Higher education 44
debt, split equally between them. They have no credit card debt. “The first year of seminary was the toughest,” she said. “Eventually I [got] a part-time job at [a department store], but we were relying on loans that first year and picked up about $10,000 in new academic debt.” When her husband found a full-
time job as a sports editor in April 2011, Slack quit her part-time job to focus on academics. During her third
WE ARE CALLED auggies
(internship) year, the couple didn’t have to take out student loans. Her internship congregation provided a stipend, housing and utilities.
Scholarships/grants: In her second and fourth seminary years, Slack received a Stewards of Abundance scholarship (about $12,500 for each of the two years). She also received small grants from her synod and her small
augsburg.edu
congregation, United Lutheran, Ringsted, Iowa. United’s support originated in “a $2,000 noisy can offering,” she said. “I’m their first seminarian in 25 years.”
Has it made a difference? Abso- lutely. Slack and her husband haven’t had to take out any loans since that first year. “We also made headway in paying back our under- grad loans,” she said, estimating their remaining academic debt at $34,000 (down from $60,000 in early 2011). “And in 2013-14, even with the baby coming, we’ll still be able to rely on scholarships. “With both of us coming from very small towns, we know it’s hard for small congregations to [pay] clergy. We’ll want to get a call some- where where my husband can also be employed, so we can continue to rely on two incomes.”
Gwendolen Powell On hearing the call: “I didn’t want to be a pastor,” she admitted. While attending graduate school for research psychology, a friend who was an Orthodox Jew remarked: “Gwen, you’d make a great pastor.” Powell said, “The closer I got to defending my thesis, the clearer it became that God was calling me to be a pastor.”
Powell applied to Luther Semi-
nary, St. Paul, Minn., and began the candidacy process.
WE ARE CALLED...
To apply our talents and skills to meet the world’s most pressing needs. To lead in board rooms, classrooms, churches, and neighborhoods.
To be citizens of the world, learning and working with our neighbors at home and abroad.
We are called to be informed citizens, thoughtful stewards, critical thinkers, and responsible leaders.
Student debt: “I came to seminary with no debt,” she said. “The first debt I ever had was $30,000 my first year [at seminary]. It was pretty shocking.
“[In 2012-13] I took out a small loan for living expenses, but I returned a large loan because I didn’t need that much between my job and scholarships.”
For 2013-14, she and her new 46 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
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