FEATURED
‘Faithful colleges can survive if they stay affordable,’ Catholic leader says
The Covenant Scholars Foundation, a private student loan program, launched this year to provide lower interest rates for students seeking an education at faith-based colleges and universities.
CSF was founded with the belief “that education financing works best when it is grounded in trust, personal responsibility, and a shared commitment to one another’s success,” according to its website.
Founded by Samford University Vice President for Finance Colin Coyne, CSF currently operates solely at Samford but plans to expand to other faith-based institutions.
Coyne told The College Fix that the foundation seeks partnerships with institutions that have a “Christ-centered mission” and demonstrate “authentic Christian hospitality.”
CSF also prioritizes institutions with academic excellence, historically low loan default rates, and “institutional financial stability,” he said.
Coyne also said the organization expects to provide loans to more institutions in the fall of 2027. However, he said that CSF “will prioritize flawless execution before rushing to market.”
He noted that undergraduate students tend to choose a school for its faith more than graduate students, who tend to emphasize reputation and price.
This means that at the graduate level, the elimination of GradPLUS loans threatens faith-based schools by forcing students toward lower-cost public universities or expensive private lending, ultimately leading to declining enrollment in the private sector.
“Public universities clearly are favored in this environment as state appropriations unavailable to private universities support operating expenses,” Coyne said.
He added that students attending faith-based universities consistently pay back their student loans at a much higher rate than the national average.
Students at these schools, “have loan default rates equal to about a third of those at public universities and about half the rates of non-Christian higher education. Yet, students attending Christian universities are not being rewarded for better repayment histories.”
The College Fix also reached out to the Cardinal Newman Society, a nonprofit which seeks to promote faith-based education, specifically by determining which Catholic colleges and universities are truly faithful.
President Patrick Reilly of the Cardinal Newman Society told The Fix that “Many colleges are expected to close in the coming years, due to America’s low birth rate.”
“But faithful colleges can survive if they stay affordable and evade threats to their religious freedom,” he said.
Reilly said private loan programs that support the mission of religious education are a key solution to meeting these challenges.
Much like CSF’s initiative, some faithful colleges are already working towards replacing federal funding by other means, he said.
“All would surely welcome private alternatives, and given the growing threats to religious education, I expect many new options like Covenant Scholars Foundation will pop up in the next few years,” Reilly said.
He also mentioned the dangers of dependency on government funding.
“Title IX includes strong protection for religious colleges. But politicians and activists keep trying to dismantle religious freedom to force their LGBT and pro-abortion agenda on religious education,” he said.
President Reilly added, “It’s a great time to get out from under the thumb of Washington.”
He also said that in addition to low-interest loans, it’s time to lower tuition rates to help families afford faithful education.
“Families who choose religious colleges prioritize faith and learning over getting a cheap diploma. But many others who value religious education simply cannot pay the cost,” he said.
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