LA Catholic Schools are partnering with Mount St. Mary’s University to offer eligible archdiocesan high school students guaranteed admission into the all-women Catholic college.
The “College Promise” program, announced May 6, will guarantee admission into Mount St. Mary’s for female students at 12 participating Catholic high schools who earn at least a 3.0 weighted GPA and participate in service and faith-based activities.
A select group of admitted students will also be named to the university’s Athenian Fellows cohort, where they would receive additional academic support, leadership development and service opportunities.
“At the heart of this partnership is our shared commitment to educating the whole person,” said Ann McElaney-Johnson, president of Mount Saint Mary’s University. “Together with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, we are creating a meaningful pathway for young women to continue their Catholic education, grow as leaders and prepare to serve their communities.”
The partnership with Mount St. Mary’s is the second one for the archdiocese, having entered into a similar agreement with Loyola Marymount University in June 2025 for both male and female students. Both programs are for five years, with the option of adjusting and extending them further after that.
Mount St. Mary’s partnership will take effect beginning with the 2026-27 school year, while the six high schools participating in LMU’s program are currently in the admissions process.
The 12 Catholic high schools involved in the Mount St. Mary’s partnership are: Bishop Alemany High School in Mission Hills, Bishop Amat Memorial High School in La Puente, Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance, Immaculate Heart High School in Los Feliz, Junipero Serra High School in Gardena, Louisville High School in Woodland Hills, Pomona Catholic High School, Sacred Heart High School in Lincoln Heights, Santa Clara High School in Oxnard, St. Anthony High School in Long Beach, St. Genevieve High School in Panorama City, and St. Pius X–St. Matthias Academy in Downey.
The high schools participating in LMU’s partnership are: Junípero Serra High School, St. Pius X–St. Matthias Academy, Bishop Conaty–Our Lady of Loretto High School in Los Angeles, Bishop Mora Salesian High School in Boyle Heights, Cantwell–Sacred Heart of Mary College Prep in Montebello, and St. Bernard College Prep in Playa del Rey.
Paul Escala, superintendent of the LA Archdiocese’s Department of Catholic Schools (DCS), said the purpose of the partnerships is to “blur the lines” between Catholic high schools and universities to create an easier pathway to college, especially for first-generation students.
“This initiative, which we intend to expand to other colleges and universities, both in the state and across the country, really is an incredible opportunity to ensure that students can continue their Catholic education, achieve the dream of college education, and remove these barriers of entry that many kids experience in the college admissions process,” he said.
Robert Tagorda, DCS’ chief academic officer, said one of their main goals for these partnerships is to get students — especially first-generation and underserved populations — interested in college earlier in their high-school career. That would, in turn, allow the universities to identify students who might be a good fit for their campuses.
“Counselors at our high schools and the admissions counselors from the universities, we work much more closely together to identify some of these attributes among students at earlier stages of the admissions process, and in doing so, they can spotlight a student with a significant number of volunteer hours, or here’s a student who’s heavily involved in extracurricular activities,” Tagorda said.
The Catholic high schools selected for each partnership were chosen for a mix of reasons, including proximity to each university, having at least one school in each of the archdiocese’s five pastoral regions, and having a select number of potential first-generation students.
In addition to the university partnerships, DCS also offers its Early College Network, where participating high schools provide their students with opportunities to take college-level classes through Arizona State and Seton Hill universities. The archdiocese is also finalizing an agreement with the Los Angeles Community College District that would allow Catholic high school students in the district’s footprint to take classes.
DCS expects to have 26 high schools participating in the Early College Network for the 2026-27 school year, Tagorda said.
