Loyola University Chicago Opens First Jesuit Community College

BY ISN STAFF | February 23, 2015

Guided by Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J.’s mission for Jesuit schools to educate men and women to serve others, Loyola University Chicago has established the Arrupe College.  Arrupe will be a two-year junior college that will prepare students in the Jesuit tradition and enable them to transfer to four year college or university.

Without financial aid, annual tuition will cost $12,500 with an additional $400 student services fee. It is expected, however, that most or all students will qualify for federal and state financial assistance. Additionally, all admitted students will receive an Arrupe scholarship totaling $2,500 per year and assistance with finding employment opportunities. Taking into consideration all avenues of financial assistance, the college expects the total cost of attendance to be less than $1,000 per year.

The Arrupe College is still pending approval from the Higher Learning Commission. If approved the College will offer three Associate of Arts degree programs: Arts and Humanities, Business, and Social and Behavioral Sciences. Upon graduation, qualifying students are welcome but not mandated to transfer to Loyola University Chicago or another institution to complete a four-year bachelor degree.

In a message posted on the College’s website, Fr. Stephen Katsouros, S.J., Dean and Executive Director of the Arrupe College, promises that “Arrupe students will experience academic achievement and intellectual growth” and “grow in confidence in a rigorous higher ed setting that will prepare them to transfer successfully into a four-year college or university—with little or no debt.”