The College of Holy Cross rates #32 of the top 100 best national liberal arts colleges listed in the US NEWS AND WORLD REPORT. The only other Catholic college close to Holy Cross is Thomas Aquinas College in CA., which rates #53 nationally.  Interestingly, the latter is opening a satellite college in the east, in central MA, not far from a number of Catholic colleges in southern New England, including the College of Holy Cross. The TAC people believe their brand of Catholic identity and academia will attract a number of Catholics in the region who want, among other things, more substance and "identity" to their Catholic intellectual tradition courses.