LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1981, Page 255

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HIGHER EDUCATION 255

Winfield maintains a level and quality of life that is highly
conducive to the character of education the Synod sponsors
through the college. Winfield provides quality public services
(fire, police, health care) that are essential for the well-being of
the college community. Winfield is a safe and secure setting for
the college’s students, staff, and faculty and their families and
is less subject than many urban centers to social problems such
as crime and violence, racial tensions, malicious destruction of
property, and drug abuse.

The Winfield community, through its churches, colleges,
schools, and professional and artistic organizations, offers a
level of life that demonstrates cultural sensitivity and sophis-
tication. Winfield is located in a region of moderate climate and
is situated in an area that is energy-efficient.

The Winfield community has land available at reasonable
cost for future campus expansion, should such expansion be
considered desirable.

Financial Assistance for Students

St. John’s College has adequate financial-assistance re
sources to help students with demonstrated financial need,
although the resource pool must expand proportionately with
increases in the student population and with costs to students
for tuition, room, board, and other expenses.

St. John’s College students benefit from a variety of
financial-aid sources: federal government loans and grants;
state of Kansas scholarships and grants; college grant, scholar-
ship, and part-time employment plans; synodical District
grants and scholarship; synodically affiliated auxiliary agency
grants and scholarships; St. John’s Alumni Association grants
and scholarships; St. John’s College Association of Lutheran
Congregation scholarships; federal government benefit pro-
grams (Social Security and Veteran’s Administration benefits,
for example); and a number of scholarships and grants pro-
vided by service organizations, professional groups, and
individuals.

St. John’s College students with demonstrated financial
need apply for and receive financial assistance that, according
to standard need analysis practices, is adequate to meet the
cost of attending the college.

Approximately 70 percent of the college’s total student
population complete the formal financial-assistance process to
apply for the financial-aid resources administered and awarded
by the college. About 70 percent of those students completing
the financial-assistance application process receive campus-
awarded funds on the basis of financial need.

Approximately 85—90 percent of all students attending St.
John’s College receive financial assistance through grants,
scholarships, or loans from all sources, college-based and
otherwise.

At the present time the college receives less than its
“national fair share” of financial-assistance resources pro-
vided by the federal government. Accordingly, the college is
eligible to receive increased federal funding from such pro-
grams as the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant
Program, the College Work-Study Program, and the National
Direct Student Loan Program as the student population
increases.

Kansas Tuition Grant Program

The Kansas Tuition Grant Program, a state-funded
financial-assistance plan offering annual grants of $1,200 to
Kansas-resident students attending a Kansas private college,
is a significant source of financial assistance for Kansas
residents who are full-time students with demonstrated finan-
cial need and is a major factor in attracting and retaining
Kansas students.

Approximately 90 percent of the Kansas students attending
St. John’s and applying for the Kansas Tuition Grant Program
qualify for a grant.

During the past six years the Kansas Tuition Grant
Program has provided annually an average of $52,140 to
students attending St. John’s College.

The Kansas Tuition Grant Program reduces the amount of
the college’s own funds and resources that must be budgeted to
provide financial assistance to students demonstrating finan-
cial need.

The Kansas Tuition Grant Program provides students a
freer choice in the selection of a college to attend when they
compare the lower costs at a tax-supported college or university
with the higher costs at St. John’s. Under the Kansas Tuition
Grant Program the average difference of $1,500 in annual costs
between public colleges and St. John’s is reduced to about $300.

Many students from middle and upper-middle income
families (annual income up to $30,000 have need and will
qualify to receive a Kansas Tuition Grant.

As the college moves toward the status of a four-year
college, the anticipated increase in enrollments from Kansas
will also increase the total dollar amount of assistance from the
Kansas Tuition Grant Program.

The college retains more than 70 percent of those students
receiving a Kansas Tuition Grant and continuing in a higher
education as students at the college.

Research conducted by the Kansas State Board of Regents,
which administers the Kansas Tuition Grant Program, indi-
cates that 30 percent of the students enrolling at St. John’s and
receiving a Kansas Tuition Grant would not have chosen to
attend St. John’s if they would not have had the benefit of the
Tuition Grant Program.

As we look to the future, we are optimistic because God
promises to sustain us as we seek to do His will.

Gordon W. Beckler, President

6-16
Report re Bylaws for St. Catharines

The 1979 synodical convention instructed the Commission
on Constitutional Matters to submit Bylaws to the 1981
convention for the election of a Board of Control to govern the
seminary in St. Catharines, Ont.

The commission has discovered that St. Catharines Semi-
nary incorporated itself under Ontario law and that there is no
way in which the Synod can exercise control over a Canadian
corporation through the election in convention of a Board of
Control. The Synod is therefore faced with a decision as to the
future ownership and operation of St. Catharines.

The following are among the alternatives:

1. Return St. Catharines to the status of an extension
campus of Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne;

2. Enter into a contractual relationship with the Canadian
corporation which might be summarized in Bylaw 6.23 as
follows:

c. The St. Catharines Seminary, being a corpora-
tion incorported under the laws of the Province of
Ontario, Canada, having a Board of Directors elected
or appointed in accordance with such laws, shall not
have a Board of Control, and as a condition of
continuing support and recognition by the Synod, the
St. Catharines Seminary shall enter into such agree-
ment with the Board for Higher Education as the
Board for Higher Education may consider necessary
or advisable to permit the board to carry out it duties
as set forth in paragraph 6.05 in so far as such duties
relate to the St. Catharines Seminary.

3. As in the case of Concordia College, Edmonton, turn the
ownership and operation of St. Catharines over either to the
Ontario District of the Synod or to the Lutheran Church—
Canada, which consists of the three synodical Districts in
Canada plus several congregations of the Minnesota North,
English, and SELC Districts;

4. Continue the present temporary arrangement under
which the Board for Higher Education is performing many of
the functions of a Board of Control.

Commisison on Constitutional Matters
Herbert Mueller, Secretary

6-17

To Increase Prerequisites for Teacher
Applicants for Pastoral Colloquy

WHEREAS, The existing regulations of the Synod (Handbook,