Transformative Colleges Initiative
The Transformative Colleges Initiative at Trinity is reducing student loan debt and prioritizing whole-person student wellbeing.
The Transformative Colleges Initiative (TCI) reimagines higher education by aligning students, businesses, and neighbors in mutually beneficial relationships. We use time, tuition, and partnership differently, creating pathways for students to opt into vocation-relevant paid experiential education that can eliminate debt while prioritizing wellbeing.
Here’s how we’re tackling student debt and student wellbeing.
TCI features a transformed approach to time, tuition, and partnership that makes powerful learning more affordable and realistic.
- We open the gift of time. Wellbeing Wednesdays give students space to pursue whole-person wellbeing, with no classes held on Wednesdays.
- We do tuition differently. Tuition Transparency promises a realistic price point and a simplified approach to financial aid.
- We do partnership powerfully. Earn, Network, and Learn connects students with any academic major to a broad range of paid, experiential education opportunities, such as internships, micro-internship, and co-ops. These paid opportunities replace student debt with income.
How are we doing this work?
Trinity has a unique and life-giving schedule that prioritizes overall student wellbeing. Students do not have classes on Wednesdays, which allows them to care for themselves academically, physically, spiritually, socially, financially, and professionally (particularly through Earn, Network, and Learn participation).
Trinity’s tuition rate was lowered 40% to eliminate financial surprises during the admissions process and create a more realistic price point. Throughout their time at Trinity, students can opt into the Earn, Network, and Learn program, which helps them pay their tuition through paid co-ops, internships, and other opportunities rather than relying on student debt.
Trinity partners with local businesses and non-profits to offer paid learning experiences that mutually benefit students, business partners, and our community. Many of these network-building experiences lead to full-time jobs for students upon graduation and can provide up to $6,000 per semester in debt-reducing income.
Trinity’s solutions to student debt and student wellbeing are rooted deeply in our Christian convictions.
God’s world is a world of abundance, connection, generosity, and cooperation. When we honor and cultivate the connections all around us, we can better give and receive the gifts of our communities.
- God gives us enough time to thrive. Wellbeing Wednesdays embodies this commitment.
- God intends us to be generous in the way that we interact with money. The simplified approach of Tuition Transparency embodies this commitment.
- God has made us for cooperation. Earn, Network, and Learn ensures that our connections are generous and cooperative, seeking the good of students, partners, and the community.
TCI is transforming the way college impacts students financially, vocationally, and as whole people. These structures are rooted deeply in our Christian approach to higher education.
To learn more about TCI, contact transform@trnty.edu.
