# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1944_S462
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

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462. Report of Board for Higher Education

Table ‘11

Home Residence of Students
1942-43

Within Com- a
Total muting (Miles) Over

College Enrolled Distance to 60 60-100 100-200 200-300 300
St. Paul's College, .
Concordia, Mo. :

Pretheological: 77 6. 10 8 20 27 vi
St. John’s College, .
Winfield, Kans,

Pretheological: 83 1 . 4 - 6 15 12 45

Non-theological: — 101 20 q 10 12° 20 32 -

To complete the enrollment picture, it may be pointed out that-the
depression of the thirties brought about parallel declines in theo:
logical student enrollment in all three institutions. Winfield’s recent we
growth must be attributed solely to an increase in non-theological
students, mainly women. 5

The Present Status 3

A study of the 1942-43 student origins for St. Paul’s and St. John’s:4
indicates the extent to which the two institutions draw on the samé %
territory. St. John’s College, Winfield, Kans., enrolled twice as many
students from Nebraska as St. Paul’s College, Concordia, Mo., in spite
of the fact that the students must travel twice the distance to Winfield.
Nineteen of these Nebraska students study for theology at Winfield “:/3
and constitute 23 per cent of Winfield’s pretheological enrollment. “4
Fourteen of the Nebraska students attend St. Paul’s, Concordia, M
and comprise 18 per cent of its pretheological enrollment. Does this

_ hot indicate that two institutions are doing the work which one alone
could do?

If this be true of the past and of the present, all indications are 3
that it will be true with increasing emphasis in the future. The tier .*
of States in question (the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma) ‘are °
contending with a most unfortunate set of circumstances, all of which
operate to reduce the population as a whole and their school enroll:
‘ments in particular. During the decade from 1930-40, each of these ;
States has shown population declines ranging from 2.6 per’ cent. to’
7.5 per cent. The decline may be attributed primarily to unfavorable
climatic conditions, but also to declining birth rates. and population

movements, from farm to city, both of which are common throughout
the country. te

The location of St. Paul’s College is far from ideal. It is situated
in a completely rural area.. Farm lands fringe the school campus on
all sides. The village of Concordia, Mo., has one thousand inhabi-
tants. It lacks the cultural opportunities presented by large cities.
The presence of splendid highways to the cities is rather meaningless
to the student, since Kansas City is 60 miles west, Chillicothe’ 65.

miles north, Columbia 70 miles east. Scant opportunity is provided:
' for the student to experience whatever these cities offer in. the -way'