scholarships and work to foster a culture of generosity in the church. “Anything above the $33,500 threshold of concern will be signifi- cantly more challenging to repay,” Strandjord said. Yet more than half of ELCA seminary graduates have educational debt above that level, he added.
In 2012 the average ELCA gradu-
ate had debt of $36,339 ($30,389 of which is seminary debt). One piece of good news—this was down 9 per- cent from the previous year. Donald Huber, who works with Strandjord as program coordinator for Stewards of Abundance, said, “Becoming a Lutheran pastor isn’t just another career someone chooses on their own. It’s a group project needing group support. That has financial implications.”
Then and now
“I knew since I was 7 that I was going [to Wartburg],” Pries said. “My dad was the organist. In church, my older brothers were easier to manage than I was, so I’d go to my dad and sit by the organ in the curl of his arm, listening to the sermon.” Lutheran “seminaries were understood as arms of the church,” and “the people of God knew they needed to support that call,” he said. His congregation, St. John Lutheran, Cedar Falls, Iowa, paid for his and two other students’ tuition at the same time, he said. That meant Pries and his wife Lesley could put other grants, work-study and summer earnings toward room and board. Ministry coordinator Devra Betts
and members of Adams’ congre- gation, Holy Spirit Lutheran, Las Vegas, encouraged him to consider seminary. He prayed about it, but it was “a big leap,” he said. Adams finally decided while driving to his radio station job that it was crazy. “I’m not moving my
family to Iowa,” he remembered saying. “But I burst into tears when I got to the office. I had a strong sense that this was what God would have me do.”
Before entering seminary, Adams and his wife Ivy paid off the last $5,000 of his undergraduate debt. They broke even selling their home. Adams received generous scholar- ships from Wartburg, the Elmer O. and Ida Preston Trust, their congre- gation and the Grand Canyon Synod, as well as student loans and work- study. Ivy is a stay-at-home mom to their three young children. Adams, a former rock band guitarist, also has a side job at a radio station. Every bit helps. Still, he finds his debt load scary, admitting it could affect the kinds of calls he can take—“a fairly common story [among seminarians],” he said. Here’s a comparison: Then: Pries • 1974-75 tuition: $600 (equivalent to $2,589 in 2013). • Room and board: $900 annual housing, plus food and other necessities. • Undergraduate debt: $6,000 (equivalent to $25,892 in 2013), paid off in 10 years at $62 per month. • Seminary debt: $500, paid by Pries’ father (equivalent to $2,158 in 2013). • First salary: $8,500 (equivalent to $36,680 in 2013), plus free housing and utilities. Now: Adams • 2013-14 tuition: $14,900. • Family housing, food, health, etc.: Roughly the same as tuition. • Undergraduate debt: $0 • Estimated seminary debt: $60,000. • Likely salary, including housing: $45,000 to $55,000.
History repeats itself The first Lutheran clergy in America were imported from Germany and
Scandinavia, a practice that “con- tinued until the American govern- ment cut immigration in the 1920s,” Huber said. “Apprenticeship was also widely used for theological education until the mid-19th cen- tury. Synods found that seminaries were better, so they pushed for three years of academic work, patterned after Andover Seminary in Massa- chusetts. The internship year came about when Lutherans decided book learning wasn’t enough.”
In the early years funding was dif-
ficult and diverse, he said, depend- ing on individual donors, fundrais-
Gathering the Lutheran Community
in New York City Lodging for
Servant Trips Youth Ministry
Parish Getaways Clergy Meetings
Unparalled Artistic Performances
and always Sacred Hospitality
Convenient ●Comfortable ●Affordable Clergy Discounts
Seafarers & International House
123 East 15th Street New York, NY 10003
info@sihnyc.org www.sihnyc.org
An ELCA mission for seafarers and sojourners, with an 84-room guesthouse in the Union Square neighborhood that facilitates your congregational mission while you facilitate
ours. Collectively, God’s Work, Our Hands. May 2013 39
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52