For your life's
purpose

CatholicHigherEd equips students, families, and educators with tools to navigate college decisions through the lens of faith, purpose, and vocation. We help you pursue higher education with clarity—and choose a path that strengthens your vocation.

Intentional search. Confident choice.

Evidence-based insights and proven principles that help students and families make confident, well-formed decisions about their post-secondary future.

Clear evaluation tools

Articles and downloadable resources that present Signal Features along with scalable grading.

Faith-rooted identity metrics

Focused criteria that assess how effectively a college embodies Catholic identity and integrates that into campus life.

Purpose-driven decision framework

A structured set of features designed to help students and families evaluate how well a college aligns with one’s calling and long-term vocation.

Research-based guidance

The list of Signal Features is rooted in professional study and reflects best practices for Catholic higher education outcomes.

Comparative transparency

By applying the same feature-set across schools, families gain a level playing field that makes comparison meaningful and fair.

Implementation resources

Whether visiting campus or reviewing materials remotely, the features are presented in user-friendly print and digital formats for practical use.

CatholicHigherEd compass logo

CatholicHigherEd exists to bring clarity, conviction, and purpose to one of life’s most significant decisions. Rooted in the Catholic intellectual tradition and guided by a clear understanding of human dignity and vocation, CatholicHigherEd equips students and families with research-based tools to discern the college environment where faith, formation, and academic excellence can flourish together.

Through accessible evaluation frameworks, transparent guidance, and a principled understanding of what truly matters in higher education, CatholicHigherEd helps young people choose not only a school, but a path—one aligned with their God-given gifts, their long-term mission, and the life they are called to lead.

The Challenge

Students and families are making one of life’s most important decisions—often without the clarity, framework, or formation needed to choose well.

The modern college landscape is crowded, expensive, and noisy, filled with marketing claims, shifting values, and competing priorities. Many families feel overwhelmed, unsure how to evaluate institutions in a way that reflects Catholic identity, long-term vocation, personal growth, and real outcomes.

At the same time, genuinely Catholic higher education varies widely in quality, mission, and lived identity. Without a reliable, faith-rooted way to assess these differences, students risk choosing colleges that do not support the development of their soul, character, or purpose.

CatholicHigherEd exists to solve this challenge—bringing structure, transparency, and formation-centered clarity to the college discernment process so students can choose not just a school, but the environment where they will become who God is calling them to be.

Our Strategy

CatholicHigherEd meets this challenge by providing a structured, faith-centered framework that brings clarity to college discernment.

The strategy begins with rigorous research that identifies what truly matters in Catholic higher education—mission, formation, identity, outcomes, and the lived experience of students.

These findings are distilled into the Signal Features, a simple yet powerful evaluation tool that helps families assess colleges with consistency and purpose. By translating complex realities into clear, practical criteria, CatholicHigherEd makes comparison straightforward and meaningful.

To ensure those insights reach real families, CatholicHigherEd delivers accessible guidance and resources—including report cards, articles, decision tools, and checklists—designed to support campus visits, conversations, and long-term planning. Every tool is created to help students connect their academic path with their vocation, their faith, and their future.

Finally, CatholicHigherEd advances the conversation through ongoing thought leadership, offering perspectives that challenge conventional wisdom, elevate Catholic identity, and encourage families to think beyond prestige and toward purpose.

Together, this strategy brings clarity to a complex process—helping students choose a college where they can grow in faith, flourish in their gifts, and pursue the life God is calling them to lead.

The Landscape

244

Catholic colleges & universities
in the United States

50%

Catholic families who report difficulty
evaluating school’s Catholic identity

3

Average campuses a high school
senior tours with their family

Why Trust Us

Our tools are simple, rigorous, and shaped by what truly matters.

CatholicHigherEd

Clear, research-driven criteria

Meaningful evaluation beyond messaging

Consistent standards applied evenly

Guided questions to reveal mission & culture

Simplified tools that bring confidence & clarity

Focus on vocation, purpose, and formation

Fair comparisons for intentional decisions

DIY discernment

No reliable way to assess Catholic identity

Heavy reliance on marketing materials

No easy way to compare colleges

Missed red flags during campus tours

Stressful, time-consuming research

Focus on pedigree, not purpose

Difficult to remain objective

Report Card
Walsh University chapel

Articles

Essays that explain key questions about Catholic identity, mission, and college choice.

Empty seats in a lecture hall

Research

The academic work that underpins CatholicHigherEd’s mission.

Students walking on campus

Report Card

A practical tool to help you use the Signal Features in your college search process

Photo of Sebastian Lindstrom

ABOUT THE RESEARCHER

Timothy J. Collins, Ed.D.

CatholicHigherEd is derived from the academic research of Timothy J. Collins, Ed.D. He currently serves as the seventh president of Walsh University, located in North Canton, Ohio. Dr. Collins has reflected on organizational identity that asserts to be aligned with the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church for over three decades.

His children experienced Catholic education attending 11 different elementary and secondary schools during 21 relocations around the world. In the domain of higher education, his children experienced three different Catholic universities. Finally, his very focused experience with institutional Catholicity throughout his doctoral studies reaffirmed his deep appreciation for this gift of “higher” education born “from the Heart of the Church.” He continues his research across the landscape of Catholic higher education in America—a tradition that traces its roots to the archetype institutions of the 11th and 12th centuries at Bologna, Oxford, Paris, and Prague.

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