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For more information, please contact:
Chris Weinkopf, Executive Director of College Relations
805-421-5926 | pr@thomasaquinas.edu

SANTA PAULA, CA & NORTHFIELD, MA — According to the  (ACTA), only seven colleges and universities in the United States deserve an “A+” for the strength of their curricula — and two of them are ���ϲ�����.

On its  website, ACTA reports on the major public and private institutions of higher learning in all 50 states, evaluating them solely on the basis of their core curricula. On Friday, the group  the newest addition to its ratings system: an “A+” grade. The honor is reserved for “the best liberal arts colleges and universities in the nation” — those that require students to take courses in all of seven key disciplines: composition, literature, foreign language, U.S. government or history, economics, mathematics, and natural science.

Out of the 1,100 colleges and universities evaluated, only seven qualify for ACTA’s coveted top ranking. Among these are both ���ϲ�����’s  and  campuses, which, although constituting one college, receive separate listings in the ACTA guide.

“���ϲ�����’s two campuses in California and Massachusetts require all students to complete a shared core curriculum rooted in the Catholic liberal arts tradition,” ACTA reports. “Undergraduates must also study religion, philosophy, fine arts, world history, and the works of Western civilization.”

In the 14 years that ACTA has issued its report, ���ϲ����� has consistently received its highest possible rating. “We are grateful to ACTA for doing the hard work of examining the curricula of American colleges and universities, thereby providing an invaluable resource for parents and students,” says Chris Weinkopf, ���ϲ�����’s executive director of college relations. “And we appreciate its continued recognition of our program of Catholic liberal education, which consists entirely of the Great Books and discussion-based classes.”

These two distinctions make ���ϲ����� unlike any other college in the United States. Says ACTA, “���ϲ����� is an excellent choice for students seeking a rigorous and rewarding liberal arts education.”

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A four-year, co-educational institution with campuses in California and Massachusetts, ���ϲ����� has developed over the past 50 years a solid reputation for academic excellence in the United States and abroad. It is highly ranked by organizations such as The Princeton Review, U. S. News, and Kiplinger. At ���ϲ����� all students acquire a broad and fully integrated liberal education. The college offers one, four-year, classical curriculum that spans the major arts and sciences. Instead of reading textbooks, students read the original works of the greatest thinkers in Western civilization — the Great Books — in all the major disciplines: mathematics, natural science, literature, philosophy, and theology. The academic life of the college is conducted under the light of the Catholic faith and flourishes within a close-knit community, supported by a vibrant spiritual life. Graduates consistently excel in the many world-class institutions at which they pursue graduate degrees in fields such as law, medicine, business, theology and education. .