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TRADWIFE U
The Actual, Literal College for Tradwives, Where Right-Wing Women Seek Their Mrs. Degrees
At Hyles-Anderson College, an unaccredited school outside of Chicago, classes for women focus on “vital training in Biblical concepts of marriage and child-rearing,” while coursework for men focuses on “church education.”
By Olivia Empson
March 27, 2026
Sarah Smith and former classmates at Hyles-Anderson College. Courtesy of Sarah Smith.
Sarah Smith still keeps tiny color-coded cards printed with recipes for apple crisp, old-fashioned bread pudding, and hash brown casserole stashed away in her West Virginia home. They were coursework notes from Crock-Pot Cooking, a class in the Marriage and Motherhood program at Hyles-Anderson, the college in Indiana she graduated from in 2010. “Talk about a trigger,” she says with a laugh.
Back then, 20 young women would gather every Monday morning for a 50-minute tutorial in the art of the slow simmer, with other courses offering lessons in canning and freezing, and rearing teenagers. On its website, Hyles-Anderson describes the program as a course of study “designed to train ladies to be capable wives and mothers. Ladies are given vital training in Biblical concepts of marriage and child-rearing, as well as in practical skills such as cooking, sewing, and household management.”
“I thought, for sure, it’s 2026, they can’t be still offering [canning and freezing], and I was really shocked that they were,” Smith said. “The end goal basically was to be a wife and a mother.”
Hyles-Anderson, an unaccredited college founded in 1972, is an hour drive from downtown Chicago and awards four-year degrees, operating independently of government oversight. Its website maintains this is to “avoid the potential of outside influences or pressures to change our theological, doctrinal, and moral position.” Hyles-Anderson did not respond to a request for comment.
While prospective applicants “must be either a high school graduate or have a GED certificate,” the admission policies at Hyles-Anderson also consider a student’s marital status. According to the 2025-2026 academic catalog, “Married students must be at least 20 years old by the first day of registration for each semester. Single, divorced students must be at least 25 years of age by the first day of registration for each semester.”
Tuition costs a modest $2,500 per semester with the total rising to $5,550 to include room and board and a registration fee. The alumni network is narrow, with graduates mostly appearing to funnel into the familiar pipeline of pastors, missionary, or ministry leader roles.
The college sits within a cluster of other unaccredited schools—many of them religious institutions—whose degrees hold no weight in the civil service and often go unrecognized in higher education and most workplaces.
Hyles-Anderson was initially founded by Jack Hyles as a ministry of the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, in 1972. In November 2023, the Independent Fundamental Baptist movement, of which this church is a part of, was featured in the Investigation Discovery docuseries Let Us Prey: A Ministry of Scandals.
“When extra information came out later about certain leaders, I think that just stoked the fire even more,” Mary said. “That created something within me that made me intensely hate anything having to do with the IFB movement.”
Today, the college reflects the same tradwife-y philosophy, seemingly rooted in a strain of Christian nationalism that casts women as wives, childbearers, and homemakers. Smith recalls there were around 1,000 students when she attended over 15 years ago.
Smith says that in the past professors would lead church services or late-night devotions around their teaching commitments.
“There was a strong emphasis on rule keeping and conformity, often over academic exploration,” Smith said. “There was significant pressure to fit a very specific mold of what a ‘good’ Christian looked like, with little room for questioning or individuality.”
In the fall of junior year, female students can still earn three credits each in clothing design and construction and how to rear infants, and two credits in time management. Smith says that strict rules governed dress, appearance, and students’ after-hours activities when she was a student. A dating manual, purportedly written by the school in 2018 and leaked online, noted that relationships are subject to parental approval from either of the participants’ parents.
“It’s just the same system dressed up in a different costume,” said Esther Gallarde, who graduated in 2012. “I sometimes look at where I’m at in life and feel frustrated just knowing that I didn’t want to go there and I wasn't really given a choice.”
“I would really like to start an organization that specifically helps women that are leaving so that they can find more resources,” Gallarde concluded. “If they decide to stay, they stay, but at least they know what their options are. If you look at who is benefiting from the way that it’s structured, it’s always the men at the top.”
The Actual, Literal College for Tradwives, Where Right-Wing Women Seek Their Mrs. Degrees
At Hyles-Anderson College, an unaccredited school outside of Chicago, classes for women focus on “vital training in Biblical concepts of marriage and child-rearing,” while coursework for men focuses on “church education.”
TRADWIFE U
The Actual, Literal College for Tradwives, Where Right-Wing Women Seek Their Mrs. Degrees
At Hyles-Anderson College, an unaccredited school outside of Chicago, classes for women focus on “vital training in Biblical concepts of marriage and child-rearing,” while coursework for men focuses on “church education.”
By Olivia Empson
March 27, 2026
Sarah Smith and former classmates at Hyles-Anderson College. Courtesy of Sarah Smith.
Sarah Smith still keeps tiny color-coded cards printed with recipes for apple crisp, old-fashioned bread pudding, and hash brown casserole stashed away in her West Virginia home. They were coursework notes from Crock-Pot Cooking, a class in the Marriage and Motherhood program at Hyles-Anderson, the college in Indiana she graduated from in 2010. “Talk about a trigger,” she says with a laugh.
Back then, 20 young women would gather every Monday morning for a 50-minute tutorial in the art of the slow simmer, with other courses offering lessons in canning and freezing, and rearing teenagers. On its website, Hyles-Anderson describes the program as a course of study “designed to train ladies to be capable wives and mothers. Ladies are given vital training in Biblical concepts of marriage and child-rearing, as well as in practical skills such as cooking, sewing, and household management.”
“I thought, for sure, it’s 2026, they can’t be still offering [canning and freezing], and I was really shocked that they were,” Smith said. “The end goal basically was to be a wife and a mother.”
Hyles-Anderson, an unaccredited college founded in 1972, is an hour drive from downtown Chicago and awards four-year degrees, operating independently of government oversight. Its website maintains this is to “avoid the potential of outside influences or pressures to change our theological, doctrinal, and moral position.” Hyles-Anderson did not respond to a request for comment.
While prospective applicants “must be either a high school graduate or have a GED certificate,” the admission policies at Hyles-Anderson also consider a student’s marital status. According to the 2025-2026 academic catalog, “Married students must be at least 20 years old by the first day of registration for each semester. Single, divorced students must be at least 25 years of age by the first day of registration for each semester.”
Tuition costs a modest $2,500 per semester with the total rising to $5,550 to include room and board and a registration fee. The alumni network is narrow, with graduates mostly appearing to funnel into the familiar pipeline of pastors, missionary, or ministry leader roles.
The college sits within a cluster of other unaccredited schools—many of them religious institutions—whose degrees hold no weight in the civil service and often go unrecognized in higher education and most workplaces.
Hyles-Anderson was initially founded by Jack Hyles as a ministry of the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana, in 1972. In November 2023, the Independent Fundamental Baptist movement, of which this church is a part of, was featured in the Investigation Discovery docuseries Let Us Prey: A Ministry of Scandals.
“When extra information came out later about certain leaders, I think that just stoked the fire even more,” Mary said. “That created something within me that made me intensely hate anything having to do with the IFB movement.”
Today, the college reflects the same tradwife-y philosophy, seemingly rooted in a strain of Christian nationalism that casts women as wives, childbearers, and homemakers. Smith recalls there were around 1,000 students when she attended over 15 years ago.
Smith says that in the past professors would lead church services or late-night devotions around their teaching commitments.
“There was a strong emphasis on rule keeping and conformity, often over academic exploration,” Smith said. “There was significant pressure to fit a very specific mold of what a ‘good’ Christian looked like, with little room for questioning or individuality.”
In the fall of junior year, female students can still earn three credits each in clothing design and construction and how to rear infants, and two credits in time management. Smith says that strict rules governed dress, appearance, and students’ after-hours activities when she was a student. A dating manual, purportedly written by the school in 2018 and leaked online, noted that relationships are subject to parental approval from either of the participants’ parents.
“It’s just the same system dressed up in a different costume,” said Esther Gallarde, who graduated in 2012. “I sometimes look at where I’m at in life and feel frustrated just knowing that I didn’t want to go there and I wasn't really given a choice.”
“I would really like to start an organization that specifically helps women that are leaving so that they can find more resources,” Gallarde concluded. “If they decide to stay, they stay, but at least they know what their options are. If you look at who is benefiting from the way that it’s structured, it’s always the men at the top.”
