A Scottish phrase meaning "Mountain of Trust," Ben Lippen School was founded in 1940 by the Columbia International University (CIU) board of trustees under the guidance of CIU's first president, Robert C. McQuilkin.
The evangelical boarding school for boys was located at CIU's Ben Lippen Conference Center on a mountain near Asheville, NC.
After a fire destroyed the main building in 1980, Ben Lippen moved its high school program to its current location in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1988 to be on the campus of CIU.
All upper school students attend the Monticello Road campus.
Ben Lippen School has more than 1,160 students in grades Pre-K3 through 12, with approximately 80 of them being international students who live on campus and attend the high school.