What do you make of Arrupe College?

Last updated on: July 8, 2015 at 8:17 am by Jane the Actuary

What do you make of Arrupe College? 2015-07-08T08:17:43-06:00 Jane the Actuary

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

This is a new endeavor at Loyola University in Chicago: a two-year college program sponsored by the university, intended for needy and first-generation college students, opening its doors in the fall. See this article in the National Catholic Reporter, and the website of the program itself. (This was featured in the news a couple weeks ago, but got forgotten about as a draft for a while.)

The core idea is this: at a rate of $10,410 per year (that is, $12,910 less a $2,500 “scholarship” for all students), or about $1,500 when the Pell Grant and Illinois’s MAP grant are offset, Loyola University is offering a community college experience, specially tailored to its target demographic. The classes are limited in number, with specialization offered in Arts & Humanities, Business, and Social and Behavioral Sciences. The faculty will be specific to the program, and, in addition to instructors, there will be a heavy emphasis on advisors and advising, with advisory periods built into the schedule. Students will also be expected to “work at a job for 20-25 hours a week and they will contribute $1,700-$1,800 towards their tuition.”

Surprisingly — or perhaps not so suprisingly — the students are not particularly high achievers: “ They have grade point averages around 2.5 and ACT scores in the 17-22 range,” according to the NCR article. Perhaps, for the target demographic, this is a good GPA — or perhaps the higher achievers got free ride scholarships to traditional university programs.

How did Loyola arrive at this bargain price? On the one hand, they say they’re not “charging” any of the overhead costs — the space being used by this program was vacated when another department moved into a new facility, and other overhead costs will also not be included in the tuition — “the admissions office, security, the health and wellness group” are mentioned specifically in the NCR article but the Arrupe website lists the whole array of Loyola facilities:

Access to Loyola University Chicago libraries
Career development counseling
Financial literacy programming
Transfer counseling as students research, prepare, and apply to baccalaureate programs
Accommodations for students with disabilities
Fitness membership to Loyola’s Water Tower Campus Fitness Center
Participation in Loyola’s intramural sport programs
Admission to Loyola athletic events
Student U-Pass

though whether this is all considered “overhead not a part of tuition” isn’t clear. (And some of these items shouldn’t really be labelled overhead, as there’s a clear marginal cost to the U-Pass, or additional users requiring more slots in the intramural sports or equipment at the fitness center.) At the same time, it also isn’t clear how much of the cost is due to the instruction, vs. the counseling.

In the end, though, the tuition rates are artificial: Pell Grant + MAP Grant + 1,500 “earn your way” obligation. Presumably this tuition rate will rise in line with Pell increases. Will it also decrease if Illinois reduces its MAP grants (its program of supplemental grants for very low income students)? This would seem to go against the “official line” that students are “paying their own way” and that tuition is set based on careful stewardship of resources, but there is, of course, plenty of room for reshuffling funds from donors or endowment, or, let’s face it, the tuition dollars of the full-pay students.

So, as I said, I read about this a while back, but it sat as a draft because I couldn’t decide what my “take” on this would be:

Is the emphasis on advising and counseling a positive, improving the graduation rate for at-risk students? Or will there be so much hand-holding, tutoring, etc., that the value of the degree is diminished, and the student’s achievement, and ability to succeed more independently afterwards, is in doubt? I also didn’t see any offerings in remedial coursework, and couldn’t really find any indication of whether this means students are presumed not to need these courses, or take them with Loyola proper, or if they plunge into regular coursework with the hope that tutoring is sufficient — or even whether the classes themselves are simply less rigorous so that less-prepared kids can do well in them. (Note that their goal for the program is that the students achieve an average 2.8 GPA.)

Given that a university such as this could make the decision to simply provide generous institutional financial aid for low-income students (and could have, for all we know, simply moved some of the available financial aid from “regular Loyola” to this program or allocated it to cover the “overhead”), was it the right call to create this special program vs. admitting these students to “regular Loyola”?

Or should we abandon the skepticism? Has the university truly and genuinely come up with an innovative way to provide a low-cost education by limiting the “frills” (even if the “frills” in this case are the typical wide selection of courses)?

To put it in Glenn Reynolds’ terms: is Arrupe College, in its own small way, disrupting the Higher Education Bubble, or reinforcing it?

Uncategorized

Previous Post

July 7, 2015

"THE DEAL" is more than just a cringe-worthy acronym

Next Post

July 8, 2015 "Secular Catholic schools" and same-sex marriage: the case of Waldron Mercy Academy

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Actuarial/Retirement Issues Politics Uncategorized

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 December 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 August 2021 June 2021 April 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did fire from heaven consume to prove Elijah's God was real?

Select your answer to see how you score.

A golden calf Sacrifice on Mount Carmel A chariot The temple