Chris Gehrz on The Crisis of Chistian Colleges

tonygill — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 09:00:23 +0000

Tuition is rising. Federal funding is becoming more sparse. And Christian college alumni and their affiliated denominations are not giving as much money to religious universities as they have in the past. In such an increasingly difficult fiscal environment, what is the future of Christian higher education? Will student enrollments decline because of the higher price? Will faculty need to be laid off? Will stalwart educational institutions in the community need to shutter their doors? Working from an “open letter to American church” that was penned on The Pietist Schoolman blog, we address all of these issues and more with Prof. Chris Gehrz, chair of the Department of History at Bethel University in St. Paul, MN. This interview provides another, perhaps more pessimistic, view of Christian higher education that both compliments and contrasts our previous interviews with Joseph Castleberry and Hunter Baker (see below).

After a bit of brief banter about the depressing state of Minnesota football, we begin our academic discussion with a brief look at “pietism,” as Prof. Gehrz’s blog is called The Pietist Schoolman and it would be relevant to understand the intellectual and theological perspective from which his views emanate. After a brief desciption of that religious movement and his interest in it, we then plunge headlong into the crisis of Christian higher education. Chris dates this crisis back to the 1980s when Christian college enrollments began to drop, only recovering in the recent decade. He also brings up a recent report by Forbes magazine that rated a substantial portion of CCCU schools with grades of C or D for fiscal health. We discuss both the reason for this drop in enrollments and the reason why many Christian schools have found themselves in such difficult financial straits.

Given that the fiscal health of private universities tends to be driven more by directly-paid tuition than at public institutions, we then look at why the cost of college has been rising so dramatically in recent decades. The reasons are many and include competitive faculty salaries, a race to provide the best student ammenities, expansing administrative expenses, and the construction boom of college buildings. Chris then notes that despite the rising costs of providing a college education, the sources of funding outside of student tuition have been dwindling, including donations from alumni and contributions from a Christian school’s affiliated denomination.

Our discussion closes with some possible solutions to this fiscal crisis facing Christian universities. Some of the solutions do not appear all that promising, including the laying off of faculty, the turn to part-time (or adjunct) faculty, and the likelihood that many Christian schools will have to close their doors. We note how this can be dislocating for students and how the turn to non-traditional faculty positions may affect pedagogical quality. As with our previous interviews on this topic, we also explore the pros and cons of harnessing online technology to change the way students learn and possibly mitigage the fiscal pressure many private schools are facing. Chris makes a strong case for why there still is an important role for Christian schools in our educational landscape. Not only does it provide a niche that is not typically fulfilled by public colleges and universities, but Christian higher education helps to fulfill the mission of The Christian Church by being an important intellectual component to making Christianity survive and grow. Recorded: October 22, 2013.

Rick Walston on Distance Learning & Seminary Education

tonygill — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 09:00:13 +0000

How does someone who grew up in a religiously apathetic household and who was not interested in school become the president of a theological seminary? And how does that same person challenge the typical norms of academia by promoting theological education via distance learning and online education? We talk with Dr. Rick Walston, founder and president of Columbia Evangelical Seminary, as he discusses his history and the challenges associated with creating a seminary where students are not physically present on campus. Rick starts by revealing his own upbringing, which suprisingly was not within a religious household. Nor was he particularly interested in schooling. He then discusses a “cataclysmic encounter” with Christianity that he had in his early adulthood that eventuallly set him down a path to earn two doctorates and several master’s degrees, as well as his experience in the pastorate. We then turn to the issue of creating a seminary. Rick reveals how the idea of Columbia Evangelical Seminary came about, talking about his experience working at a registrar’s office at a small college and how he encountered John Bear, an expert on distance learning and someone who was critical in busting “diploma mills.” After writing a book with Mr. Bear, and investigating the problems with correspondence schools in the 1980s, the idea of setting up a distance learning seminary began to take shape. Although Rick had felt called by God to start an educational institution for several years, he details the “eureka” moment of CES while on a vacation in Moss Beach, CA. Our conversation then focuses on the process of establishing this new distance learning institution, including how to answer the question “Will any students show up?” Through this discussion, we find out about the student body and faculty of CES, how the curriculum is determined, and then raise the important issue of accreditation. CES is not accredited and Rick explains why noting how the personalized and flexible nature of CES’s model makes accreditation difficult. The benefits and difficulties of online education are also discussed. Not everyone, it turns out, is an ideal candidate for a distance learning program since it requires a great amount of self-discipline on the part of the student, which is why most students at CES are older and are often involved in ministry already. Our interview closes with Rick’s thoughts on the usefulness of a theological education after Tony ruminates about whether or not seminaries over-intellectualize theology and creates a rift between the clergy and the common person in the pews. Recorded: January 28, 2013.

Research On Religion » tuition

Chris Gehrz on The Crisis of Chistian Colleges

Rick Walston on Distance Learning & Seminary Education