Catholic School CompassAuthentically Catholic.

Guide

Choosing a Catholic college

There are more than 200 Catholic colleges and universities in the United States, and they differ a great deal. Some are large research universities; others are small liberal arts colleges with one curriculum for every student. This guide helps you compare them on what matters to your family.

What makes a college “Catholic”?

In federal data, a college is Catholic when it reports a Roman Catholic religious affiliation to the U.S. Department of Education. That is the definition this Guide uses to decide which colleges get the full faith scorecard. In Church law, the Code of Canon Law (can. 808) says no university is to bear the title “Catholic university” without the consent of competent Church authority. Many colleges were founded by religious orders, such as the Jesuits, Benedictines, Franciscans, Dominicans, Holy Cross, or Sisters of Mercy. Each brings its own tradition, or charism, and the school page names the sponsor when the school’s own site does.

The Church’s charter for Catholic universities, Ex Corde Ecclesiae (1990), describes what such a university is meant to be. Among other things, it asks that Catholic students “be encouraged to participate in the celebration of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist” (§39), that every Catholic university have “a faculty, or at least a chair, of theology” (§19), and that “the Christian spirit of service to others for the promotion of social justice” be developed in students (§34). Our four pillars follow those themes.

The four pillars, and what to look for

1. Sacramental life

  • Is Mass celebrated on campus every weekday, or only on Sundays?
  • Is confession scheduled each week, or by appointment only?
  • Is there Eucharistic adoration, and is a chapel open for prayer?
  • Is there a full-time priest chaplain?

2. Theology and core curriculum

  • How many theology and philosophy courses must every student take? Requirements range from none to eight semesters.
  • Does at least one required course teach Catholic theology specifically, or can the requirement be met with any religion course?
  • Does the core curriculum describe itself as drawing on the Catholic intellectual tradition?

3. Campus culture and residence life

  • How large is the campus ministry staff, and how many retreats does it offer each year?
  • What Catholic student groups exist, such as Bible studies, FOCUS, Knights of Columbus, or liturgical ministries?
  • Are single-sex residence halls available? What is the overnight guest policy? Families weigh these differently; the scorecard reports them and gives them modest weight.

4. Service and Catholic social teaching

  • Is there a service center, and is service-learning part of the curriculum?
  • Is Catholic social teaching taught, in a required course, a minor, or a center?
  • Are there both pro-life and other justice and solidarity programs, such as support for pregnant and parenting students, immersion trips, or migration and poverty work?

How to read a school’s scorecard

  1. Start with the evidence, not the letter. Every indicator opens to the exact sentence on the school’s own website that supports it, with the date we last confirmed it.
  2. “Not found” is not “no.” It means we could not document something in official sources. Ask the school.
  3. “Not enough information” appears when public sources cover too little of a pillar to grade it fairly.
  4. Weigh pillars yourself. The custom ranking lets you double the pillars your family cares about most.

Academics: the other wing

Each four-year college also has an Academic Excellence grade, computed from federal data: how many students graduate and return after the first year, how prepared entering students are, and how much teaching attention and investment each student gets. The Compass Score combines the two, three parts faith to one part academics, after St. John Paul II’s image of faith and reason as two wings. Read the Faith grade and the Academic grade separately, too: a strong Catholic college with modest selectivity may be exactly right for your student. How the formula works.

Cost and outcomes

The Cost and value panel on each school page shows federal data: average net price after grants, median debt, and earnings ten years after entry. Cost is never part of any grade. Use each college’s net price calculator for your own estimate. The U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard has more detail by field of study.

Don’t overlook secular campuses

Many Catholic students attend public or secular private universities, and Church law asks bishops to provide “Catholic university centers” even at non-Catholic universities (can. 813). Every other college on the Compass has a Catholic life rating covering its Catholic campus ministry, priests, Mass and confession times, student groups, and nearby parishes. See What a Catholic campus ministry offers.

Next steps

Updated Oct. 7, 2026.