wfn.org | [LCMSNews] Fall 2003 CUS, seminary enrollments

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	October 30, 2003 ............... LCMSNews -- No. 123

	Combined college, sem enrollments hit record high

	By Joe Isenhower Jr.

	The total enrollment at the Synods 12 colleges, universities
and seminaries hit an all-time record high this fall.

	The total number of students at Synod colleges and universities
who reported that they are members of LCMS congregations fell slightly,
however, after rising for the three previous years.

	The schools reported a total of 17,568 students, which is 479
more than last fall. This year, 4,907 students, just 13 fewer than a
year ago, reported that they are LCMS members.

	The number of church-work students this fall at the colleges and
universities is 2,805, or 79 fewer than were enrolled in fall 2002, when
there were 159 fewer church-work students than in 2001.

	At the two seminaries, 882 men are enrolled in programs leading
to ordination, which is 56 more than last fall. The college and
universities reported 413 pre-seminary students, compared with 431 a
year ago.

	Eight schools reported enrollment increases from a year ago and
four had declines. Enrollment at the two seminaries this fall stands at
1,135, or 125 more than a year ago.

	The most dramatic enrollment increases were at Concordia
Seminary, St. Louis, with 111 more students than last fall (an 18
percent increase) and at Concordia University, Portland, with 186 more
students (a 17.1 percent increase). No other schools reported
double-digit percentages in enrollment increases.

	Rev. Glen Thomas, vice president for seminary relations at
Concordia, St. Louis, said that the seminarys fall enrollment rose
primarily because of 178 new students, a 44 percent increase from last
year and the largest entering class in 32 years.

	He said that a significant factor in the higher number of new
students is that pastors and lay people throughout the church have been
much more intentional in identifying and encouraging appropriate
candidates for the pastoral ministry.

	Dennis Stoecklin, chief financial officer at Concordia,
Portland, attributes the enrollment growth there to two developments.

	This fall, he said, about 80 percent of last years freshmen
returned -- our highest-ever retention of students. I think this is
because we are doing a better job of matching students to the
institution.

	Stoecklin also said that about 100 new students are in
graduate-education programs the university started this summer at
satellite locations in central and southern Oregon.

	Concordia University, Ann Arbor, Mich., and Concordia College,
Selma, Ala., were the only institutions with double-digit percentage
decreases, at 13 percent and 12.6 percent, respectively.

	The Synods Board for Higher Education/Concordia University
System (BHE/CUS) office in St. Louis collected and compiled enrollment
and other statistics from the schools and issued it last month in a
Statistical Report.

	This falls enrollments (undergraduate and graduate) at the 10
CUS schools are as follows:

	* Concordia University, Ann Arbor, 477 (down 71, or 13 percent)
from fall 2003;

	* Concordia University at Austin, Texas, 1,155 (up 82, or 7.6
percent);

	* Concordia College, Bronxville, N.Y., 710 (up 12, or 1.7
percent);

	* Concordia University, Irvine, Calif., 1,741 (up 93, or 5.6
percent);

	* Concordia University Wisconsin, Mequon, 5,152 (up 248, or 5.1
percent);

	* Concordia University, Portland, 1,274 (up 186, or 17.1
percent);

	* Concordia University, River Forest, Ill., 1,706 (down 96, or
5.3 percent);

	* Concordia University, St. Paul, Minn., 2,051 (up 130, or 6.8
percent);

	* Concordia College, Selma, 850 (down 122, or 12.6 percent): and

	* Concordia University Nebraska, Seward, 1,317 (down 108, or 7.6
percent);

	The total enrollment at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort
Wayne, Ind., is 406 (up 14, or 3.6 percent), and at Concordia Seminary,
St. Louis, the total enrollment is 729 (up 111, 18 percent).

	Total enrollments of church-work students (other than
pre-seminary) at the 10 CUS schools are as follows:

	* Lutheran teacher, 1,643 (down 68 from a year ago);

	* director of Christian education, 453 (up 13);

	* director of Christian outreach, 28 (down 11);

	* deaconess, 43 (up 14);

	* lay ministry, 137 (down 13);

	* director of parish music, 48 (up nine); and

	* director of family-life ministry, 40 (down five).

	Totals of those who declared religious affiliation other than
Missouri Synod at the 10 CUS schools are:

	* other Lutheran, 1,227 (up 61);

	* other Protestant, 3,819 (up 850);

	* Roman Catholic, 1,857 (up 65);

	* other faiths, 326 (down 541); and

	* unchurched, 266 (down seven).

	There is a wide range in tuition and room-and-board costs per
year at the 10 colleges and universities.

	The lowest of the combined costs at the colleges and
universities is $9,334 at Selma and $18,240 at Seward. The highest
combined costs are $25,140 at Bronxville and $24,486 at St. Paul.

	For the seminaries, the combined tuition and room-and-board cost
is $18,075 at Fort Wayne and $19,800 at St. Louis.

	Dr. William F. Meyer, BHE executive director and CUS president,
said that about 80 percent of all CUS students continue to get some form
of financial aid and that both seminaries still guarantee financial aid
to eliminate student debt from tuition costs.

	*********************************

	If you have questions or comments about this LCMSNews release,
contact Joe Isenhower Jr. at joe.isenhower@lcms.org or (314) 996-1231,
or Paula Schlueter Ross at paula.ross@lcms.org or (314) 996-1230.

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