Finances and the Seminary Student

David and I were extremely blessed financially when he was at the seminary.

Before we were married, I was able to help him with the cost of schooling through my part-time job working on campus at the university I was attending. Being frugal myself and hoping for some financial stability in my future, I scraped pennies in order to make any dent I could in the small amount that was left over for him to pay after his generous home congregation, our district, and the churches who supported him through the Adopt-A-Student program or simply because they had a connection to his family and they cared.

After we were married, the various supporting churches and our district continued to support him, and, oddly, we were lucky enough to have my car totaled in a hail storm while we were on our honeymoon. You wouldn't think this would be a good thing, but it was. My car was insured and drivable, so we took that money and did something that might have seemed a bit illogical, but we used it to pay off some debt, namely his car payment. It almost covered it all, so with some major penny pinching, we were able to pay it off and free up a chunk of money every month to go towards his seminary education rather than to the car company.

In addition to this odd blessing of a car being totaled, we had a benefactor who asked us what our most worrisome bill was and sent us a check every time it came due.

Not all seminarians are lucky enough to come from such a supportive congregation or district. Not all seminarians are lucky enough to have moved many times during his life and attended various congregations that might be able to support him. Not all seminarians are lucky enough to have a car totaled by a hail storm.

We were lucky enough that between the 10 years of higher education between us, we were able to pay off the debt in the 7 years since David graduated from the seminary. Sadly, today, that is not the norm for most seminarians. Many seminarians leave the seminary with $100,000 in debt and loans that they will be paying back for 25 years.

In the recent edition of For the Life of the World, the magazine from Concordia Theological Seminary, there are several articles that explain the economic situation that many seminarians find themselves in.

If you would like information about how to support a seminarian,  go to www.ctsfw.edu and click on the "Support CTS" link.

The seminarians you will be supporting, are much like we were, penny pinching and hard working, but the cost of education has risen and the support that different men get from their congregations, district, and others varies and for most are significantly less than the amount of support that we received.

These men our our future pastors, the men that will speak forgiveness to us and give us the Sacraments. Supporting them lessens the burden they will carry. Investing in them is, well, a good investment.