The College of St. Joseph the Worker, in Ohio, is one of a group of emerging Catholic institutions. Catholic colleges have had a tough few years. Cabrini University in Pennsylvania announced closure plans last summer. Cardinal Stritch University in Wisconsin shuttered at the end of the last spring semester, as did Holy Names University in California. Presentation College in South Dakota closed this past summer. Those four have joined a growing list of small, private Catholic institutions resorting to closures and mergers under the pressures of regional demographic shifts, enrollment declines and rising costs. But those frightening headwinds haven’t deterred some brave souls from stepping out on faith and starting a spate of new, niche Catholic postsecondary institutions. They include Catholic Polytechnic University, a STEM-focused institution, and Catholic trade schools and colleges that blend vocational education with liberal arts and theology. Leaders of these ventures say their institutions are catering to religious students alienated from and skeptical of the value of traditional higher education and looking for unique alternative routes to careers. The Reverend Dennis Holtschneider, president of the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, noted that many Catholic colleges were historically founded to serve burgeoning immigrant populations in the Northeast, areas where the number of traditional-age students are now dropping. But as some older colleges struggle to fill classrooms, he’s seen a handful of these, new post–high school options spring up. To survive in the current higher ed landscape, “you have to pick a strategy that makes you different from the rest, and for all five of these, that’s true,” Father Holtschneider said. “They’re claiming very specific spaces … These are kind of new attempts to be very specific in the marketplace for a need they believe exists.” Read more... Sara Weissman Sara Weissman is a reporter at Inside Higher Ed. She writes about adult learners, low-income and first-generation students, students from underrepresented backgrounds and the colleges and universities that serve them, including community colleges and minority-serving institutions. She also covers religiously affiliated colleges and all things religion and higher ed. Send her story tips at sara.weissman@insidehighered.com.