Collection › LCMS Convention Workbook (St. Louis, Missouri) › 1969 · 48th Convention › Page 254
LCMS Convention Workbook St. Louis, Missouri — 1969, Page 254

Scan: The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod
Transcription machine transcription, uncorrected

254 HIGHER EDUCATION

Education, the college presidents, and the Commission
on Research and Planning.

Preparing High School Teachers

For example, both River Forest and Seward offer
programs in secondary teacher education for most aca-
demic areas. The number of new teachers required by
the high schools in the Synod for any one academic area
in a given year is very limited. Therefore, consideration
is being given to the feasibility of either offering a secon-
dary program on only one campus or of assigning certain
areas of specialization in secondary programs to indi-
vidual campuses.

Other possibilities which are being studied and dis-
cussed for consolidating existing programs include:
assigning all graduate teacher education offerings to only
one campus; offering all synodical graduate education
at a single center for graduate studies: offering certain
sequences and majors for elementary teacher education
students at one or several select colleges: assigning the
director of Christian education program to one institution.

New programs which are being considered, such as
specialized training for the ministry in the modern cities,
are being analyzed in relation to the feasibility of assign-
ing them to a single campus. The studies of the parish
worker, deaconess, and Lutheran Lay Training Institute
programs, as directed in Resolution 6-27 of the New York
convention, tentatively indicate that more consolidation
of such specialized programs may be possible and
desirable.

Any steps to consolidate or assign programs, of
course, must be done only after careful planning and
study. Arbitrary or provincial decisions would destroy
the potential value of the efforts.

The Board for Higher Education recommends to the
Synod that the studies concerning the consolidation of
programs be continued and that the Board for Higher
Education be given discretionary authority to assign
specialized and graduate programs to institutions to
avoid unnecessary duplication.

3. Seek Increased Amounts and New Sources of
Financial Support

“The Synod is to be commended for the substantial
financial support it has provided, and Lutherans can be
proud of the good use to which their money has been
put.” This quotation from the statement by Dr. Pattillo
expresses the high regard which many leaders in educa-
tion, and especially those in other church-related colleges,
have for the strong financial base which the Synod has
provided through subsidy for the colleges which educate
the future ministers of the church.

At the same time, the colleges and seminaries of the
Synod have not been able to escape the financial erises
and dilemmas which have recently engulfed all private
and church-related educational institutions. The funds
available to our colleges and seminaries in the past bien-
nium have not been sufficient to meet the needs in areas
such as faculty salaries and building maintenance, nor

to meet the challenges in programs such as instructional
innovations and continuing education.

The two major sources of funds for the ongoing opera-
tion of the schools continue to be the fees paid by the stu-
dents and the subsidy from the Synod. During the past
biennium the average annual income from student fees
increased by $98 per student, while synodical subsidy
increased by only $22 per student. The percentage of
the total current income at the colleges and seminaries
which came from synodical subsidy was lower in 1968
than in any other year for which financial records are
available.

Synodical Grants Decline

Synodical grants for capital funds (new buildings and
major remodeling) and plant funds (equipment pur-
chases and minor remodeling) declined sharply during
the past biennium. The actual amount of synodical
money expended during each of the past 2 years for
capital needs was significantly less than one half as
much as the amount spent during each of the earlier
years in this decade. Whereas 85 percent of the total
capital expenditures during the first 7 years of this dec-
ade came from synodical subsidy, only 45 percent of
the amount spent during the past 2 years was provided
by the Synod. Plant funds which were made available
through the Synod averaged $7 per student in 1967 and
$13 in 1968, as compared with an average of $97 per year
per student during the 7 years prior to this biennium.

The financial problems confronting all private and
church-related colleges are extremely serious. Many
educators have expressed the belief that all nonpublic
institutions will eventually close unless much more sup-
port is made available through federal or other public
funds.

How does the financial future look for our own col-
leges? The data available to the Board for Higher Educa-
tion—including the records of the past financial perfor-
mance by the church, the needs and challenges faced
by the Synod as seen by its leaders, the studies and
projections concerning the future of our schools, and the
opinions available from prominent men in the American
educational scene —all indicate that our schools can
move ahead, under God, and will have the funds needed
to do an even more effective job of providing workers
for the church, if rigorous and concerted efforts are made
in at least four areas involving finances.

a. Economy. It will, without a doubt, be essential
that our colleges and seminaries continue to practice
every possible economy without limiting the objectives
of the system. The Board for Higher Education intends
to examine every proposal, adopt every policy, and
implement every plan which shows promise for more
efficient operation without any sacrifice of quality. The
recommendations for consolidation in the system, as
detailed in the preceding section of this report, reflect
some of the plans of the board for fulfilling this objective.

b. Subsidy. In recent years the percentage of the
Synod’s total income which has been spent for higher