Most Pro-Life Catholic Colleges Make Group’s Top List of Affordable Universities
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 18, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The Catholic colleges that have the most pro-life identities have made it to the top of the list the Cardinal Newman Society has put together of the most affordable Catholic universities. The group’s new report reveals that some of the most faithful Catholic colleges are the most affordable.
The new independent report on college costs is published by The Center for the Study of Catholic Higher Education, the research division of CNS.
The Center commissioned this report in response to the economic recession as a way of helping parents and students as they consider various options for colleges.
The study compares the faithfully Catholic colleges recommended in the CNS guide to picking a Catholic college with other Catholic colleges and other private colleges on issues such as tuition, institutional aid, student debt and overall affordability.
Not surprisingly, the colleges that most closely align themselves with the pro-life teaching of the Catholic Church are the ones that give parents and students the best value for the money.
The study found average tuition for students at the recommended pro-life Catholic colleges is about $3,000 less than at other Catholic colleges and about $1,000 less than the average private college.
Students at the recommended Catholic colleges graduate with fewer loans and less debt — on average, about $2,000 less than at private colleges and $1,400 less than other Catholic colleges.
“This study is welcome news to families sacrificing to find ways to pay for a meaningful Catholic college education for their sons and daughters,” Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, told LifeNews.com.
Joseph Esposito, the editor of the CNS guide says the study verifies what his group already knew.
“The Catholic colleges profiled in The Newman Guide were chosen for their quality education and for the priority that they place on Catholic identity in all aspects of campus life. In that sense we have always believed that the recommended colleges were ‘best buys’ for families based on fidelity to Catholic teachings, but with the publication of this affordability study we now know that they are also truly economic ‘best buys’ too,” he noted.
“The combination of faithful Catholic education and lower costs should put Newman Guide colleges at the top of any family’s list as they begin to make decisions on which college to attend in the fall," he said.
The recommended Newman Guide colleges are Ave Maria University, Aquinas College (Tenn.), Belmont Abbey College, Benedictine College, The Catholic University of America, Christendom College, The College of Saint Thomas More (Texas), DeSales University, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Holy Apostles College & Seminary, and John Paul the Great Catholic University.
They also include Magdalen College, Mount St. Mary’s University, Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy, St. Gregory’s University, Southern Catholic College, Thomas Aquinas College, The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts (N.H.), University of Dallas, University of St. Thomas (Texas), and Wyoming Catholic College.
Related web sites:
Cardinal Newman Society – https://www.cardinalnewmansociety.org
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