c. 2006 Religion News Service
YPSILANTI, Mich. _ Talk about a faculty-student ratio.
When Ave Maria College classes begin in the fall, the Catholic school will be one of the smallest colleges in the country: six faculty members, three students.
One of those students, 21-year-old Bonnie Beales, isn’t sure what lies ahead. In her senior year, she’ll have terrific access to professors, but campus social life might leave a lot to be desired.
The arrangement is the result of a promise Catholic philanthropist and Domino’s Pizza magnate Tom Monaghan made to keep the school open until 2007.
In late 2002, after Ann Arbor Township denied permission for an Ave Maria campus at Domino’s Farms, Monaghan announced he would build Ave Maria University northeast of Naples, Fla. Then, from a peak of 229 students in 2003, Ave Maria College enrollment gradually dropped until this past fall when administrators realized they might have only 31 students.
The school then offered a deal: a free ride next year at Ave Maria University in Florida, or up to $15,000 toward costs at another university. Nineteen took the $15,000, and seven have indicated they will transfer to the Florida campus, which is under construction. The university has preliminary accreditation by the American Academy for Liberal Education.
Beales and the two other students didn’t accept the offer. Beales worried about what a transfer to another college might cost if it didn’t accept all of her Ave Maria credits. Extra hours, she said, could cost extra money _ more than the $15,000 Ave Maria offered. She also felt school administrators hadn’t sufficiently answered her questions.
But Beales is ambivalent about staying. “The professors are all really great. Classes are small, and you can always ask questions.”
She and the two other students, all of them seniors, will have to move from an Ave Maria dorm to an apartment. Social life will be different, and Beales worries about security on an almost-empty campus, which includes 11 buildings east of Eastern Michigan University.
The two other students were unavailable for interviews.
Beales, a theology major, would eventually like to teach the Catholic faith. She studied at the University of Wisconsin her freshman year but switched to Ave Maria, at least partially because all of its professors have taken an oath to uphold traditional Catholic teaching.
Beales also liked the chance for daily Mass, the clear rules for behavior and a close-knit community. “It’s wholesome,” she said.
Would she consider a renegotiated deal with Ave Maria? Maybe.
Several doors away from the classroom where Beales talked, Henry Russell, chairman of the literature department, worked in his office. He’ll continue as a full-time faculty member but won’t teach during the fall semester.
It’s not clear, either, whether he’ll teach in the spring. Neither Beales nor the two other students need his courses now. Russell plans to concentrate on his research as a Shakespeare scholar. “I haven’t had a sabbatical in a long time,” he said.
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Very small classes are obviously an advantage, but institutional resources, such as a limited number of professors, could limit the breadth of learning possibilities, said Bryan Cook, a senior research associate at the American Council on Education, which represents 1,800 colleges around the country.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, the smallest schools offering bachelor’s degrees each have three students: the Reformation International College in Fellsmere, Fla.; Toyota Technological Institute at Chicago; and UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside Dietetic Internship in Pittsburgh, Pa.
Next fall at Ave Maria, administrators will include a librarian, Ave Maria President Dan Guernsey, and several hourly workers. “What these students will have,” Guernsey said, “is unprecedented access to the most valuable educational resources: brilliant, caring teachers.”
And a lot of space in the library.
KRE/JL END ODONNELL
(Catherine O’Donnell writes for The Arbor News in Ann Arbor, Mich.)Editors: To obtain photos of Bonnie Beales, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.
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