Aquinas College, Nashville

What Aquinas College, Nashville does

Aquinas College, Nashville is a private Catholic institution of higher education founded in 1961 by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation, located on an 83-acre Dominican Campus in Nashville, Tennessee. The college operates with a 5:1 student-to-faculty ratio serving 60-90 students per semester across multiple customer segments: Dominican Sisters in formation, Diocese of Nashville seminarians (via a Certificate of Propaedeutic Studies partnership expanded in 2026-2027), traditional undergraduates pursuing B.A. degrees in liberal arts and B.S. in teacher education, graduate students in Master of Arts in Teaching and a revived Master of Education program, lay audit learners, and catechists accessing formation resources through the Center for Catholic Education.

Core products are academically oriented: undergraduate and graduate degree programs, the Certificate of Propaedeutic Studies for seminarians, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd formation courses, and content programs including the Virtues in Practice curriculum (Pre-K through Grade 8) and a six-course Catechist Formation Video Library distributed free to schools, parishes, and families. Underlying technology is conventional academic infrastructure — OCLC WorldCat Discovery powering the library catalog with access to 160 databases and 200,000+ resources, ProQuest/EBSCO/Gale/JSTOR for periodicals, Blackbaud Portal for student forms, Office 365 for email, and a myCampus mobile app — with no proprietary AI/ML components.

Revenue derives from undergraduate tuition ($30,230/year flat rate at 12-18 credits; $1,200/credit hour outside that band), graduate tuition ($900/credit hour), audit fees ($100-$175/credit hour), a $25 application fee, donations and memorial gifts, endowed scholarships (minimum $25,000 to establish, 4% annual spending policy), and Siena Hall Conference Center bookings. The college does not participate in federal or state funding programs, relying entirely on tuition, private donations, and endowment draws. Go-to-market is direct admissions plus diocesan and Catholic-school-network referral channels.

Name

Aquinas College, Nashville

Legal name

Aquinas College

Website

https://aquinascollege.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

1961

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Aquinas College is a private Catholic college in Nashville, Tennessee, founded in 1961 by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia, serving 60-90 students per semester — including religious sisters, seminarians, undergraduate and graduate students — through teacher-formation and liberal arts programs with a 5:1 student-faculty ratio.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Catholic Higher Education

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (61131)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Denominational Theological Colleges (e.g., Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Evangelical) (EDAHAKAM)

Keywords

• Catholic higher education
• Teacher formation programs
• Liberal arts degrees
• Seminary formation
• Catholic catechesis

Headquarters

HQ city

Nashville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Undergraduate Tuition: Per-credit-hour tuition for undergraduate students. 2026-2027 rates: $1,200 per credit hour (1-11 hours), $15,115 per semester flat rate (12-18 hours), plus $1,200 per credit hour over 18.
2. Graduate Tuition: Per-credit-hour tuition for graduate students. 2026-2027 rate: $900 per credit hour.
3. Audit Fees: Non-degree students can audit courses for personal enrichment. Undergraduate audit fee: $100/credit hour; Graduate audit fee: $175/credit hour.
4. Application Fees: $25 application fee for fulltime graduate and undergraduate applicants.
5. Endowed Scholarships: Donor-established endowed scholarships provide permanent support for students. Minimum funding level of $25,000 to establish. The College follows a 4% annual spending policy.
6. Donations and Charitable Gifts: The college accepts donations to support its mission of forming teachers, religious sisters, seminarians, catechists, and lay faithful. This includes memorial gifts, honorary gifts, and planned giving options.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

Aquinas College is a private Catholic institution of higher education in Nashville, Tennessee, offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs rooted in the Dominican intellectual tradition. It serves religious sisters, seminarians, traditional undergraduate students, graduate teacher-licensure candidates, catechists, and lay faithful through degree programs in education and liberal arts, certificate programs in seminarian formation, and faith formation resources. The college is owned and operated by the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation and operates with a 5:1 student-to-faculty ratio.

Product overview

Aquinas College is a Catholic institution of higher education offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs in education and liberal arts. The institution provides Bachelor of Arts degrees in English, History, Liberal Arts, Theology, and Philosophy; Bachelor of Science degrees in teacher education; and graduate programs including Master of Arts in Teaching (Elementary and Secondary) and Master of Education. Certificate programs include the Certificate of Propaedeutic Studies for seminarians and Catechesis of the Good Shepherd formation. The Center for Catholic Education provides outreach through Virtues in Practice curriculum and Catechist Formation Video Library. Academic support includes library services with extensive database access and Student Learning Services. Summer formation programs and Siena Hall Conference Center serve the broader Catholic educational community.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Small class sizes with 5:1 student-faculty ratio enabling highly individualized instruction
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration10 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Diocese of NashvillecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 15 May 2026Aquinas College and Diocese of Nashville partnership for seminarian formation through Certificate of Propaedeutic Studies. For the past three years, seminarians from the Diocese have been enrolled at Aquinas completing this foundational year of formation. Beginning 2026-2027, expanded partnership includes seminarians residing on campus in Siena Hall with priest-formators. The program emphasizes human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral development.
• OCLC (Online Computer Library Center)coreTechnology or IntegrationAquinas College Library is a member of the OCLC network, providing access to the world's largest bibliographic database with over 16,000 member libraries and more than two billion holdings. The library's online catalog is powered by OCLC's WorldCat Discovery.
• Database Vendors (ProQuest, EBSCO, Gale, JSTOR)coreTechnology or IntegrationLibrary provides 160 databases from information vendors including OCLC, ProQuest, EBSCO, Gale, and JSTOR. These databases provide access to more than 18,000 full-text periodicals and over 30,000 open access journals.
• Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia CongregationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia Congregation is the parent organization of Aquinas College, established in 1860. They founded Aquinas College in 1961 to educate young sisters preparing for the teaching apostolate. The college remains rooted in their charism and mission.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Christendom College: A small Catholic liberal-arts college in Virginia known for faithful Catholic education and a close-knit community — directly comparable in religious mission, small cohort size, and emphasis on forming students in the Catholic intellectual tradition.
• Mount St. Mary's University: A Catholic university in Emmitsburg, Maryland with a strong teacher-formation and seminary tradition — comparable in Catholic mission, teacher-preparation focus, and formation of religious candidates, though larger.
• Benedictine College: A Catholic liberal-arts college in Atchison, Kansas run by Benedictine monks with strong teacher-formation programs and a residential community focus — comparable in religious-order sponsorship, Catholic mission, and emphasis on forming educators.
• Thomas Aquinas College: A small, Catholic liberal-arts college in California with a classical curriculum and strong Catholic intellectual identity — the closest namesake peer and the most directly comparable in mission, size, and Catholic identity emphasis to Aquinas Nashville.
• University of Dallas: A Catholic liberal-arts university in Irving, Texas with a strong core curriculum and teacher formation — comparable in Catholic intellectual tradition and liberal-arts emphasis, though at significantly larger scale.
• Wyoming Catholic College: A small, faithful Catholic liberal-arts college in Lander, Wyoming with a tight student-faculty community and outdoor leadership curriculum — closely comparable in scale, Catholic identity, and low student-to-faculty ratio.
• Ave Maria University: A Catholic liberal-arts university in Ave Maria, Florida offering undergraduate and graduate programs with an explicit Catholic identity — directly comparable in mission and program structure, though larger in scale.
• Franciscan University of Steubenville: A Catholic university in Ohio run by Franciscan friars with strong catechetics, theology, and education programs — closely comparable in religious-order sponsorship and formation-of-educators emphasis, though much larger in enrollment.
• Belmont Abbey College: A small Catholic liberal-arts college in North Carolina sponsored by Benedictine monks — directly comparable in Catholic mission, small scale, and liberal-arts/education program mix.

Regional players

• Belmont University: A large Christian university in Nashville, Tennessee — a regional peer operating in the same metro as Aquinas but with a much broader program portfolio, ecumenical Christian identity, and significantly larger enrollment, making it the dominant Nashville-area private higher-ed competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks1 record

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCRLSEeHht_W8HEZ1N88GSUg
• Facebookfacebook.com/354815312492
• Instagraminstagram.com/aquinascollegetn
• Xx.com/aquinastenn
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/aquinas-college-nashville-tn

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles11 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Aquinas College, Nashville