Can I afford seminary?

The fact is that seminary is expensive.

So, when trying to make the decision on going to seminary, it is important to spend some time crunching the numbers. Now, this isn’t the determining factor, but it is certainly one you must consider before making this decision.

So, what should you do?

Well, first, you need to figure out you current cost of living. This means taking ALL your monthly expenses and get them on paper. Here is a list to get you thinking. List how much you spend per month on:

• Rent/Mortgage
• Groceries
• Power
• Water
• Trash
• Internet
• Cable
• Auto Insurance
• Car Payment
• Gasoline
• Student loans
• Clothing
• Entertainment
• Eating out
• Tithe/Donations
• and so on…

Now, if you don’t know exactly how much you spend per month, then estimate. The key here is to estimate HIGH. So, if you think you spend $100 a month clothes, but you aren’t sure… go ahead and estimate $125.

Once you have it all listed out… add it up. This is a good idea of your current cost of living.

Now, the fun part. Ask yourself how you plan to pay the bills when you go to seminary. Here you need to be realistic. You’re not going to be working a 40 hour a week job making $60K while you’re in seminary. The coursework will be grueling. I estimate (current seminarians help me on this one) that you can work 20 +/- hours a week. This alone will limit your job options. So, honestly evaluate your income potential on a monthly basis. Here, again, you might need to estimate. This time, however, estimate low. Better safe then sorry. Also, if your spouse plans on working, figure that it too. Add it all up and you have your estimated monthly income.

Now, take your estimate monthly income and subtract your current cost of living. This number might scare you… it’s probably a negative. That means you won’t make enough to support your current lifestyle while at seminary.

Now, don’t take that to mean seminary is out of the picture for you. Now the fun begins.

Take your current monthly living expense and begin to trim the fat. What areas can you cut down? Entertainment and eating out are the first easy targets. However, don’t be foolish and drop them to zero. Unless you are super-human, you’ll eat out from time to time… or at least get a coffee or tea. To say zero is just dumb. Be rational and cut the excess, but don’t drop to zero.

Now, I’m not going to talk about all the ways to cut cost (I’ll do that on another post) but you get the picture. As you cut the cost you’ll notice you’re inching closer and closer to making that negative a positive.

Now, as our decreasing the gap here, (warning, bad news ahead) don’t forget to add some of the expenses that might not have been on your first list… like books, health insurance, tuition, etc. These are certainly going impact the monthly budget.

Now, what happens if you’ve cut all you think you can legitimately cut and the numbers still don’t work? Well, I can’t tell you exactly. This is where prayer, council, and discernment kick in. Just because it doesn’t work on paper doesn’t mean it is out the window. Pray and be wise.

For me… well, the paper (aka the “can this work” excel spreadsheet) says no. We’re about $700 a month short. However, we’ve decided to take the step of faith. We’ll have some equity to cushion us for a bit to test the water, so our decision is not reckless… but it isn’t ’safe’. But I feel like that is part of the experience. Stepping out and trusting God. It isn’t for everyone (you know what I mean)… just do your homework.

Is a virtual campus for you? A seminary’s advice

While tooling around the net looking for seminaries with online and distance education options I found a good bit of help from a post on the Asbury Theological Seminary web site.

The elements you bring to online learning are vital to the learning process. Here are some questions to ask yourself as you consider the possibilities of virtual learning:

• How well do I manage my time?
• How do I rate my reading & writing skills?
• How do I rate my computer skills?
• How do I learn best?
• Will I have the support of my family and friends?

In the post they break down these questions a little further. Certainly something worth checking our if you are thinking about going to online or distance education route for seminary.

List of Seminaries with Online and Distance Education

So, I figure it would be good to work on a list of seminaries offering online and distance education degrees. Now, keep in mind that almost every school that offers a distance education will require, at least, some residential classes. This list will only include programs that are accredited by the Association of Theological Schools and allow you to complete 90% of your degree off campus:

• Reformed Theological Seminary Master of Arts in Religion (MAR)
• Fuller Theological Seminary Master of Arts in Global Leadership
• Covenant Seminary Master of Arts in Theological Studies (MATS)
• Liberty University (too many to figure out which ones are totally distance)

Choosing a seminary - a pastor’s opinion

In my never ending quest to provide information that will help you decide on the right seminary for you, I occasionally find other people who have weighed in on the subject. Today I came across an older post by Mark Denver at togetherforthegospel.org.

In his post, Mark explains five factors to consider when choosing a seminary. They are:

1. Confession of Faith - “…Look to be trained at an institution which seems to be committed to a right understanding of God’s Word…“
2. Quality of Education - “…While there is no precise way to measure such quality, factors which indicate it are the school’s faculty, the required curriculum and the library facilities…“
3. Cost - “…The calling that you are following doesn’t usually pay the kind of salaries doctors, businessmen or lawyers may receive. It is part of your being a good steward to consider the cost of the education you are pursuing…“
4. Church - “…you must also consider if there is a good church nearby that could be a place of ministry and spiritual encouragement and direction while you are in the seminary…“
5. Connection for Life - “…consider what connections for the rest of life you might make by attending this seminary or that theological college…“

His points are good and certainly ones that I agree with. His points about indebtedness and the fact that pastors aren’t making the same kind of money that MBA’s will be making after they graduate is a really great and something that we’ll discuss in the paying for seminary section in the near future.

Deciding on a seminary - Should I stay or should go?

This post will help narrow your list by asking a very simply question that The Clash asked in 1981, “Should I stay or should I go?”

Now, location is a big deal for some people. Are you willing to move across the country to go to seminary? How far are you willing to go from home? From friends? From family?

The fact of the matter is that the right seminary for you might not be in the location you want it to be in. You might be a beach bum and yet feel a calling to Regent College in Canada. Or maybe your a big city kid from New York and you’re sensing the call to study at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky.

At that moment I guess a better question to ask is not “should I” but rather “will I.” Are you really prepared to be uncomfortable and go places you might not typically want to go?

If your answer is no… it’s just my opinion, but you’re probably not ready for seminary. As ministers, we are called to live follow the example of our king, who though God, humbled himself. A king, who when faced with going somewhere that was more than a little uncomfortable answered his father with, “not my will, but your’s be done.”

So, think it over. If where you want to go to seminary is some place that might be uncomfortable for you… then your training has already begun.

Deciding on a seminary - Which degree is for me?

253 seminaries… that’s a bunch. So, how do you decide on which one to attend?

Well, this is seminary, so prayer is always a good starting place. As you prayerfully submit your decision making process to the Lord, there are a couple things to think through. In this post, we’ll look at step one, “what degree do I want to pursue?”

This is step one because knowing what degree you want to pursue will help eliminate all seminaries that don’t have the degree and it will also help in future steps when you are looking at specific aspects of the program within the seminary you are considering.

Most seminaries offer several standard degree options (We’ll only be looking at Masters degrees in this series):

• Master of Divinity (M.Div.)
• Masters of Theology (Th.M.)
• Masters of Arts (M.A. in ___ )
  • Biblical Studies
  • Theological Studies
  • Christian Thought
  • Counseling
  • Missions
  • Youth Ministry
  • Religion

Now, this list isn’t exhaustive, but it is a good representation of what is available. So, what is the difference in all of these?

The M.Div. is seen as the “traditional” degree that someone would go to seminary to get. This degree is almost universally the standard for ordination in all mainline denominations. Meaning, if you want to be a pastor in a denominational church, then this is probably the degree you’re going to want to go for.

The M.Div. is going to take the longest to get, requiring 106 credit hours to graduate. You will be will be required to learn both Greek and Hebrew and you will take courses in theology, history, bible, and communication. Almost every M.Div. program is designed specifically to prepare the student for pastoral ministry.

The Th.M. is an advanced degree that almost always requires you to first have your M.Div. in order to be accepted into the program. That said, I feel like I’ve seen a few Th.M.’s that didn’t require it… but I believe they are few and far between.

The Th.M. is designed to allows a student the opportunity to take specialized advanced studies in theological research. Th.M. programs typically require 30-60 credit hours for graduation and will typically require writing a thesis paper. This degree is typically gained in preparation for doctoral studies (Doctor of Ministry, D.Min.; Doctor of Theology, Th.D.; Doctor of Psychology, Ph.D.) and typically emphasizes a specific area of study. For example, at Reformed Theological Seminary, the Th.M. program focuses on Reformation Studies (saw that coming).

Finally, the M.A. is a degree designed to give concentrated study in a specific field. Part of the appeal of the M.A. is that you are only taking classes that are in your area of study. So, for example, if you want an M.A. in Biblical Studies, then most of your coursework will be in classes studying, very specifically, the scriptures. However, an M.A. in Missions will also, study the scriptures, but it will focus more class time on engaging and ministering within different cultures.

Now, I don’t have the time to go into the details of all the M.A.’s available, but I hope you get the gist of what the degree is all about.

Knowing the degrees that are available to you will be useful as you seek to narrow down your list of seminaries. If you know you want an M.A. in Counseling… well, you’ve just knocked down a whole bunch of schools.

Our next step will be to consider geographic issues. “Should I stay or should I go?” - The Clash

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