The future of Christian colleges looks grim

[twoinanddone]

@Camasite

@nanosec

I also think Catholic universities have done a better job of trying to continue their missions while finding a way to be inclusive to their increasingly diverse populations. In addition to the ones mentioned above you have DePaul (which has almost 15,000 undergrads), University of Dayton, and the University of San Diego, all of which appear to be thriving. Having said that, Catholic schools generally are in cities so that tends to add to the inclusive feel and community engagement. I saw this from the perspective of a non-Catholic (and basically non-religious) person whose daughter attends an all-girls Catholic high school.

Cities. That is their huge advantage. Here on the west coast we have seven Catholic universities. What do they all have in common?

Seattle University
Gonzaga University (in central Spokane)
University of Portland
University of San Francisco
Santa Clara University (in the heart of Silicon Valley)
Loyola Marymont (in central Los Angeles)
San Diego University

Every major metro area on the west coast except Sacramento has a Catholic University. None of them are tucked out in small towns, they are all in major cities, and mostly in the centers of major cities.

There are more Catholic schools than that in the west:

Notre Dame de Namur (it is closing)
Dominican (historically Catholic)
Mount St Mary’s
St Mary’s College of California
Holy Name
Marymount California College
Thomas Aquinas
JohnPaul the Great
Marylhurst (oregon)
St. Martins (washington)

Catholic schools are traditionally urban because that’s the population they were trying to serve. Many Catholic schools have pretty good basketball teams because, again, they were trying to serve the neighborhoods they were in and wanted a way to get kids involved that was cheaper than football.