Click To A List Of Catholic Schools Specializing In Online Degrees
Catholic colleges and universities have, for many years, offered the possibility of a private school education with a strong ethical focus at a relatively reasonable price. While a good percentage of the students at these schools have always been Roman Catholic, most of them also have a strong tradition of welcoming kids from all kinds of religious and ethnic backgrounds (at St. John’s University in New York, for example, only about half the student body is Catholic). I actually attended a branch of Loyola University of Chicago (in Italy) for a half a year some time ago, and found it very open to a non-religious person like myself.
Variations in Online Catholic Colleges
There are well over 200 Catholic colleges in the U.S., serving more than 650,000 students. They range from famous schools like Georgetown (the very first Catholic school in America, founded in 1789) to Our Lady Of The Lake University, a small Catholic school near San Antonio that is known better regionally than nationally. The schools are only loosely affiliated. There are organizations like the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, which has a large membership of Catholic schools, and the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, which represents the interests of 28 Jesuit schools. But generally, the top Catholic universities each pursue their own education programs. You’ll find that some Catholic schools integrate a quite a bit of religion into their degree programs, while others require little at all.
Growth in Catholic Online Degrees
Catholic schools, which are all non-profits, were not big movers and shakers in the initial stages if the online teaching revolution. But they have begun to devote more resources to online degree programs. That’s good news for two reasons: 1) tuition at many of the schools are reasonable – not cheap exactly, but less than other private schools, and 2) many of these schools, like Loyola and Gonzaga, enjoy national reputations. They’re also quite old, which means they tend to have so many alumni spread around that you can regularly come across them in your job hunt after finishing school.
Here’s a listing of Catholic colleges and universities that are offering online degree programs right now:
BENEDICTINE UNIVERSITY
Located near Chicago, this school is proud to call itself a “melting pot” of students from many different religious and philosophical backgrounds. It has a close relationship with the Benedictine order. The school has about 3,000 students, with a bit over 50% of them being female. More than promoting a strictly Roman Catholic viewpoint, the university aims to produce “informed and responsible citizens and leaders in the world community.” It has six colleges. Benedictine’s online degree programs are largely focused on business, public health and nursing. It has some unique offerings in the area of accelerated business degrees, to help you get to your next career step faster:
– Accelerated MBA
– Dual Masters Business / Public Health
– Dual Masters Business Organizational Behavior
– MBA / MSN
– MBA
– MBA Public Health, several specialties
– Master of Public Health
– MSN Nursing, several specialties
– Plus Graduate Certificate programs in Health Management, Epidemiology and Emergency Preparedness
Get information on Benedictine University
LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
Loyola Chicago is one of the largest and oldest Catholic schools in the U.S. It is a private Jesuit school that welcomes students of all faiths and backgrounds. Loyola has a wide variety of master’s and graduate certificate programs online focused mainly on law and public health:
– Master of Arts Bioethics & Health Policy
– Master of Jurisprudence – Children’s Law, Compliance or Health Law
– Master of Laws in Health Law
– Master of Social Work Bilingual
– Plus Graduate Masters Certificates in Public Health, Environmental Lawor Bioethics
Get information on Loyola University
SAINT JOSEPH’s UNIVERSITY
St. Joseph’s is a Catholic school of about 9,000 students based in Philadelphia, that was founded in 1851. U.S. News & World Report has recognized it as #4 among “Up and coming schools” in the U.S. Offers master’s degrees online in business and criminal justice:
– MS Business Intelligence & Analytics – Multiple specialties including Data Science and Cyber Analytics
– MS Criminal Justice
– MS Criminal Justice, Behavior Analysis
– MS Criminal Justice, Federal Law Enforcement
– MS Criminal Justice, Homeland Security
– MS Criminal Justice, Intelligence & Crime Analysis
– MS Special Education
– MS Secondary Education
– MS Health Administration, several specialties
Get information on St. Joseph’s University
OUR LADY OF THE LAKE UNIVERSITY
A small Catholic university in San Antonio. Offers a technology degree program that is certified by the National Security Agency.
Offers several master’s degree online:
– Master of Arts in Counseling, several specialties
– Master of Social Work
Get information on Our Lady of the Lake University
CANISIUS COLLEGE
A private Jesuit college founded in 1870 in Buffalo, NY. The school was ranked 22nd in the top tier of U.S. News & World Report’s 2017 rankings of America’s Best Regional Universities – Northern. Canisius offers masters degree programs online:
– Master Education Technologies & Emerging Media
– MS Health & Human Performance
– MS Applied Nutrition
– MS Community & School Health
– MS Respiratory Care
Get information on Canisius
LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL, MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY
This is the law school of Loyola Marymount University, a private Roman Catholic school of about 940 students in Los Angeles. It was founded in 1920. It offers two law degrees online:
– Master of Tax Laws (LLM)
– Master of Tax Law (MT)
Get information on Loyola Law School
REGIS COLLEGE
Founded in 1927, Regis today is a private Roman Catholic school of just under 2,000 students located near Boston. It was originally a women’s school, but is not co-educational. Regis offers a variety of master’s programs online:
– Graduate Certificate Applied Behavior Analysis
– Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology
– Master of Arts in Strategic Communication
– Master of Education in Special Education
– Master of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis
Get information on Regis
SACRED HEART UNIVERSITY
Sacred Heart is a large (8,000 plus student) private Roman Catholic school located in Fairfield Connecticut, about 50 miles from New York. The school has a wide variety of degrees, and offers onlne programs focused mainly on nursing and social work. It has several “bridge” degrees for nurses:
– Doctor of Nursing
– Master of Science in Nursing – Clinical Nurse Leader, Family Nurse Practitioner, Nursing Education or Nurse Executive Leaders specializations
– Master of Social Work
– RN to Bachelor of Science in Nursing to Master of Science in Nursing
– RN-BSN-MSN, Clinical Nurse Leader, Nurse Education or Nursing Management specialties
Get information on Sacred Heart
