Catholic Universities, the Right to Education, and the Option for the Poor

Abstract

This chapter argues that many Catholic colleges and universities failed to sufficiently embody Catholic social teaching’s option for the poor in recruiting, admissions, and retention policies. It begins with a brief overview of empirical trends concerning the access of students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds to higher education in the United States. Next, it discusses the right to education in Catholic social thought. This section of the chapter highlights Catholic social teaching’s emphasis on the importance of education in overcoming poverty and fostering the right to participation in the life of society. It also argues that in a knowledge-based society the right to education must include access to higher education, particularly for the economically marginalized (a subsequent chapter examines the distinct, but related disadvantages in access faced by racially minoritized students) The second part of the chapter presents empirical data concerning the socioeconomic background of students from selected Catholic colleges and universities. The chapter concludes with some normative conclusions about the degree to which Catholic colleges and universities promote access for low socioeconomic status students and suggests how they might be able to realize this goal to an ever-greater degree.