Some of the top universities are failing to make the grade when it comes to educating their students in basic knowledge and skills, according to a new study by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni.

For example, only 17 percent of college graduates knew the source of the phrase, "government of the people, by the people, for the people."

And less than half could identify the war in which the Battle of the Bulge took place.

The group ranked more than a thousand universities and colleges with grades of "A" through "F" on their general education curriculum.

Only 21 received an "A," and one of them was Regent University in Virginia Beach, Va.

The school's president, Carlos Campo, applauded the news.

"It shows that this whole idea that is out there that somehow a Christian school doesn't live up to the high standards that Ivy's and other schools have -- that's just not the case," Campo said.

"And that Regent and other schools really are aspiring to that level and getting this kind of recognition shows that God is blessing our school," he added.

Regent also received a $400,000 grant from the Beazley Foundation in Portsmouth, Va. The grant will help the school strengthen its general education curriculum.