Colleges included on this page have expressed faithfulness to the church document on Catholic higher education Ex Corde Ecclesiae or have a general reputation for orthodoxy and faithfulness to the Magisterium and an interest in and openness to homeschooled applicants. These are to the best of my knowledge – in-depth study about a potential institution of higher learning is absolutely essential. A visit to the campus is a very good idea. Not a complete list!
Many of these colleges offer a summer program for high-school students, to give them a chance to "try out" the college. Please see our page on Summer Programs at Catholic Colleges for High Students for more.
Ave Maria University
5050 Ave Maria Blvd.
Ave Maria, FL 341142
(239)280-2566 or (877) 283-8648
"Ave Maria University is a vibrant Catholic university located in beautiful southwest Florida. It is an academic institution that pledges faithfulness to the teachings of the Church and is committed to providing one of the finest classical liberal arts curricula available. Ave Maria is known for faithfulness to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, a caring faculty and staff, and a unique educational philosophy that strives to develop the whole person. Read more about the University's Mission and our History here. Academics is the heart of every educational institution. It is what we strive to do best within a truly wholesome Catholic environment. The professional staff and challenging curriculum provide students with training that empowers them to step out into the working world with a strong confidence in their academic foundation."
Belmont Abbey College
100 Belmont-Mt.Holly Road
Belmont, NC 28012
(888) 222-0110
Vision Statement: Belmont Abbey College finds its center in Jesus Christ. By his light, we grasp the true image and likeness of God which every human person is called to live out. We aim to renew that likeness in all dimensions of life for our students and members of our community through curricular and co-curricular programs of excellence and virtue based in the liberal arts as practiced in the Catholic and Benedictine intellectual traditions. Read the entire Vision Statement.
Benedictine College
1020 North Second Street
Atchison, KS 66002
(913) 367-5340 or (800) 467-5340
"Heir to the 1500 years of Benedictine dedication to learning, the Benedictine College mission as a Catholic, Benedictine, liberal arts, residential college is the education of men and women within a community of faith and scholarship." See more on Benedictine College's mission here. One of the college's focuses is to transform culture in America through living its mission, "by modeling community in an age of incivility, spreading faith in an age of hopelessness, and committing to scholarship in a ‘post-truth’ era."
Benedictine College is one of a very few Newman Guide recommended colleges with a fully-accredited engineering program. The college offers "over 50 majors, pre-professional programs, and master's degrees."
Catholic Pacific College
7720 Glover Road
Lagnley, BC V2Y 1Y1
CANADA
(604) 888-7727
Located about thirty minutes from Vancouver, British Columbia, Catholic Pacific College (formerly Redeemer Pacific College) is a liberal arts college with an academic partnership with Canada's leading Evangelical University (students take some courses from each institution). Catholic Pacific College professes to be entirely faithful to Pope John Paul II's Ex Corde Ecclesiae (an important document on Catholic higher education), is associated with the Franciscan University of Steubenville, and has Dr. Scott Hahn as an advisory board member.
The Catholic University of America
620 Michigan Ave., N.E.
Washington, DC 20064
(202) 319-5000
Located in Washington, DC, the Catholic University of America was "founded by the Catholic bishops of the United States, with a charter from then Pope Leo XIII, to be the national university of the Catholic Church in America." "Established in 1887 as a papally chartered graduate and research center, the University began offering undergraduate education in 1904." Today, "Catholic University is a national research university with more than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students in 250+ academic programs on a residential campus in the heart of Washington, D.C. We provide a transformative experience — academically, spiritually, and socially — to prepare you for a life of meaning and purpose."
Catholic University offers some specific guidance to homeschoolers seeking admission at their website. Their admissions counselors offer additional help, and the website offers a virtual campus tour. Eligible high-school students may also take a limited number of courses through CUA's dual-enrollment program, taking up to 2 courses per semester.
The campus also hosts the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Christendom College
134 Christendom Drive
Front Royal, VA 22630
(800) 877-5456
Christendom College was founded in 1977 by famed Catholic historian Warren Carroll, in response to the Second Vatican Council's Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity "with the vision of providing a liberal arts education that would fully integrate natural and revealed truth." The College provides a core curriculum in the liberal arts, and offers undergraduate degrees in Theology, Philosophy, History, Classical and Early Christian Studies, English Language and Literature, Political Science and Economics, and Mathematics.
Franciscan University of Steubenville
1235 University Boulevard
Steubenville, OH 43952-1763
(800) 783-6220
With over 30 majors leading to hundreds of careers and vocations, Franciscan University of Steubenville is one of the largest Catholic schools to find favor among homeschoolers. The school's renowned Faith Household system provides for Christ-centered social, spiritual, and sports activities. A semester abroad program in a renovated fourteenth-century Austrian monastery features supervised trips to famous Catholic shrines and churches throughout Europe. In 1989 Franciscan University of Steubenville became the first Catholic university in the United States to administer the Oath of Fidelity, professing adherence to the teaching authority of the Church.
Franciscan University offers a limited number of courses online via its "Fast Track" dual enrollment program. High-school students who enroll may earn up to 36 college credit hours through this program taking up to 2 courses per term. On-campus opportunities are also available to teens in the area.
Holy Apostles College and Seminary
33 Prospect Hill Road
Cromwell, CT 06416-2005
(860) 632-3010
“Holy Apostles is a bright light in a rather dark world.” ~ Father Benedict Groeschel, CFR.
Holy Apostles College & Seminary offers a philosophically-based undergraduate Catholic liberal arts honors curriculum anchored by 97-credit mandatory core with four Bachelor of Arts majors: Philosophy, Theology, English in the Humanities, and History in the Social Sciences. Lay students study, pray and interact with seminarians from more than a dozen dioceses and orders who attend Connecticut's only major Roman Catholic seminary on campus (most famous alumnus: Father John Corapi). Holy Apostles is a fully accredited co-ed commuter college with the lowest tuition of any private college in New England: $7,800 for 2007-2008.
John Paul the Great Catholic University
10174 Old Grove Road, Ste. 200
San Diego, CA 92131
(858) 653-6740
"John Paul the Great Catholic University is a visionary teaching institution focused on and dedicated to molding students into future innovators and creators, leaders and entrepreneurs. Students have the opportunity to acquire a deep and personal knowledge of Jesus Christ. Catholic ethical, moral, and social values provide a guiding compass for everything we do. The Senior Business Plan provides a framework for student teams, with diverse skill sets, to spark new ideas, to unleash talent, and to create opportunities by building new entrepreneurial ventures. Experienced faculty guide the incubation and launch of the student businesses into the marketplace.
The Founders are driven by the vision of creating a world-class university for students seeking degree programs in communications media, technology, and business. The curriculum will rigorously prepare students to challenge a world in which there is an explosion of knowledge but not of understanding, a lack of trust and ethics in leadership and the media, a need for new enterprises that demonstrate a moral and ethical purpose, and an obligation to recognize the intrinsic human value of its workers."
Magdalen College
511 Kearsarge Mountain Road
Warner, NH 03278
(603) 456-2656
"Magdalen College is a small, Catholic, liberal arts college, founded by laymen in response to the Second Vatican Council's teaching on the lay vocation and lay apostolate. The mission of the Magdalen Program of Studies is to impart an integrated Catholic liberal arts education and to teach and form its students intellectually, morally, socially, and spiritually. This is accomplished through the rigorous study of works by great thinkers, close personal interaction between teachers, staff, and students, and a vibrant community life."
St. Vincent College
300 Fraser Purchase Road
Latrobe, PA 15650-2690
(724) 532-6600
Mission: "Saint Vincent College is an educational community rooted in the tradition of the Catholic faith, the heritage of Benedictine monasticism and the love of values inherent in the liberal approach to life and learning. Its mission is to provide quality undergraduate and graduate education for men and women to enable them to integrate their professional aims with the broader purposes of human life. The programs, activities and encounters that make up student life at Saint Vincent College encourage the intellectual gifts, professional aptitudes and personal aspirations of students to mature harmoniously."
Admissions has a dedicated homeschool counselor, currently Brother Xavier O'Mara, OSB; Dr. Michael Krom, chair of the philosophy department and director of of Benedictine Leadership Studies, as well as director of the Faith and Reason Summer Program, is a homeschool dad and a great resource.
Thomas Aquinas College
10000 North Ojai Road
Santa Paula, CA 93060
(800) 634-9797
Thomas Aquinas College, founded by Dr. Ronald McArthur in 1971, is a devoutly Catholic, classical Great Books program. Very homeschool friendly, nearly 30 percent of the student body have been homeschooled. It has an excellent reputation for orthodoxy, fine academics and a strong community life. All students study the same materials and only one degree – a Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts – is offered.
In 2019, TAC added a New England campus located in Northfield, MA.
Thomas More College of Liberal Arts
6 Manchester Street
Merrimack, NH 03054
(603) 880-8308
"We believe in the necessity of the liberal arts, believe that it is important for everyone to withdraw from the concerns of the world for a short time in order to reenter it with renewed understanding and vigor. A good education does not diminish the challenges of life – it may even increase them – but it makes inevitable sufferings more understandable, more bearable, and even an access to joy."
University of Dallas
1845 East Northgate Drive
Irving, TX 75062
(972) 721-5000
"Quite unabashedly, the curriculum at the University of Dallas is based on the supposition that truth and virtue exist and are the proper objects of search in an education. We find that this search is best pursued through our nationally-recognized Core Curriculum, a common set of works, experiences, courses upon which is built an intense involvement in the major field."
University of Mary
7500 University Drive
Bismarck, ND 58504
(701) 355-8030 or (800) 288-6279 (MARY)
Mission: "The University of Mary exists to serve the religious, academic, and cultural needs of the people in this region and beyond. It takes its tone from the commitment of the Sisters of Annunciation Monastery. These Sisters founded the university in 1959 and continue to sponsor it today. It is Christian, it is Catholic, and it is Benedictine." See more here.
Under the leadership of Monsignor James P Shea, U Mary has recently seen an increasing focus on orthodox Catholic identity and growing popularity with homeschool families. It is one of the least-expensive colleges recommended in the Newman Guide, and is known for its amazing food as well.
University of Navarra
31080 Pamplona
Navarra, Spain
+34 948 425600
Catholic University founded by St. Jose Marie Escriva in 1952. Offers a "Bridge Year" program of intense Spanish studies that some students (including homeschooled students from the United States) take between high school and college.
University of Saint Francis
2701 Spring Street
Fort Wayne, Indiana 46808
(800) 729-4732
"The University of Saint Francis exists to challenge and engage a diverse student body by facilitating learning and personal development in an environment permeated by Franciscan values. This fundamental mission puts our students and their personal and professional learning at the heart of all we do at the university. Although we have been doing this for over 110 years, recent innovations and the completion of a comprehensive strategic plan have strengthened our ability to provide an excellent, student-centered learning experience grounded in the Catholic/Franciscan tradition."
University of Saint Thomas
3800 Montrose
Houston, Texas 77006-4626
(800) 856-8565
"We are the University of St. Thomas, the Catholic university in the heart of Houston. We are committed to the Catholic intellectual tradition and the dialogue between faith and reason. By pursuing excellence in teaching, scholarship, and service, we embody and instill in our students the core values of our founders, the Basilian Fathers: goodness, discipline, and knowledge. We foster engagement in a diverse, collaborative community. As a comprehensive university grounded in the liberal arts, we educate students to think critically, communicate effectively, succeed professionally, and lead ethically."
Wyoming Catholic College
163 Leedy Drive
Lander, WY 82520
(877) 332-2930
"Wyoming Catholic College is a four-year, coeducational, Catholic liberal arts college designed to school the whole person in his three dimensions: physical, intellectual, and spiritual. We accomplish this by immersing our students in the beauty of the outdoors, by introducing them to the wisdom of Western tradition and thought as found in the Great Books and Good Books of the past, and by making them part of a small Catholic community.
"This combination of educational spheres results in students who know that truth exists, understand how to seek it, know how to think clearly and express their thoughts intelligibly, and expect to find delight in learning throughout their lives. Moreover, they perceive that a great measure of happiness it to be had by a moral life led in relationship with God.
"WCC provides a comprehensive education in literature, philosophy, theology, history, the fine arts, languages, mathematics, and the basic sciences. The complete curriculum helps students realize their place in history and see what best serves them and their world, and allows them the freedom to pursue any career they choose."