# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1969_S255 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) HIGHER EDUCATION 255 education has actually decreased slightly. The potential damage to ministerial education if this trend is permitted to continue cannot be overemphasized. The percentage of the Synod’s income which is made available for higher education must be increased if the objectives of the Synod are to be fulfilled. c. Student Fees and Aid. The average fees paid per year per student at synodical colleges increased from $852 to $950 during the past biennium. This amount is high when compared to the charges at public colleges, but lower than the cost at most other private institutions. The student fees at our colleges will, no doubt, need to be raised even higher in the future to meet the in- creased costs. However, because the majority of the students in synodical schools come from homes with low-middle to middle-level incomes, each increase in fees makes it necessary for more students to enter the group which requires financial help. As fees are in- creased, recruitment will be hampered unless adequate financial aid for students is made available. District committees presently furnish about 35 percent of the total aid given to students. While the amounts of such aid have been increased regularly, the percentage of the total income of Districts which is used for student aid is only one half as large now as in the 1930s. Some Districts now provide less than 10 cents per communicant each year for student aid. The Board for Higher Educa- tion recommends that the Synod ask all District leaders to reexamine their student aid budgets and make efforts to increase such aid during the next biennium. Home congregations of students now provide about 20 percent of the total amount of student aid. Many parishes responded to the synodical resolution adopted at the New York convention which encouraged each congregation to “include aid for its students at synodical schools in the regular annual congregational budget, or from its auxiliaries ... and that funds so designated be made available to the colleges and seminaries for use in general student aid if no students from the congrega- tion are enrolled in a given year.” More congregations are needed which will inaugurate such a program in the coming biennium. In recent years the officers of the colleges and sem- inaries, the students in the system, and the Board for Higher Education have been successful in their efforts to locate new sources of student financial aid. Twenty years ago only 5 percent of the total aid was supplied by individuals or agencies other than Districts and home congregations. At present this figure has grown to ap- proximately 45 percent. Active efforts to increase these amounts must be continued if the assistance required by the students is to be provided in the years ahead. d. Other Sources. Because of inflation in our econ- omy and the spiraling costs of education, new sources and increased amounts of support will be needed not only for student aid but also for all other areas of the work at the colleges and seminaries. In 1968, about 18 percent of all funds received by the schools for current operations came from sources out- side of synodical subsidy and student fees. This was 3 percent higher than in the year preceding the New York convention. For capital projects in 1968, about 65 percent of the total amount of money spent came from sources other than synodical subsidy, as compared with 25 percent in the year preceding the last convention. The colleges and seminaries will need to continue and even increase their efforts to locate funds outside of student fees and synodical subsidy. Non-church- related foundations and other funds have been providing increased amounts for our schools. More contacts with such groups are being planned and made. Federal Funds As requested by the Synod at the New York conven- tion, the schools have submitted “applications to the federal government . . . for funds from the grant and loan programs which will make only positive contribu- tions to the schools in the fulfillment of the synodically approved objectives for the system.” Federal and state loans and grants given directly to students also have been and will be utilized to the extent possible. Church funds which are not available to the congre- gations, Districts, or general Synod but which can be secured by the colleges are being solicited by the schools. 4. Provide Compensation to Administrators and Faculty Members in Line with Scales in Use at Comparable Institutions The problems created by the low faculty salaries in synodical schools were discussed at the synodical con- vention in New York in 1967. Two resolutions concerning salaries were adopted (6-11 and 6-28) which indicated that the “constituent congregations and Districts be reminded of their stewardship privilege and responsi- bility in this matter,” that the salaries be “raised to a level more nearly approaching the standards of other American church-related institutions of higher educa- tion,” that the “Board for Higher Education annually review faculty salary schedules and grant at least a cost- of-living raise,” and that the “Board for Higher Educa- tion and the Board of Directors give salary inprovement high priority.” The Board for Higher Education is very sensitive to the need to implement these convention resolutions. The Board of Directors has continued to evidence its concern for adequate salary structures. However, because of the limited amount of total synodical funds available for higher education, the in- creases granted in faculty salaries since the last con- vention have barely offset the rise in the cost of living. Little progress has been made in “catching up” for the previous years when no increases were granted. Faculty salaries continue to be “below the level received by many parish pastors and District officials,” as noted in a New York convention resolution. The average salaries at other church-related schools have increased more since 1967 than at the synodical colleges and seminaries.