Students in their junior year at Archbishop Ryan High School intending to take classes at Holy Family University under a new partnership between the schools include, from left, Conor McDonald, Emily Savage, Marikate Kidd, Tom Powers, Taylor Adair, Tyee Childress, Shyler Carpenter and Mary Kate Hampton.

Posted March 22, 2013

Students and faculty at Archbishop Ryan High School will soon be able to earn college-level credits or continuing education credits and a smoother college admissions process through a new partnership with Holy Family University.

And they won’t have to go far as both the archdiocesan Catholic high school and the university are located three miles apart in Northeast Philadelphia.

Administrators from Archbishop Ryan joined officials from the archdiocesan Office of Catholic Education and Holy Family March 20 to sign an agreement in which Ryan students may take dual-credit classes at Holy Family and earn university credits that satisfy their high school graduation requirements.

After graduating from Ryan with at least a 2.5 grade point average, students will find the $25 application fee waived by the university.

Students taking college courses at Archbishop Ryan will pay $200 per course, $400 at the Holy Family main campus.

“We are incredibly excited to be partnering with Holy Family University,” said Carol Cary, superintendent of secondary schools for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. “This arrangement, which further supports and enhances the mission, core values and beliefs shared by both academic institutions, will allow our students and faculty to further their education at a highly competitive local university.”

Teachers, administrators, staff, and employees of Archbishop Ryan will also able to enroll in Holy Family’s undergraduate and graduate courses, as well as degree programs, with waived admission fees and opportunities for grants totaling 20 percent off regular tuition. Most three-credit courses currently cost $535 per credit.

Archbishop Ryan requested courses of study at Holy Family including criminal justice, sociology, education, philosophy and history.

“Holy Family University takes its commitment to support area Catholic high schools very seriously,” said Holy Family of Nazareth Sister Francesca Onley, university president. “We’ve always had a very good relationship with Archbishop Ryan High School … this partnership will serve to further expand educational opportunities to their students, faulty and staff.”

The partnership might expand beyond Ryan, suggested Arthur Goon, head of enrollment at the university, “We are fortunate to have Archbishop Ryan High School as a partner in this endeavor,” he said. “We hope this agreement will serve as a model for developing similar partnerships with other area Catholic high schools.”

Other archdiocesan high schools in Northeast Philadelphia include Father Judge, St. Hubert’s and Little Flower.

Archbishop Ryan High School, founded in 1966, became coeducational in 1988.

Holy Family University, founded in 1954 by the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth, has locations in Bensalem and Newtown in addition to its main campus in Northeast Philadelphia.