collageBelmont Abbey College is a private, Catholic liberal arts college in Belmont, North Carolina. It was founded in 1876 by the Benedictine monks of Belmont Abbey. The school is affiliated with the Catholic Church and the Order of Saint Benedict. It is endorsed by The Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College. Belmont Abbey is the only college in North Carolina affiliated with the Catholic Church.
Offering an undergraduate education, the college enrolls students from diverse ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds.
Athletics
The Belmont Abbey Crusaders participate in the NCAA’s Division II program. The Crusaders are members of Conference Carolinas. Men’s and women’s lacrosse, women’s golf. Men’s and women’s tennis and men’s and women’s track and field have been added for the 2009 season. Al McGuire coached Basketball for the Crusaders from 1957 to 1964. During his tenure the team had 5 post-season tournament appearances. In 2009, the Crusaders Baseball team reached the NCAA Division II World Series, at the USA Baseball Training Complex located in Cary, North Carolina. The Crusaders were ranked 6th in their respective regional tournament and went on to win four straight against nationally ranked teams to capture their first regional championship. The Crusaders fell to eventual National Champions Lynn University after winning two in a row. The Crusaders finished the season ranked 3rd in the Nation.
In 2012, the women’s volleyball, women’s soccer, and men’s basketball teams all won the NCAA Division II Conference Carolinas title. In 2018, the men’s lacrosse team won the NCAA Division II Conference Carolinas title.
In 2021, the women’s basketball, and men’s basketball teams both won the NCAA Division II Conference Carolinas titles.
As a member of Conference Carolinas, Belmont Abbey College competes annually for the league’s Messick Award, which is presented for demonstrating the best overall sportsmanship over the entire conference schedule. As of 2019, Belmont Abbey Athletics has won the overall Messick Award four times: 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14 (tie) and 2016–17.
Student life
The Student Commons overlooking Pat’s bridge
Organizations and Greek life
The Abbey has over 40 student organizations, an active Student Government Association, and many Greek organizations belonging to the college’s Greek Council. Kappa Sigma is the only active fraternity on campus, while active sororities are: Tau Kappa Delta and Alpha Sigma Pi, also is the community and collegiate service organization Epsilon Sigma Alpha.[16]
Abbey Players
The Haid containing the student theater
Belmont Abbey has a theatre department. The Abbey Players of Belmont Abbey College were founded in 1883, and have been a part of campus life for over a century. At present, the theatre produces six shows a year, representing a wide repertoire of drama, comedy and musicals. Participation in the Abbey Players is open to any interested member of the Belmont Abbey College community, and students, faculty, staff and monks regularly appear together. In addition, it functions as the Belmont Community Theatre, which brings in theatre artists from the surrounding Metrolina area.
Dining
The new campus cafeteria (Built in the summer of 2012) is located on the residential side of campus, next to the Walter Coggins Student Commons. Robert Lee Stowe Hall contains a grill and Holy Grounds coffee shop.
Housing
Incoming freshmen are required to live in either Poellath or O’Connell; two-story single-sex residence halls. Beginning in the Fall of 2013, upperclassmen were given the option to live in the newly built Saint Benedict Hall and Saint Scholastica Hall, single-sex resident halls for males and females respectively. Raphael Arthur Hall provides residents the choice to live in individual rooms. In addition to the five residence halls on campus, upperclassmen are eligible to live in either one of the four on campus Cuthbert Allen apartment buildings or the Cloisters, off-campus apartments in nearby Mount Holly, North Carolina.
Controversies
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Faculty health care coverage controversy
In 2007 the college’s administration removed healthcare coverage for “abortion, contraception, and voluntary sterilization” after discovering that these were covered by the college’s healthcare policy. Eight faculty members responded by filing complaints to the North Carolina Department of Insurance, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the National Women’s Law Center. The latter threatened a lawsuit on behalf of the eight faculty members, several of whom were allegedly lifelong Catholics.
After the student newspaper, The Crusader, published an article in May 2008 pointing out that the Abbey profits from the sale of contraceptives at two convenience stores that lease land from the Abbey, the Abbot responded by stating that: “”[They] are preponderantly good operations, i.e. 99 percent or more of their business is not problematic, and the employment generation and economic stimulation they provide for the community of Belmont are worth tolerating a small amount of evil. The Abbey is not willing to lease to them because they sell contraceptives, but despite it.”[17]
Lawsuit against the Obama administration
According to a November 11, 2011 online news story by Patricia L. Guilfoyle of Catholic News Service, “Belmont Abbey College is suing the federal government over a new regulation that requires employer health insurance plans to provide free coverage of contraceptives and sterilization, even if it may be contrary to their religious beliefs.”[18]
Objection to a local no-kill shelter
According to a June 20, 2013 online news story by the Associated Press, Belmont Abbey College objected to the rezoning of a nearby 6-acre piece of land that would have been used for a no-kill shelter.[19]
LGBT anti-discrimination
In 2016, the college, along with other religious colleges and universities throughout the United States came under increasing criticism from LGBT advocates for refusing to implement anti-discrimination policies on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students. Belmont Abbey College argued that its status as a primarily Catholic institution was in conflict with these anti-discrimination protections. In a statement, the college claimed that such recognition and protection of LGBT individuals would “abdicate the responsibility of the college community as a whole to act in accord with its fundamental identity as a community which publicly identifies itself as in communion with the Catholic Church.
belmont abbey college tuition
COST BREAKDWOWN
ANNUAL TUITION
| Full time students tuition (12 — 18 credit hours per semester) | $18,500 / annually |
| Additional credit hours (above 18) | $617 / credit hour |
| Part-time day tuition (1 — 11 credit hours) | $617 / credit hour |
| High school dual enrollment (for details on full reimbursement, click here) | $60 / credit hour |
| Summer school tuition | $299 / credit hour |
ANNUAL HOUSING
| O’Connell or Poellath Hall | $5,828 |
| Cuthbert Allen Apartments (upperclassmen only) | $6,508 |
| Raphael Arthur (upperclassmen only) | $3,900 |
| St. Benedict or St. Scholastica (for sophomores and upperclassmen only) | $6,700 |
| Additional fee — Single room charge | $1,312 |
MEAL PLANS
| Basic meal plan (14 meals / week, with $200 Flex Dollars) | $4,266 |
| Unlimited meal plan (with $100 Flex Dollars) | $4,466 |
| *both meal plans are subject to a 6.75% NC sales tax |
ENROLLMENT DEPOSIT
| New resident student | $400 |
| Returning student (resident/commuter) | $300 |
| International student | $2,500 |
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