Higher education board increases scholarship support

By Linda Green*

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS) - The amount of money a United Methodist college student may borrow annually from a denominational loan fund will double to $5,000, while the interest rate for repayment will decrease to 5 percent.

Governing members of the United Methodist Board of Higher Education and Ministry approved a four-pronged approach to help students finance their higher education and seminary education. Their March 8-10 board meeting focused on reaching and supporting young people in their vocational endeavors.

Changes to the United Methodist Student Loan Fund - including decreasing the interest rate from 6 percent to 5 percent - will take effect in August.

"We believe that increasing the amount that can be borrowed will bring an increase in the number of loans requested. We have had a decrease, we think, in part because the amount is so small," said Carolyn Briscoe, chairwoman of the board's Loans and Scholarship Committee.

The board's action, she said, recognizes the increased cost of college and university tuition and incidentals and will help students buy more than books. It also will help the Office of Loans and Scholarships fulfill its mission. "We need to be as generous as we can in preparing the next generation of Christian leaders," said Briscoe.

Board members also approved withdrawing $2 million from the scholarship and loan fund to provide scholarships for seminary students, women of color and its popular Gift of Hope: 21st Century Scholars Program.

Gift of Hope
The Gift of Hope project was created in 1998 as a four-year program to give scholarships to deserving United Methodists not attending one of the 124 United Methodist-related colleges and universities. Briscoe said the program has continued by managing the student loan fund and because of the high number of eligible undergraduate students demonstrating their leadership capabilities in the local church and campus ministries.

To further its reach, the board established a $500,000 endowment to help the loan office award a minimum of 700 annual scholarships and continue the Gift of Hope in perpetuity.

The board voted to rename the program "The Rev. Dr. Karen Layman Gift of Hope: 21st Century Scholars Program" in honor of the late education advocate who was instrumental in creating it. Layman, of Carlisle, Pa., saw the need for future church leaders to be well educated and to have opportunity to receive training. She died in 2005.

"Karen believed for years the church was an opportunity for people to not only express faith but to also broaden horizons," said Jay Layman, upon learning of the board's tribute to his late wife. "My wife never wanted to call attention to herself, but it is nice to have her remembered." Their daughter, Anna, a second-year student at Duke Divinity School, is fulfilling her mother's desire to develop well-educated church leaders.

The Rev. Edwin Zeiders, president of United Methodist-related United Theological Seminary, applauded the board's decision. "I cannot begin to tell you that this warms my soul," he said. "I celebrate this action on behalf of the Central Pennsylvania Annual Conference," where Layman was in ministry.

Women of color and seminary students
Board members also created a $500,000 endowment for the Women of Color Scholars Program to support four students in 2007 and ensure the annual support of a minimum of 10 women of color pursuing doctorate degrees in religious studies.

The genesis of the endowment was the 2006 Women of Color Consultation in Chicago, where participants collected a faith offering to establish a scholarship fund. The program provides up to $10,000 a year to women of color pursuing their Ph.D. or Th.D.

Created in 1988, the Women of Color Scholars Program grew out of concerns from professional women at United Methodist seminaries and theological schools about the lack of women of color on their faculties.

To grant more scholarships to seminary students, the board also increased its special seminary scholarship fund by $1 million for students up to age 30. The fund was created in 2005 and the increase from the United Methodist Scholarship and Student Loan Fund will help an additional 25 students in 2007-08, bringing to 75 the total number of seminary students receiving annual scholarship support. Briscoe hopes that, as the fund grows, a minimum of 100 young seminarians someday will receive scholarships.

Youth culture
Board members heard presentations on the culture of youth and young adults and also received an update on the Study of Ministry Commission.

Julie O'Neal and Jay Clark, staff members of the Division on Ministries with Young People at the United Methodist Board of Discipleship, defined youth and young adults today by reviewing characteristics of the Generation X and Millennial generations that followed Baby Boomers.

There are 69 million young adults ages 18-30 and one important characteristic is that they are spiritually fed by a variety of worship styles. The challenge for the church, said O'Neal, "is to not do one-size-fits-all worship."

Many youth, they said, are "me-centric," focused on making themselves happy with no boundaries - hence the sharing of all aspects of their lives on social networking Web sites.

"Young people are hungry to tell their story to whoever will listen," said Paul Perez, a seminary student. "… And as a church, especially in the Wesleyan Methodist heritage, this should not surprise us since our heritage is one of small groups and sharing our stories with each other. Unfortunately, in the church and society, there is not a place where we ask each other, 'How is your soul?'"

O'Neal said that in addition to social networks, youth adults are "very spiritual and want that connection to a higher power, that personal faith, but that does not mean that it always happens in a church." She added that many do feel the call of God upon their lives and will enter seminary to enhance their gifts to make a difference, "but it does not always mean pastoral ministry."

Ministry study update
The 2004 General Conference, the denomination's top legislative body, established the Study of Ministry Commission to review the United Methodist system of lay, licensed and ordained leadership. The responsibility falls under the Board of Higher Education and Ministry, which includes the Division of Ordained Ministry.

Updating the board on the issue, the Rev. Robert Kohler of the Division of Ordained Ministry said the study seeks to bring conversation and clarity to ministerial leadership in the church. He said the commission's primary focus has been around conversation about the call to ministry, forms of ministry and the nature of ministry in United Methodism.

The commission, he said, is moving carefully and slowly "to some kind of consensus around the future of ministry in Methodism," but may not result in legislation for the 2008 General Conference. "The need to rush to legislation has been one of the great deterring factors to successful studies of ministry in our church," he said.

*Green is a United Methodist News Service news writer based in Nashville, Tenn.