A good friend of mine is one of six children in a faithful Catholic family. All six of these children are adults now (one is still in college) and all six are practicing Catholics. While raising my own children, I have often looked to his parents as models of how to raise your children Catholic in today’s world. One policy of their family is that they will allow their children to go to any college they choose, but they will only help pay for the tuition of colleges of which they approve. Thus, Franciscan University of Steubenville is in, University of Maryland is out. Each child, being smartly raised, chose to forgo crushing debt and go to one of the “acceptable” colleges, and I think each would confirm that their choice of college helped form them into better adult Catholics. A while back my wife and I decided to adopt the same policy for our children.

Well, imagine my excitement when I read today that most faithful Catholic colleges are also the most affordable. The Cardinal Newman Society commissioned a study in which they compared the tuitions of faithful Catholic colleges vs. those not so faithful. The results:

The research, led by Andrew Gillen, PhD, a leading expert on college affordability issues found that average tuition for students at the recommended faithful Catholic colleges is nearly $3,000 less than at other Catholic colleges and about $1,000 less than the average private college. In addition, the Newman Guide colleges provide a larger percentage of financial aid (39%) than the average private college (29%).

Booya!

The list of faithful Catholic colleges, according to the Cardinal Newman Society:

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
John Paul the Great Catholic University
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)
Wyoming Catholic College