Navigating Financial and Mission Pressures in Catholic Higher Education

This book offers the first comprehensive study of a little-examined sector of American higher education: American colleges and universities affiliated with Catholic dioceses. Drawing on original research across eleven institutions, it explores how these institutions understand and enact their missions, exploring themes including identity, leadership, holistic development, liberal arts, global citizenship, inclusivity, and vocational preparation. Using multiple sources of evidence (e.g., interviews, observations, institutional artifacts, AI-assisted content analysis), the book examines how diocesan institutions balance mission, governance, societal expectations, and contemporary challenges facing American higher education. In doing so, it offers new perspectives on the relationship between institutional purpose, organizational practice, and the future of American higher education. Written for scholars and graduate students in higher education, leadership and organizational studies, Catholic studies, and ministry and seminary programs, this book also provides valuable insights for university leaders, policymakers, and practitioners. By defining and analyzing the diocesan higher education sector as a distinct collective, it fills a literature gap while offering a framework for understanding the contributions, challenges, and potential role of American diocesan colleges and universities in shaping the future of higher education.