Higher education is in crisis-and nowhere is this crisis more urgent than among Catholic institutions.
As skyrocketing student debt prompts major news outlets to ask, "Is college worth it?", families increasingly measure the value of a degree solely on financial terms. This transactional environment is hostile to the core mission of Catholic higher education, which insists on educating the whole person-preparing students not just for a career, but for a meaningful life dedicated to the common good and the transcendent end of humanity.
Unfortunately, too many Catholic schools have succumbed to this narrow economic focus. By aligning programs strictly with employment trends, emphasizing graduate salaries in marketing, and suppressing their religious identities to aid recruitment, they have compromised their unique value proposition. Worse, this strategy is failing: Catholic colleges continue to close at a devastating rate of five per year.
This book proposes a radical, necessary alternative. Drawing from his pioneering Higher Education Holistic Impact Report (HIR), Jason King identifies the true soul of Catholic higher education in the areas where its graduates consistently excel: meaningful lives, community engagement, and ethical decision-making.
Using a pragmatic, bottom-up approach, King focuses on the actual campus practices that shape students' lives. By doing so, he offers a concrete roadmap for leaders, educators, and stakeholders to embody the distinct mission of Catholic higher education. This book is a powerful, data-backed defense against the reductionist financial views that threaten these historic institutions, showing how they can thrive by reclaiming-rather than hiding-their unique character.
