College Guide
Campus ministries keep mission W BY LOIS ROGERS Correspondent
hen the COVID-19 pandemic arrived last year, maintaining community became a top goal for college campus ministers in the Diocese of Trenton and beyond. The quest could be said to reflect St. John Paul II’s 1987 observation that even in “the context of changing and challenging times,” Catholic universities and scholars “bear so much promise under the action of the Spirit of truth and love.” Such was the case for Jeff Schaffer, director of campus ministry at Lakewood’s Georgian Court University, who explained that it was a priority to go virtual as quickly as possible to keep students connected to each other and their faith. Over the past year, offerings have included livestream liturgies, Masses, prayer services and more. “The presence of the pandemic did not deprive me of the experience to participate in events and programs,” said GCU student Jhelaine Palo. The flexibility of the online format, she said, has been a great advantage since her typical schedule would have limited her ability to attend retreats and programs. For example, a recent online retreat, she said, “allowed me to share my faith with others, expanding to other components of my faith such as service and social justice. It reminded me that faith is more than just contemplation. It also involves action.” Cristina D’Averso-Collins, director of Catholic ministry at Monmouth University, West Long Branch, said the students and ministry
Georgian Court University, Lakewood, has a long tradition of campus community, as seen here in 2018 as students prepare sandwiches for a local nonprofit. The university has continued to keep togetherness a priority, ensuring that students are staying connected virtually during the pandemic. Photo courtesy of Tyler Chamra of Chamra’s Camera/Georgian Court University
38 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE March 2021
Theologian Dr. Edward Sri takes part in a virtual meeting with students from the Catholic ministry at Monmouth University, West Long Branch. Courtesy photo
team continue to adapt to the pandemic’s restrictions. “When it [the pandemic] started, we met online once a week with the students,” she said. As the pandemic wore on, there were luncheon meetings in a video setting. Speakers included Dr. Edward Sri, the noted theologian who appears regularly on Eternal Word Television Network. The campus ministry also launched a podcast and recently recorded a Lenten episode, and the students gather once a week for Lectio Divina Scripture readings. They are also invited to attend Sunday Mass during Lent at nearby St. Michael Church, where D’Averso-Collins is a parishioner
front and center in virtual environment and serves as a cantor. “The students do need each other,” she said. “Being able to share sacramental graces is such an important part of our culture.” MEETING THE CHALLENGE Across the nation, continuing to foster college campus communities during COVID-19 is viewed as a necessity for students dealing with the loss of in-person classroom and social relationships. As such, creating virtual ministries for higher education was a key subject of the recent annual meeting of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, held online in early February.
The speakers – administrators from Catholic universities across the nation – focused on visions such as online liturgies accompanied by email, blog and video communication. Webinars, retreats and a variety of programs augmented by virtual office hours for students with spiritual and emotional needs were recommended. “The pandemic is our moment, a time to reground ourselves in mission and express our love of learning, focus on our charisms and recover the gifts of the communal spirit with healthy assistance from technology,” said Shannon Green, director of the CSJ Institute at Mount St. Mary’s University in Los Angeles. Online assistance is something GCU
has found helpful in more ways than one. “Last spring, we did a series of short video reflections that were posted on YouTube that were quite popular,” Schaffer said. “We plan to do another series for [the annual] Critical Concerns Week,” March 18-24. GCU’s Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults process went online, too, he noted. There were several virtual retreats on the university’s educational platform throughout the school year, including “Leadership for Social Transformation,” “How Long O Lord?” during Advent, and “Mardi Gras to Lent: From Feasting to Fasting.” Continued on 40
DISCOVER THE
NU YOU. 48 career-oriented academic programs All Catholic high school students receive a $3,000/yr Catholic High School Grant 24 NCAA DIII teams Ranked among the best by U.S. News & World Report, Best Colleges 2021, for Social Mobility, #8 in PA and Regional Universities, North College of Distinction
Visit: www.neumann.edu/applyNJT
CATHOLIC EDUCATION IN THE FRANCISCAN TRADITION
SUBURBAN PHILADELPHIA March 2021 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 39
NU_7.5x5_TrenMonitor.indd 1
1/6/21 9:36 AM
College Guide Students need community Continued from 39
The university has also focused on the stress the pandemic has caused students. “The counseling department has made efforts to make themselves available for virtual sessions,” Schaffer said. He noted that the university staff is mindful of the strain students are feeling in these “uncharted waters” – not just from school, but from family and societal issues as well. AN ONLINE COMMUNITY As students reflected on their virtual faith sharing experiences during the pandemic, it was apparent that the efforts to foster community and faith have proved fruitful. “This has really been an uplifting moment,” said Missionary Sister of the Precious Blood Pascaline Musyoka, a first-year transfer student at Georgian Court University. “While the pandemic paralyzed every other activity, I had the privilege of participating in almost all the spiritual activities, which happened to relieve me from the stress-condensed environment of having to be glued to a machine,” said Sister
Pascaline, who is from Kenya. Speaking of a retreat experience, she said, “[It] was very impressive because I felt as though this was a family coming together despite the distance existing between us. Unknown to each other physically, meeting online was so consoling and encouraging. There was much to gain from these opportunities that I can hardly “The express.” Abigail A. Miller, president students do of the board of students of the Catholic Campus Ministry at need each Monmouth University and its other.” pro-life chair, said that when the lockdown first began, she felt disconnected from the ministry. “Many of the students were at home in different states when the semester started,” she said, “but things improved when the online sessions began.” She continued, “People started thinking of these ideas, speakers started to appear and there was our weekly Lectio Divina which Cristina leads. It’s a great time through conversation. Things feel much more normal than they did.”
T H E U N I V E RS I TY O F S C R A N TO N A CATHOLIC AND JESUIT UNIVERSIT Y
Master of Arts in Theology The only GRADUATE THEOLOGY program of its kind in the region: • Internationally recognized faculty • Intellectually rigorous environment • Study abroad opportunities • Affordable tuition Among the
“10 top master’s universities in the North” — U.S. News & World Report
For more information visit
scranton.edu/MAtheologyinfo 40 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE March 2021
A TRANSFORMATIVE EDUCATION EXPANDS POSSIBILITY. A Georgian Court education is a holistic education in the Catholic tradition, one dedicated to the intellectual, ethical, physical, and spiritual development of our students. Formation of the whole person leads to a life of professional and personal fulfillment, with an emphasis on service for the common good. Values-based Education Learn and live our Mercy values of respect, justice, compassion, service, and integrity. Affordability More than 98% of our students receive generous financial aid. Strong Outcomes Our graduates earn $10,000 more than expected 10 years after graduation.
Several options to visit:
> Drive-through campus tour
> Guided walking campus tour
> Virtual one-on-one counselor chat
900 Lakewood Avenue, Lakewood, NJ 08701 To learn more, call 732-987-2700 or visit expand.georgian.edu
Committed Community We’ll help you become your best self. Diversity GCU is a welcoming place for ALL students.
Georgian Court University does not discriminate in its recruitment and admission of students, regardless of gender, race, creed, color, religion, age, national and ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, or veteran status.
March 2021 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 41
College Guide Federal ‘free’ tuition could leave students adrift, college leaders say BY EMMALEE ITALIA
The problems with free tuition
Contributing Editor
S
hould college tuition be free at public institutions of higher learning? And how will that impact private colleges, including Catholic universities? This topic was one of a multitude discussed during the annual meeting of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities Feb. 5-6.
4-year completion rates
“It’s about serving them well, not having them borrow money and drop out.”
freepik image
“Free tuition isn’t free,” said Donald E. Heller. “Somebody has to pay – if not the student, someone else is picking up the cost of tuition, unless you can convince all your faculty and staff to work for free and your vendors to give you everything you need to run a university for free.” Currently the vice president of operations at University of San Francisco, Calif., Heller addressed online attendees during a virtual session titled “The Free
Public 4-year All
Asian/Pl
Private NFP 4-year White
Hispanic
AI/AN
Black
This graphic shows the difference in graduation rates between institutions of higher learning, contrasting public four-year and private four-year schools, by ethnic background. The data indicate a higher graduation rate across all ethnicities at private institutions, underscoring the presenters’ concerns that students taking advantage of free tuition at public colleges will be attending schools that have an inferior track record in graduating students. Graphic courtesy of ACCU Tuition Movement and Catholic Higher Education.” Fellow presenters included Linda Lemur, president of Le Moyne College, a Jesuit college in Syracuse, N.Y., and Daniel J. Elsener, president of Marian University, a Franciscan college in Indianapolis, Ind. The idea of free college is nothing new. It again came to the forefront, however, during Joe Biden’s U.S. presidential campaign and promises to support legislation that would make tuition free at public institutions of higher learning. President Biden’s plan, drawn heavily from one proposed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), would allow a family income of up to $125,000 for public four-year universities, with no income cap for attending community colleges.
42 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE March 2021
Funding the plan, Heller explained, would be tax-based – one-third state and two-thirds federal cost share – for an estimated total of $683 billion over 11 years. The first year alone would cost $50 billion. Ramifications of the free tuition program could be devastating – not only for taxpayers, but also for students who take advantage of the program, as well as private universities, which do not receive federal or state funding, the speakers said. For example, LeMura cited her state’s Excelsior program, which provides free tuition at state and city institutions for families and individuals making up to $125,000 per year. LeMura detailed how instead of helping students, it has instead encouraged them
to apply to schools that don’t have the track record of private institutions, and has caused enrollment at schools like Le Moyne to go down. “[Excelsior] aids those that already pay a low amount of tuition, so poor students are not really benefitting as we might think they would,” she said. “It’s taking away from the private sector and putting some of these students into some institutions whose retention and graduation rates [are less successful].” All three presenters advocated for other means to offer tuition assistance to lower-income families through use of larger Pell Grants, tuition assistance programs and scholarships. Heller’s proposition is to put the same money into federal Pell Grants, which would allow the grants to double from the current maximum amount of $6,195 to $12,690. “It would target the students whom
For more information on the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities and its February virtual conference, visit www.accunet.org. we know really need the assistance,” he suggested, “and it would allow students to use the Pell at any institution in the country, including institutions like ours that have higher tuition rates.” The state-based free tuition program in New York “is a stark departure from the bipartisan commitment to fund students based on the institution that really represents the best match for a student’s career aspirations,” LeMura explained. “A better option in our view would have been to take those resources and put them in the tuition assistance program – a clear, means-tested program that has helped educate thousands over the decades.” Marian University gives scholarships to students who qualified for free and reduced lunches in their K-12 schools.
Elsener said that the scholarship option, as well as following each student with counseling, have resulted in their graduating at a higher rate than the general population. “If I would have told them ‘come here for free,’ I would have offered them a commodity, something not all that special that they didn’t have to invest in,” he said. “We raised money from foundations to put in systems and processes to coach and mentor these students.” “It’s not just about getting in the door,” Elsener continued. “Our voices should be out in the public square. It’s about serving them well, not having them borrow money and drop out … Let’s be targeted, let’s make sure that whatever program we start can pass the next economic sobriety test.” B B. B.S .S. S. . i M N in in n C A EW E He sp om JO al or pu RS th ts te ca M r re a Sc Ad na ien m gem ce in ist en ra t tio n
RANKED IN THE “TOP 15” Best Value Colleges in the North by U.S. News & World Report
DISCOVER YOU • 31 Nationally Acclaimed Undergraduate Degrees • 98% of Recent Graduates Employed, in Graduate School or Participating in a Service Project • One of the Most Affordable Private Universities in New Jersey
SCHEDULE A VIRTUAL EVENT AT
caldwell.edu/connectvirtually Caldwell, NJ
March 2021 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE 43