Peter's Hidden Gem Series #7: Catawba College (NC)

FACTS ABOUT CATAWBA COLLEGE

Catawba College is a liberal arts college located in Salisbury, North Carolina. They operate on a semester calendar. However, in addition to the standard semesters, the Catawba College Registrar's Office coordinates shorter optional terms, which include a Winter Term and multiple blocks during the Summer Term. 

Catawba College has a student body of 1,172 full-time undergraduate students. Approximately 900 of these students live on their campus. The college is situated in a suburban setting within the historic, small town of Salisbury, North Carolina, which has a population 36,000. The nearest big city to Salisbury, NC is Charlotte, North Carolina, located approximately 35 miles southwest of their campus.

Catawba College offers over 70 academic programs and fields of study, which span across its undergraduate majors, minors, concentrations, and pre-professional tracks. Popular disciplines include: Business, STEM, Humanities, Performing Arts, Environmental Sustainability, and Teacher Education. 

Catawba has a 78% acceptance rate. They consider a wide range of students (C+ to A+).

Tuition and Fees $35,990

Living Expenses, including food & housing $14,000

Total: $49,990

However…

After merit scholarships (that average over $19K), most families (even families that do not qualify for need-based assistance) pay less than $29K without loans. In fact, including students who receive need-based aid, the average amount that students pay is less than $20K. This is a very financially stable college (Forbes gives them a strong A for financial strength). Their endowment is over $580 million.

PROGRAM SPOTLIGHTS:

ADVERTISING AND BRANDING:

From their website: “Engage customers across all marketing and communication channels with an integrated, effective message.

Catawba College’s degree in Advertising and Branding prepares you to effectively market to and communicate with business customers in almost any vertical across all contemporary platforms, including social media, digital advertising, print, and broadcast. Advertising and Branding major graduates ready for jobs in internal communications, external communications, advertising, marketing, and public relations.

Catawba’s student-centered approach, access to professional-grade equipment, collaborative opportunities with other academic majors, and nearby access to major markets in Charlotte, the Piedmont Triad and the Research Triangle, uniquely prepare Marketing majors for launching their successful career immediately upon graduation.

Our graduates go out into the world with an understanding of how digital and traditional communication practices, new media, and technologies are reshaping everything we do: work, education, relationships, health, and everyday living.”

THEATRE ARTS (ADMINISTRATION, DESIGN/PRODUCTION, PERFORMANCE, MUSICAL):

From their website: “Catawba College’s Theatre Arts program has the structure in place to teach its performing arts undergraduates all of the necessary routines in the discipline. You’ll be trained to adapt to a rapidly shifting theatrical landscape while engaging in interdisciplinary, provocative, and intellectually demanding courses. You and your fellow classmates will even show your work competitively as performers, designers, playwrights, stage managers, and directors at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region IV Conference.

Theatre Arts faculty fully expect our graduates to make the theatre profession a better place for all participants—audience and artists—and to always give back to the community. Our graduates are marketable precisely because they depart our performing arts program with both the depth of a focused skill set and the breadth that comes from a solid and enduring liberal arts foundation, which helps them connect their passions with the concerns of a greater global community.

Theatre Arts majors are encouraged to apply and audition for a number of scholarships offered through the Catawba College Theatre Arts department, covering all or part of your tuition and expenses.

Catawba’s Theatre Arts majors regularly intern with professional theatre companies like The Williamstown Theatre Festival, Interlochen Center for the Arts, and the American Shakespeare Center.

Many Theatre Arts majors study abroad with professional theatre companies, programs, and residencies that take them to the U.K., Italy, Costa Rica, Greece, Germany, Japan, and Estonia.”

ENVIRONMENTAL AND OUTDOOR EDUCATION:

From their website: “For nature-loving students considering a career centered on outreach or nontraditional environmental education at museums, aquariums, zoos, or parks, the Environmental and Outdoor Education concentration of the Environment & Sustainability major is a perfect, natural fit.

Environment and Sustainability Student with binoculars in Preserve

Students in the Environmental and Outdoor Education concentration have a passion for the environment, enjoy being outdoors, and are natural-born fact-lovers and inspiring storytellers. Prepare for a career as a nature preserve tour guide, cooperative extension education coordinator, natural history museum or zoological park docent, or traveling nature educator.

Students completing the Environmental and Outdoor Education concentration at Catawba College take courses that contribute toward the creation of a portfolio for use in pursuing North Carolina Environmental Education (NCEE) certification. The NCEE certification program is modeled after commonly accepted national environmental education standards, making this certification portable and, ultimately, quite valuable in many instances.

Students majoring in the Environmental and Outdoor Education concentration, and other Environment and Sustainability degree concentrations, have a complete set of resources at their disposal: scholarships, internships, stewardships, practicums, study abroad, and undergraduate research.”

Website: https://www.catawba.edu/

Link to their virtual tour information:

https://www.catawba.edu/visit/