While many schools reach far and wide for prospective new students, Somerset Christian College discovered an abundance right outside its doors. Working with Knowledge Elements, Somerset found well over 1 million people in close proximity to the campus who had either started but not completed a degree or stopped with an associate degree.
The result? Within a few short years, the school—the only evangelical college serving the state—has developed two new programs for reaching those students, added a third major, and grown into five locations, including space at a prestigious Newark address. The Life Enhancing Accelerated Degree (LEAD) program opened 10 cohorts within its first year, and the first round of 42 graduates have gone on to continue their education at institutions such as Seton Hall University, Rutgers University, and Nyack College. LEAD now makes up 55 percent of the school’s enrollment.
“We’re really pleased about the direction of it,” said Dr. David Schroeder, President of the school. “In many ways, the board would say this has prevented the college from closing. We just weren’t getting any traction before.”
When Somerset and Knowledge Elements first began working together, the idea of long-term relational focus was important, he said. A member of the Knowledge Elements team was onsite at the school “quite a bit, and did a lot of training and individual recruiting, speaking with prospective students, and showing them graduation plans.” That team member also returned for faculty training workshops, and the school now has a number of teachers ready to go as new cohorts are developed.
LEAD was an outgrowth of the Somerset mission to prepare people for excellent scholarship service and leadership. Aimed at students who had already earned 48-60 credits, Somerset staff quickly recognized another need. LEAP (Life Enhancing Adult Prerequisites) now meets the needs of students with 20-30 credits through Saturday classes in general education subjects, preparing them for LEAD.

A third major, biblical studies, now joins Christian counseling and organizational leadership.

“We were quite surprised at the spiritual appetite of these students,” he said. “We thought they’d be career driven, and take a minimalist approach. But these students are truly hungry for spiritual transformation.”

The school requires 30 credit hours of Bible/ Theology, and Schroeder is doubtful that any provider other than Knowledge Elements would have been able to offer the scope of courses. He’s also unsure whether anyone else would have so closely aligned with the school’s Christian mission.
“This has enabled us to reach an entirely different population than we would have before,” he said. “We took a very aggressive approach, one that even Knowledge Elements was concerned about. But we did it. In a population that’s certainly very dense, there are a lot of people who haven’t been able to fulfill their educational dreams…. It’s been a great discovery.”