As part of Fairfield’s Jesuit mission, the University is committed to providing students with experiential learning opportunities, hands-on research experiences, and career-launching internships to give them a competitive edge in today’s job market.
To prove this commitment, the College of Arts and Sciences is excited to announce the “Arts & Sciences Guarantee,” a distinctive fellowship that provides up to $2,500 in support to any College of Arts and Science student, beginning with the Class of 2026, who secures an approved unpaid internship, research opportunity, or fieldwork experience while studying at Fairfield.
The College of Arts and Sciences is the University’s founding school; built upon Fairfield's 500-year-old Jesuit tradition of forming men and women of purpose, explained President Mark R. Nemec, PhD, in a recent video message to prospective students, “so they may lead lives of productive citizenship and societal stewardship.”
Designed to ensure that students gain important, hands-on industry experience, “the College of Arts and Sciences is committed to empowering, encouraging, and providing students with experiential learning opportunities,” said Dr. Nemec, “[as well as] hands-on research experience; career-launching internships; and innovative professional development training that will help them find their calling and be successful at it.”
“As a values-based, student-centric, outcomes-focused institution,” Dr. Nemec continued, “we recognize that the question of the life-time value of a college degree is one that has long been discussed but considered hard to quantify.”
In his speech, Dr. Nemec referenced a recent study by Georgetown University which has put numbers to that intrinsic sense of value, capturing in empirical data what Fairfield grads and community have long perceived.
Using a 40-year period as a comprehensive benchmark, researchers took into consideration students’ income after graduation, average debt, and graduation rates. They collated and analyzed statistics from more than 4,500 U.S. colleges and universities — including public, private nonprofit, and private for-profit colleges that offer bachelor’s degrees, associate’s degrees, or certificates.
