Faculty members at theological schools are highly satisfied with their jobs. They are bidding higher for a select group of students. But those students are incurring far more educational debt than in the past. Those are among the conclusions of three new studies by the Auburn Center for the Study of Theological Education. www.auburnsem.org/study/. The studies, which will be published this spring, update conclusions drawn 10 years ago on the subjects of theological faculty, seminary financing and student debt. They contain much good news and much that will require further conversation and closer study.

 First, the good news: In a study called, "Signs of the Times," www.auburnsem.org/study/signsofthetimes.htm  researcher Barbara Wheeler and her team questioned 1,212 faculty and doctoral students in schools that provide the largest number of faculty to U.S. and Canadian theological schools. She found that faculty members are publishing more, while retaining a strong commitment to teaching. Faculty and students are active participants in religious life and give significant service to congregations and denominations. Seminaries and divinity schools are more selective and admit fewer, but more motivated, students. And, best of all, theological faculty express a high morale and a deep commitment to their calling.

The study, however, points to some areas of concern. It found, for example, that theological schools are slow to change and don't adapt readily to technological innovations. Faculties have to work harder to achieve racial and gender diversity, though they have made slight gains. And possibly most troubling, the numbers of current faculty and doctoral students ordained or licensed dropped 10 percent in the last decade. At the same time, the number of doctoral students who defined their field as religion —rather than theology— rose.

This shift in self-perception may reflect a higher societal acceptance of the field of religion over theology. But it also has practical implications on future students.

  "The concern is about the curriculum of seminaries and whether they'll orient it adequately to meet the needs of students who are going out to churches," said Wheeler. "Not all kinds of doctoral preparation are equally helpful to future ministries."

The second study, on seminary financing, found that gifts from individual donors rose sharply in the years from 1993 to 2003, while other sources of revenue remained flat or fell. http://www.auburnsem.org/images/publications/pdf_2.pdf

Anthony Ruger, a senior research fellow at the Auburn Center, compared the finances of 143 theological schools and found that individual gifts of $5,000 or more accounted for the steepest rise of all sources of revenue. Specifically, he found that in 2003 individual giving increased 56 percent, from $127 in 1993 to $198 million in 2003.

“If you’re going to be a seminary president, you want to look at who are the best potential donors,” said Ruger.  “Hire a fundraiser and work hard on cultivation.”

Other sources of revenue — such as tuition, investment returns and church support — performed poorly. Among nine denominations surveyed, six gave less money to theological schools over the past decade. Only three — the Southern Baptist Convention, the American Baptist Convention and the United Methodist Church — gave more, though not enough to keep up with inflation. The stock market fall from 2000 to 2003 hurt seminaries too, especially those that rely heavily on investment returns or endowment income. Those seminaries responded by cutting budgets and tightening spending.

The third study, also undertaken by Ruger, contained mostly bad news http://www.auburnsem.org/images/publications/pdf_3.pdf. It found that graduate student debt increased dramatically in the period from 1991 to 2001.  Less than half of graduate students in theology incurred educational debts in 1991. By 2001, 63 percent had taken out loans.

Part of the reason for the increase in educational debt has to do with government regulations. The U.S. Department of Education allowed students to borrow a total of $18,500 in Stafford loans in 2001. In 1991, students were only allowed to borrow $7,500.

As a result, the average debt for graduate students in theological studies rose to $15,599 in 2001 from $5,267 in 1991.

Ruger also surveyed graduates of the classes of 1994 and 1997, and asked them how they were coping with their debt. Fifty-two percent said they wished they had borrowed less.  More troubling perhaps, 24 percent agreed with the statement, “I have been late with a payment or missed a payment because I did not have the money.”

There was one hopeful sign in the study. Those students who consulted with financial aid planners at their schools seemed better able to cope with repayment schedules.

“The amount of debt was less important than the quality of financial information they received,” said Ruger. “Those who believe they were well-advised experienced less stress in debt repayment.”

Since the majority of graduate students go on to serve churches that do not pay well, financial advice on the realities of clergy income was particularly crucial.

“What we would like to see are students making careful, informed decisions,” Ruger said, “rather than making decisions accidentally or by default.”

You can listen to an interesting and delightfully moving interview with Don Saliers and Emily Saliers about their co-authored book  A Song to Sing, A Life to Live: Reflections on Music as Spiritual Practice on the American University radio station’s web site at   www.wamu.org/programs/dr/04/12/24.php

A great new feature on the Congregational Resource Guide website is the “New for Congregations” section in the right-hand column of the front page.    www.congregationalresources.org/Index.asp

The ATS web site featured this issue has an interesting bibliography of women’s leadership books and articles at www.ats.edu/programs/leader/women/biblio.htm

Adair Lummis, researcher at the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, and well-known church consultant and author, Loren Mead, teamed up to discuss recent research on denominational judicatories.  You can find Adair's research and both of their comments on the findings at http://hirr.hartsem.edu/org/faith_judicatories_research.html 

 The Indianapolis Center for Congregations unveiled their redesigned website on April 20. In addition to the new look, the site now functions as an integrated communications tool enabling the Center to gather and deliver information to Indianapolis-area congregations. This includes the ability to accept online registrations and payments and deliver timely information about happenings in the Indianapolis area. Visitors to the site will also be able to download publications like Centerpiece, Congregational Stories, Using Resources, and workshop resource lists. Check it out and remember the resources on this site can benefit anyone, not just churches in Indianapolis! www.centerforcongregations.org/ 

 The Calvin Institute of Christian Worship just launched a completely redesigned site.  See www.calvin.edu/worship to check out their expanded offerings around resources, events, and grants.  Within their large resource section they organized the content in five major areas including Christian worshipers, leadership, liturgical arts, worshiping communities, and interdisciplinary application.  Another interesting feature is the biweekly posting of "Vital Worship Feature Stories" at http://www.calvin.edu/worship/stories/

 The Faith Communities Today research website http://FACT.hartsem.edu has a new design that will soon be publicly available.  The site is being redesigned to reflect the changing nature of that research project.   Additionally, a major national research project by this group is currently underway.  Several thousand congregations of over 20 religious groups are being surveyed, with additional intensive surveys of megachurches, and Episcopal, Southern Baptist, Lutheran and Mormon congregations being done in coordination with these national efforts.  Watch for the results at http://FACT.hartsem.edu.

 On the Practicing Our Faith website you can download study guides for two recent Project publications: Testimony, by Tom Long, and A Song to Sing, A Life To Live, by Don Saliers and Emily Saliers. These free guides are available on the library page of their website: http://www.practicingourfaith.org/cfm/library/index.cfm

 

 The budgets for the competitive grant programs of the Louisville Institute have been increased. The deadlines for the Pastoral Grants are Sabbatical Grant for Pastoral Leaders - 09/15/2005; Summer Stipend Program - 10/15/2005; Christian Faith & Life - 11/15/2005; Religious Institutions - 12/01/2005.  Visit the Institute site and check the grants out at www.louisville-institute.org/secondary/pastoralgrants.asp.