Frequently Asked Questions

You’re correct, SMC is not geared to any particular profession; instead she prepares her students for a life of purpose and reason in and out of the workplace, whatever the profession. 

While on the surface it may seem like a no brainer for a college student to jump right into professional training, there are compelling reasons to consider a liberal arts degree before doing so.

According to the National Survey of College Graduates, a survey conducted by the National Science Foundation, only about half of those who graduate with engineering degrees work in the engineering industry. A Liberal Arts degree, along with a working knowledge of computer programming (which doesn’t require an expensive degree), has the same chance of getting you a job in a STEM field. What’s more, STEM skills learned in college quickly become obsolete. A 2020 economic study found that the value of STEM skills learned in college actually decreases with time. STEM degree holders, according to the research, had to learn new skills on the job to keep up with rapid advancements in their field or face losing their edge against the next wave of STEM students.

On the contrary, a liberal arts formation develops skills that age well, and apply to all jobs.  Even in the technical fields, problems involve many more factors than those normally relegated to science and math.  Solving these problems will be done better by someone with a Liberal Arts background.

Also consider that professions that require professional certification, like accounting, don’t require a specific degree.  Courses for the professional certification can be found online for much less than the cost of a degree.

Need more convincing?   Billionaire business entrepreneur Mark Cuban predicts “there’s going to be a greater demand in 10 years for liberal arts majors than there were for programming.”  Read about this interview here, and see our page on Why Liberal Arts?

Although the subject matter may be the same in name, the college student is not the same person as he was in high school, and the depth of coverage in college far exceeds what is possible in high school. Being in college is not a matter of passing through a certain amount of knowledge, but rather reaching a greater understanding of the truth we have been immersed in our whole lives, and how to apply that understanding to continue to learn and grow for a lifetime.

What is needed in the late teens and early twenties is a deep dive into Catholic culture so that the intellect and will may be fully formed. The student is then ready to pass on the tradition to others–in whatever future capacity Providence provides. In today’s culture war, it is critical that traditional Catholics not cede the educational field to the various modernist movements; it is vital to raise up a group of defenders of Catholic civilization.

This quote is from Dr. Michael King, Director of the Business School at Benedictine College in Atchison, KS:

“Several years ago, our MBA program decided on a strategic initiative to attract students who come from an undergraduate background in liberal studies and humanities. That was at a time when SMC only had an AA degree. Now that the SMC awards the BA degree, their graduates will be highly prized recruits to our MBA program, not only because of their undergraduate curriculum but because of the high quality of SMC graduates (both in their academic skills and in their personal character). We became familiar with the high quality of SMC graduates when AA-degreed students came to complete the BA here (several of whom completed BA degrees in the School of Business). This experience has served to enhance our desire to attract BA-degreed students into our MBA program.”

For more information about Benedictine’s MBA, click here.

Yes, you may end up working at one of the most successful global corporations in history—but not flipping burgers. “In the long run it’s the people with the liberal arts backgrounds who end up being CEOs,” according to a professor at McMaster University’s Integrated Business Humanities program(4).  John Marcus, “How the Humanities can train Entrepreneurs,” The Atlantic, September 20, 2017.

SMC is the only place in the world where a classical liberal arts curriculum is grounded in the uncompromised teaching, liturgy, and culture of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.

• Daily Mass and frequent access to sacraments are the norm.
• Professors with the same values and beliefs as the students, devoted to passing on their knowledge and understanding.
• A program grounded in the realities of God and His Creation
• A College family located within a larger parish community

For more reasons, see Why SMC?

One thing to consider is that St. Mary’s College is far less expensive than the national average of  both public and private institutions.  See our Cost page for the numbers.

There are scholarships available to SMC students from public and private sources.  As a recent example, SMC students competed and won scholarships from the Foundation for the Restoration of America.  See the announcement here.

It can be daunting to sift through the information to find potential sources for financial aid.  That is why we now have a college financial aid advisor available.  This advisor will be assisting students to find and apply for financial aid.

In 1985, Father Angles wrote this answer as Rector of St. Mary’s Academy and College.

“Dear Friend,

Why should you attend a Traditional Catholic College?

Because it is an aid to solve the only important quest in human life and in history: the quest for Truth, its perception and execution in freedom; the quest for the ultimate reason for existence and the highest good.

The answer to this prevalent question can be found only in traditional Catholic education, which develops in a harmonious manner “the whole aggregate of human life, physical and spiritual, intellectual and moral, individual, domestic and’ social, not with the view of reducing it in any way, but in order to elevate, regulate, and perfect it, in accordance with the example and teaching of Our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Pius XI, The Christian Education of Youth)

Man’s nature is threefold–physical, mental, and moral. Develop his body only and you produce the athlete, the prizefighter. Develop his mind only, to the neglect of his moral nature, and you have the sharp, shrewd man of the world, without a conscience. Develop his moral side only and you produce the fanatic, the fool. But develop all of these together and you have the noblest work of God. This entire development is alone worthy of the name of education. Any other training renders a man lopsided and imperfect.

The Catholic Church is the greatest teacher the world has ever known. Ever since that eventful day when Christ said to His Apostles, “Go, teach the whole world the doctrines I have taught you,” the Church has not ceased for one moment the great work of teaching. Her essential mission is a mission of teaching. Great bodies of men and women were organized in the Church and went through long courses of training to prepare them for the lifework of teaching generations of Catholic students in the search for Truth. They imparted the same complete course of training everywhere. Not merely one part of the student’s nature was attended to, but the body, mind, and heart were simultaneously and harmoniously developed.

Education nowadays, even Catholic education, has experienced a terrible collapse. Liberalism, rationalism, and humanism have perverted traditional values and subverted the sublime order of human intelligence to the eternal living Truth which is God. Only by restoring this fruitful docility to God in all things shall we be able to serve the Truth in its beauty and royal majesty.

In our poor times in which the rights of God are spurned, in which it seems that humanity no longer has a conscience as its guide to right and wrong, the Society of St. Pius X offers in St. Mary’s College a classical, liberal arts program and a college of education founded upon traditional principles. We teach our students how to live here on earth, that they may live forever hereafter with God, Who is our origin and our eternal destiny.

We put St. Mary’s College under the protection of the Blessed Mother, Throne of Wisdom; St. Joseph, who was the guardian of the Incarnate Wisdom; St. Michael and the Holy Angels, who submitted themselves freely to the decree of the adorable Trinity; and St. Thomas Aquinas, the prince of Catholic scholars.

May they help us to restore all things in Christ.”