The University of St. Thomas is a comprehensive, co-educational, Catholic university. It seeks to develop morally responsible individuals who combine career competency with cultural awareness and intellectual curiosity.
In its undergraduate program, the university is committed to the development of the student through a liberal arts education within the living Catholic tradition and through a high degree of personal attention in a spiritually and intellectually stimulating campus environment.
Graduate programs emphasize the integration of theory with practice, enhance the professional competence and ethical judgment of their students, and foster personal growth and an appreciation of lifelong learning.
In all of its academic programs and other educational enterprises, the university is committed to meeting the diverse, changing needs of the community. Throughout, the university fosters in the student a tradition of service to the public welfare and an energetic, thoughtful approach to the challenges of contemporary life.
The University of St. Thomas (also known as UST or simply St. Thomas) is a coeducational archdiocesan Roman Catholic institution of higher learning based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Founded in 1885 as a Catholic seminary, it is named after St. Thomas Aquinas, a medieval Catholic theologian and philosopher who is the patron saint of learners in the Roman Catholic Church. Now a university, it currently enrolls more than 11,000 students, making it Minnesota's largest private college or university. St. Thomas' recently revised mission statement is as follows:
Father Dennis Dease became the 14th president of the University of St. Thomas on July 1, 1991.
Founded in 1885, St. Thomas began as an all-male, Catholic seminary. John Ireland, archbishop of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, started the St. Thomas Aquinas seminary, which became a liberal arts college in 1894. A gift from local railroad tycoon James J. Hill provided funds to establish the St. Paul Seminary apart from the college. In 1896, college officials made an artificial lake on campus, Lake Mennith, using water from an underground stream. Located in the lower quadrant, the shallow lake dried up in 1922. The College of St. Thomas became a military-based school for undergraduates in 1906 and awarded its first academic degrees in 1910. Before that, the school gave out two-year diplomas in commercial and classical programs. In 1915, the college and St. Thomas Military Academy for high school students split into two institutions and in 1965 the academy moved to Mendota Heights, Minnesota. The college later dropped its military distinction in 1922.
From the late 1920s through the mid-1930s, the Holy Cross Fathers, who run the University of Notre Dame, controlled the college's administration. The diocese called those priests in to help with the school's financial problems; those priests were known as a crisis intervention team of sorts for parochial schools of that time. During World War II, St. Thomas served as a training base for naval officers, which kept the school open when men who would have attended college were fighting in the war. After the war, in 1948, the college established 'Tom Town' on the eastern end of the lower quadrant, which is currently home to the O'Shaughnessey-Frey Library. Tom Town consisted of white, barrack-like housing units for faculty, students and their families. The units helped to meet housing demand after WWII.
|
Full-Time vs. Part-Time
|
Men vs. Women
|
||||
|
Race/Ethnicity
|
|
In State vs. Out-of-State
|
Top States for Incoming Freshman
|
| Percent of Students International: | 3% |
| On-Campus Housing Available: | Yes |
| Percent of Students Living On-Campus: | 30% |
| Freshman Students Required to Live on Campus: | No |
| Member of: | NAA, NCAA |
| Sports Include: |
Football (Minnesota Intercollegiate Ath Conf) Basketball (Minnesota Intercollegiate Ath Conf) Baseball (Minnesota Intercollegiate Ath Conf) Track (Minnesota Intercollegiate Ath Conf) |
| Tuition & Fees (undergraduate) | Expenses | ||
Average Tuition for Full-Time Undergrads: |
$ 22,880 | ||
Required Fees for Full-Time Undergrads: |
$ 348 | ||
| Financial Aid | Avg. Amount Received | % of Students Receiving Aid | |
Federal Grants: |
$ 3,364 | 16% | |
State and Local Grants: |
$ 3,360 | 25% | |
Institutional Grants: |
$ 7,107 | 99% | |
Student Loans: |
$ 6,825 | 61% | |
Any Aid: |
100% |
| Acceptance Rate: | 80% (Selective) |
| Test Scores | |
| SAT Scores: | |
| % of Students Submitting SAT Scores: | 15% |
| Bottom 25th Percentile: | Verbal: 540, Math: 530 |
| Top 75th Percentile: | Verbal: 657, Math: 650 |
| ACT Scores: | |
| % of Students Submitting ACT Scores: | 97% |
| Bottom 25th Percentile: | Composite: 22, Verbal: 21, Math: 22 |
| Top 75th Percentile: | Composite: 27, Verbal: 28, Math: 27 |
| Formal Demonstration of Competencies: | Not Required |
| High School Diploma or Equivalent: | Recommended |
| High School GPA: | Required |
| High School Rank: | Required |
| High School Record: | Required |
| Recommendations: | Recommended |
| TOEFL: | Required |
| Test Scores: | Required |
