TAC and the Ivy League
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni recently awarded Thomas Aquinas College its highest ranking among 1,070 colleges and universities nationwide.
The ACTA evaluation focuses on the substance of schools’ mandatory courses and texts, or core curriculum. The association has identified seven essential areas of study for undergraduates — composition, literature, American history, foreign language, mathematics, science, and economics. The more of these areas of study required by a college or university, and the more substantive the curricula in these areas, the higher the school’s overall ACTA rating. Less than 2 percent of colleges nationwide received an “A,” and only 0.3 percent, including Thomas Aquinas College, achieved a perfect score.
Here’s a chart comparing Thomas Aquinas College with the nation’s historic Ivy League universities:
| School | Grade | ![]() |
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Tuition | Graduation Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brown University | F | ![]() |
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$42,230 | 95% |
| Columbia University | B | ![]() |
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$45,290 | 93% |
| Cornell University | B | ![]() |
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$41,541 | 93% |
| Dartmouth College | B | ![]() |
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$42,996 | 95% |
| Harvard University | D | ![]() |
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$39,851 | 97% |
| Princeton University | C | ![]() |
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$37,865 | 96% |
| Stanford University | C | ![]() |
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$41,564 | 96% |
| Thomas Aquinas College | A | ![]() |
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$22,850 | 69% |
| University of Pennsylvania | C | ![]() |
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$42,098 | 96% |
| Yale University | D | ![]() |
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$40,500 | 97% |











Odd that most of the schools are passing in composition but failing in literature.
But TAC’s quality is actually major news and ought to occupy some space in major newspapers, magazines and on TV. Don’t think it will, though.
Bill, you’re right, it should, but I’m sort of glad that TAC will remain a hidden treasure. I would be pleased if more people discovered the model and it were replicated elsewhere.
If you ever get out to CA, you would thoroughly enjoy a visit.