Two-Year College For Underserved Students: Butler University Comes Up With New Initiative

Two-Year College for Underserved Students: Butler University is establishing a two-year institution that will provide historically underserved students in the Indianapolis area with affordable higher education.

The university reports that the majority of students who enrol in the new college, which is set to open in the fall of 2025, will be able to earn a bachelor’s degree at Butler for less than $10,000. Additionally, they will be able to earn an associate’s degree without incurring any debt or out-of-pocket costs.For the current academic year, the sticker price for tuition at the majority of undergraduate programmes at Butler University is $44,990.

Butler and the Come To Believe (CTB) Network, a national nonprofit that assists four-year institutions in the planning and launch of two-year colleges as a pathway for underserved students to earn four-year and two-year degrees, collaborated on the venture.

The third institution to join the CTB network is Butler. 2015 saw the establishment of Arrupte College at Loyola University in Chicago, and 2017 marked the debut of Dougherty Family College at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis.

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Two-Year College For Underserved Students

“A radical vision for the era, Butler University was established in 1855 on the fundamental principle that women and people of colour should have equal access to higher education as white men,” announced Butler President James Danko. “In certain segments of our population, unequal access to higher education continues to exist, nearly 150 years later.” It is a substantial issue that necessitates our consideration.”

Danko further stated that the ‘Come to Believe’ model is not only groundbreaking in its methodology but also possesses well-established results, which strongly aligns with Butler’s initial objective. We are deeply honoured to have been chosen to be a part of the Come To Believe Network. We are united in our dedication to effecting positive change in the lives of others through strategic collaboration.

Students will be afforded the opportunity to enrol in the new college, where they can pursue associate’s degrees in Allied Health or Business. The Indianapolis Star reports that Butler will exclusively recruit commuter students. Butler has no further information regarding the tuition fee or admissions prerequisite, but it intends to establish them at levels that maximise the affordability and accessibility of the new option.

“Many underserved students aspire to attend Butler University, which is precisely the type of competitive institution where they could succeed with the proper assistance,” said Steve Katsouros, S.J., Ed.D., Founder, President, and CEO of Come to Believe Network. “By recognising the potential of higher education, this forward-thinking institution acknowledges how CTB’s model can enable a greater number of young students in the Indianapolis metropolitan area to realise their full potential.”

CTB has allocated an initial funding of $500,000 to Butler in order to facilitate the college’s operations. This assistance was enabled through the generosity of the John & Kathleen Schreiber Foundation.