I agree with the poster who suggested visiting campuses to see how it feels to the student. What is no big deal to one person may be too much for another. I grew up in the Finger Lakes area of NY and still live here. For me, religion is live and let live. I don’t care if others are practicing or showing their faith and I don’t mind learning about it in a scholarly sense, I just don’t want anyone trying to convert me. I do realize things are different in other areas of the country though. In some places, people meet someone new and the first thing they want to know is what church the person goes to. Or they live someplace where religious politicians are always trying to make new laws that govern whole towns, cities, or states. I can see someone coming from those areas just wanting zero religion even as ambiance.
The required courses were apparently slightly different when I went to SBU. Personally, while I wasn’t all that religious I saw it as a trade off and didn’t mind it so much since we didn’t have Greek life or required athletic courses (two things I strongly did not want in my college life). Some people like gym classes or fraternities/ sororities or dislike religion even more than them. People weigh things differently. Visiting the campuses will give anyone a much better idea.
Also, as far as GPA, I suspect it’s much easier to keep a higher GPA at these small schools with very accessible, helpful professors. The high achievers are only getting below 3.0 at SBU if they are partying in the off campus houses in Alleghany 5 nights a week. But it’s good for kids to know themselves and how much wiggle room they feel they need for just in case.
Good luck witchy woman! Whichever college your son chooses, I hope he loves it!