Study Finds Student Loan Debt a Burden for New Pastors

c. 2005 Religion News Service (UNDATED) When Nicole Lamarche decided to become a pastor, she knew two things: A master of divinity degree wouldn’t come cheap, and once she entered the pulpit, she wouldn’t make a lot of money. So Lamarche, 26, took out $28,000 in student loans. As she starts a two-year residency at […]

c. 2005 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) When Nicole Lamarche decided to become a pastor, she knew two things: A master of divinity degree wouldn’t come cheap, and once she entered the pulpit, she wouldn’t make a lot of money.

So Lamarche, 26, took out $28,000 in student loans. As she starts a two-year residency at Wellesley Congregational Church outside Boston, she’s starting to repay them at $200 a month.


“It’s annoying, and I do feel burdened by (the debt), but I also feel like I’d much rather be doing what I love _ and I love my job _ so if that’s what it takes to do what I love, I’m willing to do it,” Lamarche said.

Lamarche isn’t the only seminary graduate writing checks. A new study by Auburn Theological Seminary in New York shows that between 1991 and 2001, the average student loan debt for new pastors more than doubled from $11,043 to $25,018.

Perhaps more troubling, the report said nearly a quarter of borrowers had postponed health care in order to pay bills, or didn’t have enough money to make their payments on time.

If the trend continues unabated, by 2011 some 84 percent of seminary students will have to borrow to finance their education, with an average loan burden of more than $54,000, the Auburn study showed.

With little hope of boosting already-low pastor salaries, the Auburn researchers said churches and denominations need to find more scholarships or help repay the loans. Without such help, many pastors will have to leave the ministry and churches will lose their investment in the next generation of leadership.

“Denominations have as much, or even a greater, investment in (pastors’) continuing viability and financial welfare,” said the Rev. David Wood, who works with the Atlanta-based Fund for Theological Education in helping new clergy make the transition from seminary to the pulpit.

The Auburn statistics are sobering:

_ In 1991, only 1 percent of students had to borrow $30,000 or more. By 2001, that figure jumped to 21 percent.


_ More than half (53 percent) graduated in 1991 with no seminary debt. In 2001, that number shrank to just 37 percent.

_ Students entering seminary straight from college reported an average of $1,978 in undergraduate debt in 1991. That number ballooned to $6,328 a decade later.

The report included Catholic, mainline Protestant and Orthodox clergy, even though Catholic seminary costs are almost always paid by the church. Rabbinical students were not included, but Auburn officials said they typically borrow more in return for higher salaries.

A typical three-year master of divinity degree costs between $10,000 and $15,000 in tuition per year. Other costs _ housing, food, books _ lift the average yearly cost closer to $25,000.

Auburn found similar trends for two-year master’s programs for ministry students who want to work in churches but not necessarily as pastors.

Rising tuition prices _ a 74 percent increase over 10 years _ are just one part of the problem, researchers said. Another cause has been more money available through federal loan programs, which not only allowed more people to pursue degrees, but increased the amount of debt incurred by students.


“The effects are more marked because their income hasn’t increased at the same level their debt has,” said Sharon Miller, one of the Auburn researchers. “Dollars have to be spread further than they did before.”

Some students have spouses or children and hence higher household expenses. Seminary officials also say students have higher living standards and want off-campus apartments, not dorm rooms. They also come with a “credit card” mind-set that says expenses are just something to pay down the road.

“They come to graduate school but they don’t understand that you may need to change your lifestyle expectations,” said Greg Duncan, associate dean at United Methodist-affiliated Duke Divinity School in Durham, N.C.

Lamarche is facing the postgraduation reality of car payments and the rising cost of home heating oil. She’s resigned herself to getting by with credit cards as a “survival tool,” she said, a “way to avoid ulcers.”

Seminaries say they have worked hard to increase financial aid for students, with some success. At Emory University’s Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, 83 percent of students received financial assistance in the 2004-05 school year; that covered an average 80 percent of the $13,500 annual tuition bill.

About 120 of Candler’s 513 students were awarded full tuition scholarships, compared to the seven students who got free tuition a decade ago. Mary Lou Boice, Candler’s associate dean of development, said the school has tried to push students to find other sources of aid.


“We chase people down the hallways with (scholarship) applications and we’ll give them the pen to sign it with,” Boice said.

MO/PH END ECKSTROM

Editors: To obtain a photo of Nicole Lamarche for this story, go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug. If searching by subject, designate “exact phrase” for best results.

Also check the RNS photo Web site for a graphic with statistics about pastor debt. Search by slug.

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