LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 230

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230

evaluated for continued authorization, deletion, or modifica-
tion based upon student enrollment, economic factors, system
effect, and product marketability.

The effects of federal and state funding formulas for
meeting educational costs have had a powerful effect. Since
sizable state grants are provided, which in most cases cannot
be used across state lines, students find it advantageous to
complete a college program in the state of their residence. To
transfer to a college out of state can resultin a loss of thousands
of dollars. The advantage to the church for retention of
students at its colleges for a four-year rather than a two-year
period is obvious. If a four-year college is not available, many
students either begin their program at a four-year college or
university within their state or transfer to it after completion of
the program at a two-year college of the Synod. These factors
have been significant in the movement of most of the synodical
colleges to four-year status.

Finally, it should be noted that many desirable and needed
programs and directions are mandated or approved by the
Synod in convention, resulting in changes in curricula and the
status of institutions. Among these are authorization for
colleges to move to four-year status, mandating of courses in
certain areas of ministry, and the establishment of programs
on specific campuses. As these directions are carried out, the
sources for the direction are sometimes forgotten and the
impression given that each school is going in its own direction
without guidance or authorization. The Board for Higher
Education believes that it has been faithful in carrying out the
responsibilities and directions given it by the Handbook and
by the Synod in convention resolutions. It should be noted that
while the Synod has approved in principle the concept of
specific programs leading to special ministries, the graduates
have not been included on the roster of the Synod because of the
Constitution, which limits the roster to members of the Synod.
Although they are not included in the official roster, they are
quite obviously to be included in the category of church
workers.

Planning and Funding
Planning

While the colleges and seminaries have been encouraged to
move forward in planning the best educational programs
possible, they have been encouraged to do so deliberately and
realistically; to dream, but also to plan for realization of those
dreams, keeping in mind the total system of higher education
in the planning process as well as local needs.

The Board for Higher Education, in seeking to assist the
colleges and seminaries in this process, conducted a four-day
planning/management workshop in November 1980. Each
college and seminary was represented by its president and a
staff member of the president’s choice. The purpose of the
workshop was to provide the participants with the necessary
guidance and tools for preparing realistic five-year plans for
each institution that would involve curricula, facilities, en-
rollment, staffing, and financing. After the workshop and the
return of the participants to their campuses, each school began
its planning with July 1, 1981, as the projected date for
completion of a tentative five-year plan. The plan is to be
updated annually with the addition of a new fifth year each
time this occurs and is to be completed on a prearranged and
uniform schedule. With this kind of systematic approach it
should be possible for the Board for Higher Education to
anticipate needs for staffing, funding, and facilities and to
have sufficient time to evaluate the impact of the plans of
individual schools on the entire higher-education enterprise of
the Synod. With a proper data base, intelligent and defensible
decisions can be made and plans can be developed for antici-
pated changes.

Funding

If more detailed planning can occur, the funding needs will
become apparent. However, awareness of the needs in this area
does not necessarily answer questions that arise regarding the
source of funding to meet these needs. It is at this point that the
colleges and seminaries have found themselves in a dilemma.

Although a 1979 resolution was adopted calling for the
Synod to “enter with joy the doors God opens in higher

HIGHER EDUCATION

education ... by providing increased support for its colleges
and seminaries in order that the proclamation of the Gospel of
Christ may grow and flourish among us and in all the world,”
(6-01 A) funds that were able to be made available for the
1980—81 fiscal year did not reflect such increased support. The
funding available for higher education was virtually identical
with that of the previous year. At the same time spiraling costs
due to continuing inflation pushed the total operating budgets
of the colleges and seminaries to ever higher levels.

Partial relief was provided when the Synod approved an
allocation of $700,000 for improvement of faculty salaries,
authorizing borrowing, if necessary, to provide these funds.
This action was carried out and the colleges and seminaries, as
well as the Board for Higher Education, are grateful for that
action. Nevertheless, that relief was only temporary because
costs continued to mount.

Feeling a responsibility to carry out their mission, the
colleges have increased tuition rates to levels that, if continued,
will make it more difficult than ever to attract students for the
ministries of the church. However, if student enrollment can be
increased, the need for tuition increases can be offset by the
increased income that derives from the larger enrollment.

In order to assist students and to meet operating costs the
schools have increased their efforts in the area of development.
While this has enabled them to continue their operations, these
efforts have a tendency to weaken the ties between the Synod
as a whole and the educational institution. Historically, when
a denomination has failed to support its educational insti-
tutions, they have been forced to turn to other sources of income
and have gradually moved away from their church bodies.
Numerous conventions have noted the dangers involved, but
the direction toward a lower percentage of synodical support
has not been changed.

The history of institutions begun by other denominations
that followed the trend indicated is one of failure to maintain
their original goals and purposes and eventual severing of ties
with those denominations. If our schools are not to follow the
same path, a method must be found to, at the minimum, retain
the present level of support.

In its effort to maintain and support the purposes for which
the colleges and seminaries were founded, the Board for Higher
Education has been developing a “subsidy formula,” now more
properly identified by the board as an “allocation formula,”
which will provide primary support for church workers as
directed by several conventions of the Synod. A formula now
being phased in provides for primary support for seminarians,
for church-work students, and, to a lesser degree, for LCMS
general education students. Certain weaknesses in the original
formula have been detected, and modifications have been
proposed. It is expected that if this approach is found to be
workable, the allocation formula, which is to be phased in over
a period of several years, will be in full effect before the next
convention of the Synod. -

One of the problems associated with allocation of funds on
the basis of a formula is that it does not deal with an increase in
the total number of church-work students in the schools of the
Synod. If the total number increases while the dollar amount
remains constant, it will only result in a smaller per-student
allocation and will not provide financial relief for the total
system of schools. The situation will be similar even if the
number of church-work students remains constant. In that
case, because of increased operational costs, the percentage of
operating funds provided by the Synod will continue to decline.
The only solution seems to be an increase in the total amount
availeble for allocation. Without that increase, even a larger
enrollment of church-work students in the system will not
result in greater support and will increase competition rather
than cooperation between the schools. A large enrollment will,
however, raise more student funds to cover overhead costs,
particularly at the smaller schools.

Implementation of Other Resolutions

In addition to the general and continuing direction of the
schools of the Synod, other resolutions adopted by the 1979
synodical convention called for specific action and involvement
of the Board for Higher Education.

Res. 3-06A stated that “St. Catharines Extension of the Fort
Wayne seminary be given independent status, serving directly