Albertus Magnus College, New Haven Promise Renew Commitment
Financially Supporting Local Scholars Through College Success and Career Preparation
Felix Rodriguez
New Haven, Conn., April 15, 2024 — Albertus Magnus College and New Haven Promise are pleased to announce their renewed, ongoing partnership to enhance opportunities for local scholars to achieve their higher educational goals. This new one-year agreement builds upon the six years these institutions have worked together, servicing 68 students so far, and looks to further even more dreams.
As New England’s most diverse Catholic college, Albertus will award qualified students minimally $25,000 per academic year in merit aid, renewable for three years - subject to academic guidelines. These scholars will also be offered a paid, on-campus job. By providing incentive-based scholarship funding as a lever to social mobility, New Haven Promise would further student education goals with up to $5,000, doubling its prior financial benefit in additional scholarship money to qualified students. These awards are effective with new students enrolling at Albertus in fall 2024.
Since 2018, Albertus’ $2,729,933 financial aid commitment to New Haven Promise Scholars has made a positive impact on the lives and careers of alumni - who continue to live by the Dominican Four Pillars of Study, Prayer, Community, and Service.
Felix Rodriguez, a New Haven Promise scholar in his senior year at Albertus said, “The generosity of New Haven Promise and Albertus Magnus College has helped me immensely to pursue my goal of earning a bachelor’s degree that will lead to obtaining certification as a Spanish language teacher. In addition, I will graduate, debt-free, this year thanks to this generosity.”
“The Albertus Magnus College community takes great pride in cultivating a diverse community and extending opportunity and accessibility to higher education. So, Albertus is excited to continue this collaborative partnership,” said Vice President for Enrollment Management Brian Fernandes. “This arrangement is a testament to the quality of an Albertus education, a liberal arts, values-based education where experiential learning takes students to new heights enabling them to be career-ready in the fields of their choice.”
“This ongoing collaboration with Albertus Magnus College is a key to our scholars’ success,” said President of New Haven Promise, Patricia Melton. “By having access to opportunity, New Haven talent can flourish and achieve great things locally that can have a positive impact globally.”
Of all the scholars, 100-percent are from New Haven, 90-percent are students of color, 85-percent attend in-state colleges; 71-percent are from households that earn less than $60,000 annually; 70-percent are first-generation college students; and 38-percent are from households that earn under $30,000 per year.
About Albertus Magnus College
Albertus Magnus College, founded in 1925, is a coeducational Catholic College in the Dominican tradition. As New England's most diverse Catholic College, Albertus' values and liberal arts-based education is recognized by external rankings such as US News & World Report, Money Magazine, and The Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education, and has been named a Top 10 Military Friendly School. For seven consecutive years, graduating classes at Albertus have achieved post-graduate employment and graduate school success at a rate of at least 95%. The College has an enrollment of approximately 1,300 students across its traditional undergraduate, accelerated adult undergraduate, and 11 graduate programs. Proud to enroll a student body where more than half of its students come from minority backgrounds with nearly the same percentage of undergraduates receiving Federal Pell Grants and being first generation college goers, Albertus is known for its innovative curricular offerings, recently launching new Bachelor’s degree programs in Game and Computer Arts, General Health Sciences, Interdisciplinary Studies, Project Management, Public Health, Social Media, and Supply Chain Management; among its graduate programs is the State of Connecticut's only Master of Arts in Art Therapy and Counseling program. Just two years from its historic 100th Anniversary Year, the College is implementing its Albertus 2025: Lighting the Way to a Second Century strategic plan, which articulates an inspiring, bold vision to "be a destination liberal arts-based college, distinguished in its interdisciplinary and experiential approach to education, rooted in Dominican values, that prepares students for lifelong civic engagement and success." To learn more, please visit albertus.edu.