# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_1975_S287
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

HIGHER EDUCATION 287

man enrollment has gone from 1:65 to 1:130. The ratio of con-
firmands committing themselves to a college church work edu-
cation has drastically declined, while at the same time the
number of confirmands has increased by over 40 percent. Not
only has the ratio diminished, but the actual number of students
committing themselves to a church work career as college
freshmen has also declined rather sharply over the past 12-year
period.

The number of students who indicated their intent to pursue
a ministerial education program as college freshmen and the
number who have been graduated from the seminary indicates
that, although there are similarities in the trend lines, there
obviously are sizable numbers of men who drop out of the

synodical system because there are quite a number of men
coming into the seminary programs from outside the synodical
education system. Alternative educational offerings by public
universities are considered viable options to qualify for semi-
nary education, and students who receive teacher education
degrees also are entering the seminary. Consequently the
rapid decline in the number of students committing themselves
to pastoral degrees as college freshmen has not had a totally
similar effect on the total enrollment or graduation from the
seminaries. Whether this situation will continue to exist is a
subject in need of careful study and follow-through. Also
whether the specific collegiate background of the seminary
student directly affects his ministry is subject to a great deal
of study and careful analysis.

Religious Affiliation and Origin of Students

The fall 1973 enrollment reports indicate that on the average
nearly 62 percent of the synodical high school students have a
Missouri Synod background, nearly 9 percent have other Lu-
theran background, and 29 percent have anon-Lutheran back-
ground. The institutions vary from 97 percent with Missouri
Synod background at Concordia, Mo., to 40 percent at Alabama
Lutheran Academy. Portland, Oreg., shows the highest per-
centage of other Lutherans, whereas Selma, Ala., has the
highest percentage of non-Lutherans. District origin indicates
that quite a sizable number of students at Concordia, Mo.,
come from outside the District, while at Edmonton, Selma, and
Portland, the vast majority of Lutheran students come from
within the District in which the school is located.

At the junior college level an average of 16.7 percent of the
full time 1973—74 enrollment was non-Lutheran, 4.6 percent
other Lutheran, and 78.7 percent Missouri Synod Lutheran.
The percentages vary considerably by institution depending
primarily on its attractiveness for church work students and the
density of Misgouri Synod population in the area near the insti-
tution. An additional factor, particularly at the junior colleges,
appears to be the number of courses offered in the general
education areas that are attractive to a fairly large number of
non-Lutheran students who desire a college education in a
Christian atmosphere.

As one would expect at the 4-year colleges, lower percent-
ages of the enrollment come from the District in which the
school is located, and the institutions are generally, except for
programs specifically pointed towards students who do not
have a Lutheran background, not attracting non-Lutherans.

In total 1973 found 606 non-Lutherans on our college cam-
puses, 227 students of other Lutheran background, and 4,820,
or 85.3 percent, who come from Missouri Synod homes. In total,
30.6 percent of the students come from the District in which the
college they are attending is located.

State Origin of Church-Work Students

A recent sample survey found that with the exception of
Portland, Winfield, River Forest, Seward, and Fort Wayne, all
institutions have at least a majority of the church work student
body whose legal residence is in the state in which the college
is located. The exceptions at the junior college level, Portland
and Winfield, are located in states with a fairly small Lutheran
population, and the colleges are readily accessible to Missouri
Synod members from other states, e. g., Washington, Colorado,
Oklahoma, Nebraska, and Missouri. River Forest, though
located in a heavily populated Missouri Synod area, does at-
tract some 57 percent of its enrollment from outside the state
of Illinois: the junior colleges at Milwaukee, Ann Arbor, and
until 1973 Bronxville serve as big feeders to River Forest.
Seward, with nearly 85 percent of its student body coming from
outside the state of Nebraska, is reflective of a comparatively
small Missouri Synod population in the state and the natural
attractiveness of the college to students from rural origins.
Concordia Senior College, Fort Wayne, being a national school,
has some 91 percent of its enrollment coming from outside the
state of Indiana.

The following table shows the origin of students attending
our colleges listed in order by the 12 most heavily populated
LCMS states. It also reflects the movement of students from
one state to another irrespective of the fact that there may be
a church work institution located in the home state, e.g., a
sizable percentage of Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin students
attend Concordia Teachers College, Seward, Nebr., rather than