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WASHINGTON — Startling data about BYU and its sister schools jumped out Monday during a panel discussion at a convening of 52 presidents of the ACE Commission on Faith-based Colleges and Universities.
The panel included the presidents of Notre Dame, Yeshiva, Taylor and Lipscomb and was led by Elder Clark G. Gilbert, church commissioner of education for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Elder Gilbert, who is also a General Authority Seventy, and others expressed frustration with journalists who write what two university presidents described as clickbait stories focused on the closures of small, underfunded faith-based colleges.
“Since 2000, the network of BYU schools has grown by almost 100,000 students,” Elder Gilbert said, “and yet all I read is, ‘Faith-based schools are closing.’”
The point was that despite some closures of smaller, faith-based colleges and universities, enrollment in that sector isn’t shrinking. Far from it. In fact, enrollment growth in the faith sector as a whole is outpacing enrollment growth nationally.
The growth in Latter-day Saint education is not surprising. The Deseret News reported in a November article that the Church of Jesus Christ provided education for nearly 1 million students in 2024, including high school students in seminary programs and college students in institute programs.
But 100,000 students in 20 years is a remarkable increase that comes with two important notes.
First, BYU regularly reports its enrollment of daytime undergraduate students.
Elder Gilbert’s statement was for a larger group, an unduplicated headcount of matriculated students. That means they included all students accepted into degree programs, including those taking night classes or online courses at BYU, BYU-Idaho, BYU-Hawaii, Ensign College and BYU-PW.
Second, most church members will correctly anticipate that the vast bulk of the enrollment growth comes from BYU-Pathway Worldwide, which didn’t exist in 2000.
BYU-PW has gone from 458 students in 2009 to more than 80,000 this year, according to a statement by BYU-PW President Brian Ashton in April.
Still, BYU and every other school in the church network is serving significantly more students than they did in 2000.
And in all, they served more than 147,000 students as of last fall, a major increase from more than 50,000 in 2000.
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About the church
President Russell M. Nelson dedicated the Syracuse Utah Temple on Sunday, the second temple he has dedicated as a 100-year-old. He said, “This is the Lord’s house. It is filled with his power. Those who live his higher laws have access to his higher power. God’s power helps us to grow from the trials of life, rather than be defeated by them. God’s power also helps us to withstand temptations with joy in our hearts.”
Read President Nelson’s dedicatory prayer setting aside the temple as a place of peace and personal revelation here.
Relief Society President Camille Johnson announced that the church added a $63.4 million donation to its Global Initiative to Improve the Well-being of Women and Children. Coupled with last year’s initial announcement of $55.8 million, the church now has provided more than $119 million to the effort.
President Elaine L. Jack, who served as the 12th general president of the Relief Society from 1990-97, died Tuesday, June 10, 2025. She was 97.
Elder Gary E. Stevenson is on a ministry trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. In Uruguay, he spoke to church members and met with Uruguay Vice President Carolina Cosse and Catholic Cardinal Daniel Sturla.
Elder Stevenson also spoke to Latter-day Saint U.S. Air Force Academy graduates at a baccalaureate service on Memorial Day weekend.
The Church News published a new story detailing Elder David A. Bednar’s ministry trip in May to Australia, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji.
Sister Kristin M. Yee, second counselor in the Relief Society general presidency, and Sister Andrea M. Spannaus, second counselor in the Young Women general presidency, visited Brazil and met with church members and visited places that have received church humanitarian aid funds. Read about their 10-day ministry here.
The Church News provided a new story this week about Primary General President Susan H. Porter’s May trip to Cambodia, Thailand, Taiwan and Laos.
There is also a new story about Elder Patrick Kearon’s 10-day ministry trip to the Philippines, where he stopped in Caloocan, Manila, Davao and Cebu.
Mobile temple recommends are now available worldwide. Learn how they work.
The church released renderings for new temples in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Chihuahua, Mexico. See them and read about the site location for one here.
What I’m reading
Read about the real surprise in the Supreme Court’s approach to religious freedom.
The BYU women’s soccer team is in New Zealand to serve and build relationships for two weeks in Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington. The players kicked off their trip by visiting the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Center in Auckland, where they practiced dribbling, passing and other ball-handling skills with refugee youth.
I’ve always loved the knuckleball. As a kid, I played baseball in the Wilbur Wood league in the Boston suburbs, named for a knuckleballer from the region. As a dad, I took my kids out to the bullpen in Anaheim, California, to marvel at Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball when he warmed up to pitch for the Red Sox against the Angels. Well, now a new knuckleballer is knocking on the doors of the major leagues and he’s thrown the fastest knuckleball in history.
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