out I had to now pay 90% of my tuition with no federal support since I'm not a citizen nor did I qualify for any sort of loans.

I also almost got deported because they almost forgot to file my I-20 which is a form needed to let the uncle Sam know where I'm attending and for how long. I had to find out from the secretary of state getting my driver's license renewed as they told me that my i-20 hadn't been submitted.

Besides meeting my wife and making few great friends and some staff and department members being great. It was not the best college experience for me.

An amazing school and love the fact that they work with NorthPoint Academy & the NCCA in transferring credits!

Christian schools often encourage "MRS" degrees. It's kind of expected to see when you're living among a lot of people who supposedly share your values and beliefs. My brother did propose to my sister-in-law while she was still a student there, though she was almost done with her degree (which hasn't been useful for employment as of yet. Neither has mine for me, but I earned it elsewhere). They didn't meet there, though; they met on an intense mission trip the summer after their junior year of high school, and went on another trip the next year. All three of us went to Cornerstone as sophomores, at the same time, and she and I roomed together. But it was too expensive, and a couple years later my brother and I were taking courses at the community college - not intentionally at the same time. He got out of private college and through community college before racking up a ton of debt, ending up in a field he loves that Cornerstone doesn't/never will offer.

I don't think any of us feel our time there was very beneficial. A "Christian" college seemed ideal, and I wanted to get out and experience dorm life. It wasn't worth it, I should have gone straight to community college for some gen eds. That's probably a better choice for most people. IMO, a "Christian" college is only useful for those pursuing work in Christian fields.

Poorly conceived curriculums, lots of busy work. Many assignments have questionable scholastic value. Assignment lengths seem chosen at random; sometimes call for three pages or more on topics that could easily be summarized in a single paragraph. Credits may not transfer. They encourage students to copy from websites and rearrange the words to avoid plagiarism charges. Almost seems like a scam. Staff seem like nice people. Not recommended. Review based on experience at Lansing campus.

The grace on Cornerstone's campus is not faultless but real. Leadership both in faculty and staff seeks to help you grow in faith and academics. Many students look out for eachother's lives, and as a whole, Cornerstone is seeking to be a safe community.

Cornerstone has a very good program for adult learners (PGS -Professional and Graduate Studies). Being married with three children, having two jobs, and now being full-time in school, the online accelerated cohort program has been great. It has allowed me to continue to purse my educational goals while not being too overwhelming.

Some of the instructors are better than others, but the coursework appears to be set-up similar in all of the courses. This means that all of the courses have a similar feel and there isn't a lot of adjusting from course to course. Grading seems to be mostly left up to the instructors, so that is the only part of the program that takes some adjusting every class.

Most classes are five weeks long and incorporate weekly discussion boards, a lot of typed papers, and a group element (normally a project). Each course tries to incorporate a Christian element, normally in the form of discussions, the readings, and in your writing. I also attended GRCC and I have seen some other reviews that said Cornerstone's coursework was easy. Having taken similar classes at both GRCC and Cornerstone (for example, accounting) and I would say the content is similar. For somebody entering into the PGS program like I am, I would suggest being good at writing, because you will be doing a lot of it.

I have had a good experience so far at Cornerstone and I recommend it to others on a routine basis.

Seriously do not waste your money! This is a Christian University who loves money not Jesus.

Great classes, but expect to be frustrated about 90% of the time if you live on campus (which you have to until you are 21... A little known fact to prospective students).

First off. Fines.
This school has a fine for literally everything. Seriously, if you kiss your girlfriend you're looking over your shoulder to make sure you don't get fined. Not to include you get fined for not going to chapel... Which is silly because student pay money which goes into chapel services, and if they don't show up to 25 of them they get fined for each they miss. But, wait... What if I just decided to pay $10 for every chapel I don't want to attend? It's only like $250 bucks for 25 hours (plus the morning getting ready) I can have to myself and homework or bible time? Hmmmm.

Then
The mailroom.
Just wait until you get your package in on Friday morning, and come to find out they won't give it to you until they process it... Monday. That actually cost me some money and time when I had important stuff coming. It's just poor service... They could work on meeting the customers needs. They actually treated me like a problem when I asked for the package. By the way, I worked for ups and if we don't get the package to the customer, ups gets huge fines. (especially next day air)

How about...
Food service

Offering only chicken at all hours except the ones that are convenient to you. Seriously I got up this morning to go to breakfast on Saturday (offered only 8-8:30... Lol that's funny) and arrived with several people to find that food service decided to just not show up to work today. Gee. There goes like 4 hours of sleep. Wait... What am I gonna eat? And why is there no notice of this on the portal, website, or cafeteria door? Just... Wow.

To conclude
...

Cornerstone, you need to meet the needs of your customers, or you will find them not returning. It's a simple business concept. Find target market, and market towards their needs. This is not the 1920's with Henry Ford saying that "we can have a car in our favorite color... as long as it's black". What you are doing is just plain innaproprate and sad. Hold up to a better standard.

Sincerely
A sad student

P.S. treating students like adults and trusting them to make good decisions is better than forcing them to adhere to rules and fines for everything... It builds real people who make real adult choices. Just a thought.

Cornerstone is a joke. Save your money and get a real education at a real school.

I've had a great experience at Cornerstone. I believe the professors truly care about our success and they challenge us to think critically about the world we live in.
CU does a great job with incoming freshmen and making sure they feel welcome, but there's also campus activities that take place to entertain everyone else.
There isn't much of a "party" scene, but I personally like that. We still manage to have a good time on the weekends; we just think of other things to do other than drink away stress. Student Activities hosts events: dances (sometimes downtown, which is really nice), game nights, etc. Dorms also have their own events, like powderpuff, craft nights, Capture the Flag, etc. Also, there's extracurricular clubs and intramurals that keep people busy. Not to mention how there's usually some kind of sporting event that can people can go to.
I also really like how we have the option of going to chapel three times a week. There are so many people around the world that would LOVE to have the chapel that CU has and the option of publicly worshipping as a community. They sing songs that are biblically sound (and even popular hymns) and they read scripture occasionally during the worship. The worship teams are ran by students, so it kind of depends on the day. I also have really enjoyed the speakers; we once had a guy come in that works in the prison ministry and his story was really neat.
Overall, college is going to be what you make it. If you don't like making new friends and just expect them to fall into your lap, you may struggle. Mostly everyone is friendly and I love the community, but if you isolate yourself from people and only depend on your roommate being your go-to friend and that doesn't happen (luckily my roommates were great my freshmen year)..you really can't blame the school for that. They have great teachers and they try to create a welcoming environment for everyone, no matter what denomination or background you come from.
There is less clubs and majors offered (although I think they have a decent variety) than state schools, obviously, but for a private school I think they do their best.

MACRAO - Associates of Arts (2 years) Excellent Professional Life skills that can be translated to any College or profession. Skip narrow skill classes until you get a feel for the ground. If anything you end up with an actual associate's degree and doors open up without a monster waste of time and money changing majors.
Christian education fellow students nice campus... My dad said a lot of good things about Joseph Stowell. I grew up on the campus from the 70's my father was Dr. Raymond Elon Bartholomew professor Cornerstone and Cedarville. And of course I attended Cornerstone.

This University used to be about faith, spiritual growth, and a honest worship of Christ, however within the last couple of years things have fallen south, and all I can say is:

1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Wonderful God centered school that provides an excellent education as well as wonderful opportunities to serve others!

Describe my experience? How about I just tell you that unless you fit exactly into the Cornerstone mold, you will grow to hate this school. It's terrible. Don't waste your time or money here. They have less than 50% graduation rate anyway so statistically you probably wouldn't stay around.

I greatly enjoyed most of the professors. However, everything else about the school is sub-par. Disappointing science funding (for that matter, funding for anything besides sports), pointless restrictions and rules (curfew, no alcohol consumption, necessary to stay on campus until 21, and many many many more), and an extremely unhelpful staff most of the time. They boast having a great "community life". Yeah, if your idea of community life is living in moldy buildings and then choosing between Pickitt with screaming freshman girls putting koolaid in your shower heads or the quieter dorms where there is little to no interaction/community with the students. Word of advice, Calvin students may have a bad rep among other Christian colleges in west MI but at least their school is nicer and it's right down the road. GO THERE INSTEAD.

Nice campus where you don't feel afraid of your surroundings. Students seem for the most part why they are there and to whom they belong to. Bad thing is that being a christian college those that are here b/c parents forced them live a lifestyle quite different than what you would expect. Staff for the most part are very friendly as see life through a pretty Godly and realistic view point.

My cousin goes here. I'm in 7th grade and this is where I want to go for college. I wish I was in college with him and take classes with him. Cousins are the true best friends!

The university is a mixed bag of good and bad. But that is the case of most universities. Take sausages for example, they are a mix of good and bad meats. The swimming pool is too dirty. Seriously, they could manage to clean it for the fishes every now and then. The sauna/movie theatre is too hot and dry and needs a better selection of movies. East side is too pampered. West side is neglected. The sidewalks are too salty. Central is off-center (false advertising). But other than that, the spirit of campus and the actual academics are phenomenal; even without the Theatre department. So just like my review, Cornerstone University is a sausage.

This is my third year at CU, and I have to say it has been quite the experience. The professors and classes are excellent, and I have enjoyed the residence life. However, I do have a few complaints to address. First of all, the pond is too wet. I lost a disc playing disc golf and had to retrieve it in the pond. After I found my disc, I emerged from the pond to find my pants soaked! How embarrassing. In addition the ice cream is WAY too cold. As soon as my ice cream dispenses from the machine, I do not hesitate to sink all 32 of my overly sensitive teeth into my cone. Boy is that a wake-up call! One last complaint I have is that the library has too many books. So much knowledge at the disposal of 1500 or so young adults can be pretty dangerous. Anyway, overall I love CU! Highly recommend to anyone, except people who don't like hot soup, cause the soup here is on fiyah!

This is a money university, not a God university........ just FYI

Let's just do this in bullet points for simplicity.

- My best friend was assaulted by his upstairs neighbor in Knol. After they decided not to press charges, Campus Safety told him and his wife to stay away from their own apartment building until the offender had moved out. That's victim blaming. They should have posted a campus safety officer outside the building at all times until the offender left. The victims shouldn't have to leave their own home.

- Campus Services is 100% incompetent. Our stovetop fan broke, so they unhooked it, now every time we cook it steams up our whole apartment. My friend's A/C broke last year, so they literally just cut the cord. Two years ago my door frame broke entirely off because the apartment building was in such disrepair, so they just nail gunned it like 30 times. 95% of all the repairs they do are wrong or not done at all.

- Chapels are TERRIBLE. I can't tell you how many times I've gone to chapel and not even heard a single verse read. And you can get out of chapels by paying a ten dollar fine per one you miss, so basically they're saying "If you're rich, you don't need to do this mandatory thing". It's like buying indulgences.

- They are putting $1.2 million dollar stained glass windows in the new chapel, but the new media facilities we were promised were scrapped almost entirely. This isn't hearsay; they have stated the cost of the new windows repeatedly, including in chapels. As a consolation prize, they gave the audio and video departments a little bit of money to improve the already existing facilities, AKA the recording studio that isn't soundproof and the film department without a proper soundstage. The science department facilities are also deplorable, though I can't speak to specifics as I am not in that department.

- The "student contract" is hilariously misguided. Telling students over the age of 21 they can't have a single beer off campus is insane. Do you know how ridiculous it feels to turn down a drink when your PASTOR offers you one? It's not a university's place to punish their students. If the quality of the spiritual content at the university improved, it would naturally attract students with morals the school agrees with.

I've given Cornerstone every benefit of the doubt. I was a leader in their "Terra Firma" program, I was an RA, and I've met with the school leaders about the issues I see on several occasions. They consistently have let me down and done inane, nonsensical things to distance me from the school. When people ask where I go to school, I CRINGE when they ask whether they should send their kid there, because I have to be the one to say "No, don't waste your money, if I could do it again I absolutely would not have gone to CU." This is not an indictment of the church. I love the Body of Christ, I love my local church, I love God, and I think Cornerstone is doing a terrible job of representing Christ to the world.

Cornerstone gets two stars instead of one because of a handful of the professors. To name a couple, I was educated exceptionally by Randy Miller and Pete Muir of the Media department, and Doug Mohrmann and Andy Smith of the Bible department.

This is a fantastic University in one of America's most vibrant mid-sized cities. So much diversity of education, industry, arts and entertainment. Cornerstone is growing and offers a wide range of academic majors in all of the major disciplines. I received a top notch business education while playing soccer there and the faculty and coaches were terrific!

I am proud to be an alumna of Cornerstone University, (B.A. 04', M.S. 09')! In addition to learning valuable skills and knowledge for my profession, I also learned more about my unique gifts and passions. While I was a student, faculty and staff poured into me and helped me understand my calling. It is during my college years that I learned how much I enjoyed leading teams, developing strategies, and encouraging others, which I now get to do in my job.

Simply put, Cornerstone University is a Christ-centered university where students are given a top-notch education... it's a place where faith is incorporated into all aspects of life, (in and out of the classroom). My education and experiences at CU were life-changing for me. Hopefully if you're reading this review, you will be inspired to check out Cornerstone - you won't be disappointed!

I spent four years at Cornerstone University and gained my teaching degree in Secondary English and ESL (so yes, it's doable in four years!!!). I loved EVERY second of my time at CU and miss it on a regular basis. You are taught so much about God and are prepared for post-college life in ways I didn't even realize until now.

Very happy I became involved in Cornerstone's MBA program with an emphasis in Project Management. We meet once a week for a 20 month program. Class always starts with discussion of Christian and world view examples from class content followed by prayer - awesome. Classmates have great discussion, professors have time to get to know students, be creative in their teaching styles, and challenge students. It's hard work but I really like learning new perspectives and the environment Cornerstone provides. Check it out, glad I (finally) did!