by Sandy » Tue Feb 19, 2013 8:59 am
I don't think there's a comparison that can be drawn between SEBTS and BTSR. SEBTS has over 2,000 students, occupies a debt-free campus, and its students whose ministry calling is endorsed by a cooperating church in the denomination that owns it receive about two thirds of their cost of attending in the form of a scholarship provided by the Cooperative Program. It also has a sizeable endowment that provides additional financial assistance, several state conventions that provide their students with scholarship money, and a lot of other sources so that students wind up paying very little, or owing very little, upon graduation. BTSR has a hundred students, down 50% from its peak just a few years ago, and the scholarship provision from its partnership with CBF is quite small compared to the cost of attending. Its own budget statement shows that the majority of its income comes from tuition and fees paid by students. The schools are in two different categories. SEBTS has the means of meeting student needs with off campus study centers, and I'm guessing that it won't be long before the SBC schools have a well developed, on-line cyber program as well. Those are some options BTSR might look into developing, to expand its "niche."
Being the size that it is, I would think that there would be a church in the general area that would be able to enter into some kind of a building use partnership with the seminary to provide classroom and office space in a shared arrangement that would be financially beneficial to both groups. SWBTS houses its Houston campus in a church facility it purchased from a church that had a lot of educational space it wasn't using, due to declining attendance. The purchase of the property and required renovation is being paid for by the lease they extended back to the church which still uses the chapel and some of the classroom space. Since it already has an established faculty, and students, it would make a nice graduate school of theology for some moderate leaning Baptist university that currently doesn't have one. That would solve the issue of maintaining a campus and residential property.
The issue of Bible colleges, and the extent of their curriculum is probably material for another thread. Obviously, they are filling a need that wasn't being addressed by the state convention operated colleges, since those that are affiliated with the SBC seminaries seem to be quite popular choices.