Budgeting for Seminary

Each student’s personal budget will vary depending on circumstances, spending habits, and values. In addition to educational expenses, students will have other general expenses such as:

• Housing
• Utilities/Phone
• Grocery/Incidentals
• Auto Payment/Insurance/Fuel/Maintenance
• Clothing
• Recreation
• Health/Life Insurance
• Child Care
• Previous Student Loans for Self or Spouse
• Consumer Debt
• Emergency Funds

Students are encouraged to carefully analyze what their budget needs will be and what sources of income they may have available to them. For income and resources, students should look at the following:

• Cash and savings—any liquid assets, but not a home, primary business or retirement accounts.
• Wages while in seminary. Each student is expected to report a minimum of $4000 of income, after taxes, each year. The spouse of a student who is not also a student is expected to contribute a minimum of $8000 in income to the family budget.
• Other income such as VA or Social Security benefits.
• Denominational support from your home congregation, your local governing body, and your denomination.
• Websites and other resources to help you budget and manage your assets, as well as determine your priorities and values regarding money. Here are a few helpful sites with information and calculators.
  
   Dept of Education Budget Calculator
  
   Simple Tuition
  
   Finaid.org
  
  
• The Lloyd Center for Pastoral Counseling also offers counseling on issues around money.
• Grants, scholarships, or awards from sources other than SFTS. For other sources of support, click here.

We have projected some of the costs associated with attending SFTS for you to use as a guideline.
>> Click Here to download Budget PDF