As many smaller Catholic colleges face demographic and financial challenges, a new generation of institutions is emerging: one that combines a commitment to Catholic faith and practice with a more vocational focus.

In the Los Angeles area, Catholic Polytechnic University hopes to become the next “Catholic Caltech” or “Catholic MIT.” In Steubenville, Ohio, St. Joseph the Worker College, which welcomes its first class of students this fall, offers an innovative six-year program that combines vocational training with a Catholic liberal arts education.

Other Catholic trade schools have recently opened, including the Santiago Trade School in California, Harmel Vocational Academy in Michigan and CatholicTech outside Rome.

These schools are taking advantage of a national trend. Liberal arts colleges are facing declining enrollment due to the smaller size of Generation Z and backlash against the high tuition costs and crippling debt many graduates face. Meanwhile, trade and vocational schools are attracting increased interest as a more affordable and practical alternative. From 2021 to 2022, enrollment in mechanics and repair programs increased by 11.5 percent and construction trades increased by 19.3 percent, while culinary programs attracted 12.7 percent more students (according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse cited by The Hechinger Report).

Jennifer Nolan, a neuroscientist and founder of Catholic Polytechnic University, told the Register that the idea came to her because of her children’s interest in studying science and technology in college. As Catholic parents, Nolan and her husband faced a dilemma: either send them to a traditional Catholic liberal arts college without an emphasis on science and technology, or to a local STEM-focused vocational school, where they worried that an atheist teacher would try to talk himself into. the children of their faith.

“What if we had a Catholic Caltech or a Catholic MIT, where faith and science could be brought together openly, and students could see their blockchain professor in worship and their AI professor in their day job?” Nolan said. She envisioned a university where students could take courses in philosophy, theology, and writing while studying science through the lens of their faith.

Catholic Polytechnic University is mission-driven with the goal of showing that science is a path to faith by educating Catholic scientists whose careers will be founded on a conviction in the harmony of faith and science. In addition to the school’s evangelical vision, there is also a need for scientists with a strong ethical foundation given today’s forays into biotechnology, among other fields, according to Nolan.

San Damiano Trades College it is based on a similar vision that seeks to combine a trade or professional education with Catholic values. The college aims to serve “traditionally minded Catholic families (many of whom are homeschoolers), who put faith first in all things, and who want an alternative to high debt, high wokeism, and the standard white-collar career of the BA ,” said college president Kent Lasnoski.

While vocational alternatives are available at other trade schools and community colleges, Catholic students won’t find the “worldview, theology, spiritual formation and cultural formation” they’re looking for at those institutions, Lasnoski explained to the Register.

San Damiano, located in Springfield, Illinois, also fills a geographic void because the corridor from Minnesota and Wisconsin through Illinois, Michigan and Missouri does not have enough faithful Catholic colleges for families who prioritize Catholic identity in colleges, according to Lasnoski.

In turn, Santiago School of Commerce open in 2023 after “identifying a critical need for a Catholic institution to integrate technical trade education with spiritual formation,” Mayra Brown, the school’s director of community relations, told the Register. “Our hands-on, experiential learning model equips students with real-world skills in general construction, mechanical technology and agricultural management, allowing them to apply their training directly to ongoing projects. What really sets Santiago apart is our commitment to holistic training. We have a dedicated Department of Catholic Formation led by a chaplain from the Ordinariate of St. Peter’s Chair, a Carmelite priest and a Ph.D. who all work together to guide the spiritual development of our students. This ensures that they grow not only as skilled craftsmen, but also as individuals firmly rooted in their Catholic faith and moral values.”

“The reception has been incredibly positive,” she added, “with strong support from local parishes and the wider Catholic community. We are proud to train craftsmen who are prepared to serve both the Church and society with their skills and values.”

The College of St. Joseph the Worker was founded to address similar geographic and institutional gaps. The college is located in Steubenville, Ohio, and offers a program that combines elements of a trade school with a traditional liberal arts school, with an emphasis on the formation of the whole person as a faithful Catholic and skilled tradesperson.

“St. Joseph the Worker College is not a cookie-cutter program. We entered the higher education fray with a completely unique model: a Catholic liberal arts degree combined with training in a skilled trade,” said Michael Gugala, vice president of enrollment.

On September 25, the school’s first class of 31 students began what will be a six-year program, split between three years on campus and three years off campus, learning their trade while taking classes remotely .

While studying the traditional liberal arts on campus, students will also begin their training. The first year provides an overview of the residential construction trades; afterwards, students will have to choose a specific job. The school initially offers concentrations in carpentry, plumbing, electrical, and HVAC.

“Our students are educated in the Catholic intellectual tradition and at the same time are trained as capable craftsmen,” Gugala said. “This qualified scholar model is designed to form leaders who are ready—spiritually, intellectually, physically—to live out the unique aspects of lay vocation—sanctifying family, workplace, and society.”

The Catholic Polytechnic University, meanwhile, has its first graduate schools this fall and will begin advertising for undergraduate students for the upcoming academic year.

At a time when skyrocketing student debt has many questioning whether a four-year college is worth it, Nolan said the school has made affordability a major priority, keeping freshman tuition at a remarkably low level of $5,000. (The average cost of a four-year school is $38,270, including tuition and fees, according to the Education Data Initiative. Caltech is even more expensive, with an estimated cost of attendance of $90,822 to $94,380, depending on whether students live on or off campus.)

Patrick Reilly, president of the publishing Cardinal Newman Society The Newman Guide to Catholic colleges, which include the colleges listed in the Register annual “Catholic Identity College Guide,” pointed to the new vocational schools as evidence of a broader yearning among Catholic students and their parents for authentically Catholic colleges: “More and more Catholic families are turning again to authentically Catholic education.”