High school seniors applying to American universities are wrapping up their college applications this December and making final decisions about where to apply.
If you’re a senior, or the parent or grandparent of one, you might be wondering which secular colleges have robust Catholic communities that can support your faith during your college years.
Even at secular institutions, you can find an incredible Catholic community. Many campus ministers report a “golden age of campus ministry” with a huge surge of Catholic converts at colleges around the country.
Fr. Daniel McShane, Assistant Chaplain of St. John's Catholic Newman Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, perfectly described how helpful it can be to have a great Newman Center or Catholic parish near your college:
There are great Catholic colleges doing amazing work in the Church — Ave Maria and Franciscan and University of Mary and all these others. We feel that we can offer that same experience of Catholic formation and community at the Newman Center, while engaging in mission at the same time on a huge, secular, Big Ten campus. Students get this beautiful “real life experience” of living their faith and being nourished, but also bearing witness.
Here at Aleteia, we wanted to offer you a list of public universities known to have strong Catholic communities, to help inform your college decisions. We drew ideas from interviews with campus ministers, this Reddit thread, this list of Newman Centers, and conversations with friends and on social media.
This list is not comprehensive — so please let us know which schools we missed in the comments! And remember, this list does not include Catholic universities.
We would love to hear of more schools to add to this list. Hopefully this list can help inspire your college decision process!
Bowling Green State University
Clemson University
College of Charleston
Iowa State University
Kansas State University
Michigan State University
Michigan Technological University (known for their students building an ice chapel and holding Mass there each winter!)
North Dakota State University
Northern Michigan University
Oklahoma State University
Pittsburg State University
Purdue University
Purdue University – West Lafayette
South Dakota State University
Southwestern Oklahoma State University
Texas A&M University
The Ohio State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State)
The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech)
United States Military Academy (West Point)
University of Alabama—Huntsville
University of Central Florida
University of Central Oklahoma
University of Colorado Colorado Springs
University of Georgia
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (here’s our article about their remarkable Newman Center, the largest in the U.S.!)
University of Kansas
University of Louisiana–Lafayette
University of Louisville
University of Maryland
University of Minnesota–Duluth
University of Minnesota–Morris
University of Nebraska–Lincoln
University of Nebraska Omaha
University of North Dakota
University of Oklahoma
University of South Carolina
University of Utah
University of Virginia
University of Wisconsin–Madison
University of Wisconsin–Platteville
Western Kentucky University
Wichita State University
Wright State University
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