In the past I’ve run some posts about the boom in private secondary education and home schooling. For the last day or two commenters have been discussing the state of higher education and, as it happens, my wife found a relevant article: Enrollment at Catholic Colleges Skyrockets While Secular Enrollment Plummets
Hillsdale keeps raising is entrance requirements, the number of the applicants continues to rise, but the student population is held constant, which is a good thing.
(My older daughter who graduated 10 years ago, says that were she applying today, she wouldn't have the cred to be accepted. Now, I disagree, but there we are.)
Without tremendous facility expansion (more dorms, classrooms, library, dining facility, etcetera, etcetera) there's no room.
Meanwhile, other initiatives including the WDC Kirby Center Campus (1), the K-12 Classical Education Charter School Initiative (2), and the online outreach (3), the new Masters and PhD in politics (4) plus so much else the sum of which become in many ways greater than the undergraduate program itself.
Almost went to Hillsdale myself, at the time I didn’t realize it was a bit hard to get into, maybe they were less picky back then. Instead opted for Michigan State as the campus was bigger and many of my friends were going there. I also confess, in light of MSU’s recent failure in preventing sexual harassment and actual assault by faculty members I am not such a proud alumni. Also their Covid policy of forcing kids out of dorms without reimbursement I’ll never forget. I only bring MSU up as it seems to be an exception to the noted trend. In a recent email they were bragging about their highest incoming undergraduate enrollment ever, over 50,000. When I attend there were 42,000. At their current tuition rate of $521 per hour (compared to my $14) I don’t know how they get anyone to apply.
Graduated from a very well known Jesuit run university in N.W. D.C. and it is so woke and out of bounds I gave up on it years ago (even before it was normal to be anti-woke.) Complete junk show. What happened, right?
I am VERY happy to read this. We've got a long way to go, but I will take any step forward.
My firm (a 60-ish attorney, DC-area boutique of talented lawyers who left Big Law to practice with colleagues we actually like) recently interviewed a Hillsdale summa cum laude grad (and exceptional law-school student) who would never have been in our weight class (salary and otherwise) absent the bias against Hillsdale and the Christian Legal Society in DC. Outstanding candidate, the likes of which we haven't seen in a very long time, even from the fanciest schools.
Nice to see Belmont Abbey holding strong. As someone with an 81yo uncle who was the top HS center in Brooklyn in '59-'60 and got sent to country-a$$ NC to play for Al McGuire because my off-the-boat grandmother (whose brogue I could never really understand) said that, of all the scholarships, it was the only place Catholic enough to straighten him out, I love this.
CUA is coming up in the world in a big way. Happy to take a massively-increasing number of my NY-native friends' kids out to dinner in DC.
Ah, we were DePaul fans (my father was a psych prof there, too, as well as at Marquette, before winding up at Loyola) when Al was coaching at Marquette. Great guy. Great rivalry.
Loyola in Chicago, for undergrad and law. My father was a psych prof and we (one of eight) got free tuition. I started in 1968. Things were still much different than they are now.
You seem like a Midwestern Catholic, that’s why I asked. I was hoping that I didn’t miss getting to know you if we were somewhere at the same time. You are fifteen years advanced beyond me though.
I'm about two miles as the crow, err eagle, flies from the Hillsdale college Chapel (1). Both my gurlz attended, wife is an adjunct there, for almost a decade.
Very strong Catholic population among the students, and upwards of three dozen converts to the Faith yearly.
There has been TLM celebrated in the new Chapel, but it is not a regular feature. Hillsdale College is non-denominational.
While I would have much more strongly preferred Bishop Strickland to be last year's graduation speaker, Bishop Barron gave the address(2). (President Arnn didn't ask me.)
Hillsdale President Arnn says Justice Thomas is most consequential man he knows. President Arnn is the most consequential man I know.
There is one Catholic church in Hillsdale county, St Anthony of Padua (3). We have 14 Masses a week, including a 7:15am Mass averaging 70+ Tuesday through Friday.
There's actually--or was in past years--quite a back and forth between Hillsdale and UD. Faculty kids from one going to the other, etc. Yes, I was aware of the strong Catholic presence there, having visited several times.
Before Hillsdale, my alma mater, Grove City College, was the forerunner in declining "government assistance" and interference. In the landmark case, Grove City College v. Bell, GCC won the "right" to abolish all federal contributions and partnerships with the federal government, including student loans. Any student requiring financial assistance is loaned money through GCC's vast endowment. Taking no federal funds, GCC is also able to decline to participate in all government surveys and policy edicts, such as DEI (or I as like to call it "DIE"). Its founding charter states that GCC enrollment is limited to 2,000 students, enabling a highly competitive admission process. Currently, less than 1 in 10 applicants is admitted. GCC is Presbyterian-affiliated.
Another factor is the rise of tech schools and community colleges. promoted by Mike Rowe and others. Some kids do seem to be catching on that college isn't for everyone. And income for the skilled trades has been rising for years. One factor in the rising cost of housing that you don't hear about is the labor shortage in the building trades; it started thirty years ago! Mexican construction workers took up some of the slack, but not all of it. They do best on jobs that take a big crew, like roofing. They can have one good English speaker, to deal with the general contractor or the homeowner, and the rest can get by. But not all construction work is crew jobs.
I heard a story, or joke, years ago. A company hired an engineer to fix its computer system. He was there for only a few minutes and pushed a button and solved the problem. "That'll be $10,000", he said. "What?! You were here for such a short time and are charging us $10,000 to push a button?!" "No", he said. "I charged you $1 to push the button. Then he paused. "I changed you $9,999 for knowing which button to push "
My wife's (Jesuit) alma mater:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/11/satanic-indoctrination-georgetown-university-forced-fund-development-worship/
Hillsdale keeps raising is entrance requirements, the number of the applicants continues to rise, but the student population is held constant, which is a good thing.
(My older daughter who graduated 10 years ago, says that were she applying today, she wouldn't have the cred to be accepted. Now, I disagree, but there we are.)
Without tremendous facility expansion (more dorms, classrooms, library, dining facility, etcetera, etcetera) there's no room.
Meanwhile, other initiatives including the WDC Kirby Center Campus (1), the K-12 Classical Education Charter School Initiative (2), and the online outreach (3), the new Masters and PhD in politics (4) plus so much else the sum of which become in many ways greater than the undergraduate program itself.
(1) https://dc.hillsdale.edu
(2) https://k12.hillsdale.edu
(3) https://online.hillsdale.edu
(4) https://gradschool.hillsdale.edu
Those are great initiatives.
Almost went to Hillsdale myself, at the time I didn’t realize it was a bit hard to get into, maybe they were less picky back then. Instead opted for Michigan State as the campus was bigger and many of my friends were going there. I also confess, in light of MSU’s recent failure in preventing sexual harassment and actual assault by faculty members I am not such a proud alumni. Also their Covid policy of forcing kids out of dorms without reimbursement I’ll never forget. I only bring MSU up as it seems to be an exception to the noted trend. In a recent email they were bragging about their highest incoming undergraduate enrollment ever, over 50,000. When I attend there were 42,000. At their current tuition rate of $521 per hour (compared to my $14) I don’t know how they get anyone to apply.
I hope you're not including Jesuit-run colleges in your list of Catholic colleges.
Graduated from a very well known Jesuit run university in N.W. D.C. and it is so woke and out of bounds I gave up on it years ago (even before it was normal to be anti-woke.) Complete junk show. What happened, right?
No, of course not--even though I went to a Jesuit HS and uni.
I graduated from a Jesuit university.
Phew! I'm glad you're not going soft. :)
I am VERY happy to read this. We've got a long way to go, but I will take any step forward.
My firm (a 60-ish attorney, DC-area boutique of talented lawyers who left Big Law to practice with colleagues we actually like) recently interviewed a Hillsdale summa cum laude grad (and exceptional law-school student) who would never have been in our weight class (salary and otherwise) absent the bias against Hillsdale and the Christian Legal Society in DC. Outstanding candidate, the likes of which we haven't seen in a very long time, even from the fanciest schools.
Nice to see Belmont Abbey holding strong. As someone with an 81yo uncle who was the top HS center in Brooklyn in '59-'60 and got sent to country-a$$ NC to play for Al McGuire because my off-the-boat grandmother (whose brogue I could never really understand) said that, of all the scholarships, it was the only place Catholic enough to straighten him out, I love this.
CUA is coming up in the world in a big way. Happy to take a massively-increasing number of my NY-native friends' kids out to dinner in DC.
Ah, we were DePaul fans (my father was a psych prof there, too, as well as at Marquette, before winding up at Loyola) when Al was coaching at Marquette. Great guy. Great rivalry.
Mark where did you go to school? I am a Domer myself.
Loyola in Chicago, for undergrad and law. My father was a psych prof and we (one of eight) got free tuition. I started in 1968. Things were still much different than they are now.
You seem like a Midwestern Catholic, that’s why I asked. I was hoping that I didn’t miss getting to know you if we were somewhere at the same time. You are fifteen years advanced beyond me though.
I'm about two miles as the crow, err eagle, flies from the Hillsdale college Chapel (1). Both my gurlz attended, wife is an adjunct there, for almost a decade.
Very strong Catholic population among the students, and upwards of three dozen converts to the Faith yearly.
There has been TLM celebrated in the new Chapel, but it is not a regular feature. Hillsdale College is non-denominational.
While I would have much more strongly preferred Bishop Strickland to be last year's graduation speaker, Bishop Barron gave the address(2). (President Arnn didn't ask me.)
Hillsdale President Arnn says Justice Thomas is most consequential man he knows. President Arnn is the most consequential man I know.
There is one Catholic church in Hillsdale county, St Anthony of Padua (3). We have 14 Masses a week, including a 7:15am Mass averaging 70+ Tuesday through Friday.
1. https://youtu.be/TVKI8L-346I?si=28bURFU3mCofhuhN
2. https://youtu.be/VFJYF3MiZLU?si=xuMEY2_yep8kYi_r
3. https://stanthonyhillsdale.com
There's actually--or was in past years--quite a back and forth between Hillsdale and UD. Faculty kids from one going to the other, etc. Yes, I was aware of the strong Catholic presence there, having visited several times.
Still a lot of back and forth with UD.
Hillsdale has a large catholic population and I hear it even hosts a Latin Mass.
Before Hillsdale, my alma mater, Grove City College, was the forerunner in declining "government assistance" and interference. In the landmark case, Grove City College v. Bell, GCC won the "right" to abolish all federal contributions and partnerships with the federal government, including student loans. Any student requiring financial assistance is loaned money through GCC's vast endowment. Taking no federal funds, GCC is also able to decline to participate in all government surveys and policy edicts, such as DEI (or I as like to call it "DIE"). Its founding charter states that GCC enrollment is limited to 2,000 students, enabling a highly competitive admission process. Currently, less than 1 in 10 applicants is admitted. GCC is Presbyterian-affiliated.
Another factor is the rise of tech schools and community colleges. promoted by Mike Rowe and others. Some kids do seem to be catching on that college isn't for everyone. And income for the skilled trades has been rising for years. One factor in the rising cost of housing that you don't hear about is the labor shortage in the building trades; it started thirty years ago! Mexican construction workers took up some of the slack, but not all of it. They do best on jobs that take a big crew, like roofing. They can have one good English speaker, to deal with the general contractor or the homeowner, and the rest can get by. But not all construction work is crew jobs.
There are a lot of good trends with males increasingly eschewing college. The trades offer a solid way for a young man to earn a living.
I heard a story, or joke, years ago. A company hired an engineer to fix its computer system. He was there for only a few minutes and pushed a button and solved the problem. "That'll be $10,000", he said. "What?! You were here for such a short time and are charging us $10,000 to push a button?!" "No", he said. "I charged you $1 to push the button. Then he paused. "I changed you $9,999 for knowing which button to push "
That is a superb solution to a bad situation.
Nothing you could say about Sr. Bergoglio I haven't said already. I don't consider him to be a Catholic, much less a bishop of any sort. Complicated.