Loyola has a brand new dual degree program for students interested in ministry.

Beginning next academic year, undergraduate seniors majoring in religious studies will be able to take graduate courses in the Loyola Institute for Ministry that will count toward a master’s degree. After they graduate, these students can finish their master’s in a year and a half.

Diane Blair, director of admissions and on-campus student services for the institute for ministry, said that some requirements will be waived in both the undergraduate and graduate programs so that dual degree students can graduate earlier.

“If people are interested in ministry studies and they know they want to pursue that path, it’s a great way to just kind of plod through and finish the degrees in a year’s time,” Blair said.

Students need to be religious studies majors to enroll in the program, but, Blair said, the program can be flexible.

“If a Loyola student from another major wants to come talk to us, we’ll work with them for sure,” Blair said.

Blair said that students will also be able to take up to six credits in the institute for ministry as undergraduates even if they don’t want to commit to the full graduate program.

Students in the dual degree program will pay their regular undergraduate tuition until they graduate, and then when they are full-time graduate students, they will pay the $405 per course rate that is standard in the Loyola Institute for Ministry.

Blair has had an information table in the Danna Center for a few weeks and has been visiting religious studies courses to tell students about the program. For more information, interested students can email [email protected] or visit 111 Stallings Hall.