St Xavier’s College is one of the few Jesuit Colleges in India, and perhaps one of the Catholic Colleges and probably the only one, that is situated in a very poor locality amongst the poorest of people and is trying to meet the needs of the poor. The very location of the college on the beach among the poor fishermen of Kerala entrusts the College with the responsibility of addressing itself to the needs of the fishing community. During the 1980’s nearly 90% of the students belonged to the lowest income group.

In 1972 St Xavier’s too joined the main stream of Private College Managements and signed the agreement with the government, thus introducing the system of direct payment in the college with all its consequences. Though the reference community was termed “Catholic” in the agreement, it was later changed in to more specifically “Latin Catholic” in the year 1988.