# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1975_S285
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

HIGHER EDUCATION 285

permit and as the states utilize these resources. However, of
primary concern to the fate of private higher education is that
the issues involved will not wait for lengthy research and de-
bate. Schools throughout the country are in serious difficulties
now.

Enrollment in LCMS System

The enrollment in the synodical schools throughout the years
has been reflective of the times we have lived in. For example,
during the period of rapid immigration the Springfield seminary
enrolled nearly 300 students in 1894 and dropped to 115 students
in 1937. Enrollment at St. Paul’s College, Concordia, Mo., was
177 in 1913 and dropped to a low of 75 in 1942. Cyclical enroll-
ments for other LCMS institutions could also be cited. In 1956
the synodical system found 1,415 students enrolled at the high
school level, 2,714 at the college level, and 943 at the seminary
level, for a total enrollment of 5,072. The following graph illus-
trates the enrollment of full-time students from 1963 to 1974
(1974 enrollment is reflective of a decline of 425 students at the
seminary level). It is interesting to note, however, that total
1973 enrollment was almost identical to that in 1963, the college
enrollment being 18 percent higher and the high school enroll-
ment being some 900 students, 61 percent less.

FULLETIME EMROLLMENTS Th SY SU DICAL SURO LE

A very dramatic change affecting the synodical system has
resulted from phasing out the synodical high school/academy
in seven locations from 11 synodical high schools operating in
1966 to only four in operation as of 1973. During that period
the high school enrollment dropped from 1,537 to 601 students.
The first institution to discontinue the high school department
was Concordia, Austin, in 1967. Bronxville closed the high school
department in 1969, Winfield in 1971, Seward and Oakland in
1972, and Milwaukee in 1973. Concordia, St. Paul, Minn., com-
bined the high school department with the Lutheran high in
1967 and discontinued synodical participation in June 1971.

Full-time enrollment at the junior college level reached its
peak in total numbers in 1966. The closing of Oakland and the
change of Bronxville to 4 years beginning in 1973 have altered
the picture of total junior college enrollment. The individual
junior colleges, with the exception of Austin and Portland,
reached their peak enrollments from 1966 to 1968. Since that
period, with the two exceptions noted, the enrollments have
generally been decreasing. This has been in spite of gradually
expanded program offerings by the institutions.

The 4-year colleges have experienced a pattern of enroll-
ment somewhat similar to that found at the junior college level.
The institutions, however, reached their peak enrollment
periods during different years: River Forest in 1967, St. Paul,
Minn., in 1969, and Seward in 1971. Teacher education colleges

at River Forest and Seward have experienced the same recent
enrollment decline as at teacher education institutions through-
out the country. The rapid change in the birth rate and a slight
shortage of assignment for nonmobile candidates apparently
has affected the desire of students to make a commitment to
teacher preparation.

Enrollment history during the past 12 years at Concordia
Senior College, Fort Wayne, found a peak of 501 in 1967 anda
low of 293 in the current academic year. A drastic enrollment
decline occurred in 1969, when 65 fewer students enrolled: the
decline has continued in each succeeding year.

COMBINED

warenxville was 2 years until 1673; it added the ird year in 1973 and the -th year in 197+