Chicagoland

Loyola’s Arrupe College grads complete four-year degrees

By Michelle Martin | Staff writer
Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Loyola’s Arrupe College grads complete four-year degrees

When Jacqueline Cruz graduated from Lane Tech College Prep in 2015, she wanted to go to four-year university right away. She applied to — and was accepted at — several schools, but her family wasn’t able to send her given the financial aid she was offered.
Brandon Thomas, a graduate of Arrupe College, laughs with a classmate following Loyola University Chicago’s College of Arts and Sciences commencement ceremony at Gentile Arena on May 9, 2019. (Lukas Keapproth/Loyola University)
Arrupe College and University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate Jacqueline Cruz (right) walks to class with her classmate Karissa Harenda along Bascom Hill on the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s campus on May 2, 2019. (Lukas Keapproth/Loyola University)

To read this story in Spanish, click here.

When Jacqueline Cruz graduated from Lane Tech College Prep in 2015, she wanted to go to four-year university right away. She applied to — and was accepted at — several schools, but her family wasn’t able to send her given the financial aid she was offered.

Cruz was left calling the schools that accepted her, finding out if they would hold her acceptance for a year or two while she attended community college and tried to save some money.

When she called Loyola University Chicago, she learned about another option; the university was just launching Arrupe College, a two-year school for Chicago students who didn’t have the means to start right away at a four-year school. The college opened in 2015.

“I think I chose it over one of the Chicago community colleges because I was able to meet the staff and the dean, and everyone seemed motivational,” said Cruz. “They seemed like they wanted to help the incoming students. They seemed more supportive than the community colleges.”

They also were able to assure her that her credits would transfer to most four-year colleges in Illinois.

Cruz, 22, graduated in May from the University of Wisconsin at Madison with a degree in rehabilitation psychology and a minor in Chicano/Latino studies. She is among 34 students who entered Arrupe College in its inaugural year and graduated with a four-year degree this spring.

All told, 103 members of the cohort that started in 2015 graduated in two years, and of those, 69 entered a four-year institution. Nearly half — 47 percent — took just two more years to graduate. Several more are on track to graduate by the end of 2019.

Nationally, 38 percent of two-year college students who go on to seek a four-year degree complete it within six years, according to the most recent data available from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

Cruz said the support she received at Arrupe turned out to be hugely beneficial.

“My first semester, I was having such a hard time with my classes. I never felt hesitant in reaching out,” she said.

Once she had her associates degree in social and behavioral sciences, she went off to Madison to have the college experience, complete with a big campus and nationally ranked football team, that she always wanted.

Even then, she said, she sometimes checked in with her old Arrupe professors when she needed advice or a critical eye to check over assignments.

Now she intends to take a gap year to work before going to graduate school, with a goal of becoming a counselor.

Brandon Thomas, who graduated from Arrupe in 2017 with a degree in history, also thought he was ready to move away for college once he graduated from Christ the King Jesuit College Prep.

“I wanted a fresh start, a fresh new perspective on life,” Thomas said.

But he didn’t get into his first-choice college, and his counselor suggested he look at Arrupe. He graduated this spring for Loyola University Chicago with a degree in history.

He commuted from his family home on the West Side all four years. Now he plans to take a year to work with students, then go to graduate school and pursue a career in higher education.

“I had already learned how to balance school and work at the same time,” Thomas said. “Arrupe was the perfect place to enhance those skills and learn new skills. Academic skills, interpersonal skills. And I could still be a part of the city.”

He said he would recommend Arrupe to students following in his footsteps.

“Not only is it easily affordable, but it works with you,” Thomas said. “And you’re attached to a university, and you can use all those resources.”

That doesn’t mean his decision to stay at Loyola was a foregone conclusion.

“Loyola seemed like they could challenge me in a way other history programs didn’t,” he said. “I did pretty good. I’m proud of what I’ve done here so far.”

Topics:

  • arrupe college
  • catholic colleges

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