Mar 05, 2015 12:53 PM EST By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Wyoming Catholic College will not participate in federal student loan and gran programs, school officials announced last week.

The institution's Board of Directors has voted unanimously that the College, which was founded in 2005, shall not participate in federal student aid or loan programs.

For the past several months, Wyoming Catholic College has been analyzing the benefits and risks of participating in these programs. And while the financial benefits are undeniable, the increasingly burdensome regulatory requirements are clearly troubling for faith-based institutions.

"By abstaining from federal funding programs," said President Kevin Roberts, "We will safeguard our mission from unwarranted federal involvement-an involvement increasingly at odds with our Catholic beliefs, the content of our curriculum, and our institutional practices."

Wyoming Catholic College achieved candidate status for accreditation last year, making it eligible to apply to participate in federal student aid programs.

"Our decision is a prudential one," Andrew Emrich, chairman of the Board, said in a statement. "While respecting that some of our peer institutions have reached a different conclusion on this issue, what is different in our case is timing: at the very point we were grappling with this question, pivotal legal decisions, executive orders, and administrative interpretations were all pointing to some near-term (and perhaps long-term) challenges for institutions of faith. As sound a decision as this is, we lament the current political circumstances that preclude Wyoming Catholic College from participating in such programs."

While the College will not be receiving federal aid, this will not prevent it from continuing to offer competitive financial aid packages to its students in the form of merit-based scholarships, need-based grants, and student loans. These will be funded internally, through gifts to Wyoming Catholic College's new St. Thomas More Fund.

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