Seminaries expand online options
It’s tough enough for aspiring clergy to take on a student loan to finance three years of M.Div. studies at a seminary. For the applicant (and perhaps spouse), it might mean quitting a job and facing added financial problems.
Students who move to study at the Chicago Theological Seminary, for instance, encounter monthly rents from $800 to well into the thousands, according to seminary president Alice Hunt. “Students who commute have significant transportation expenses,” she added.
The good news, however, is that increasing numbers of seminarians who live far from the campus will be taking many courses online without a bit of the stigma that was attached to the “correspondence school diplomas” of yesteryear.
