Tuition costs cut by more than one-third at Truett Seminary

Tuition costs at Baylor University’s Truett Theological Seminary will be 36 percent less expensive in the 2022-23 academic year.

Baylor’s board of regents approved the decrease in tuition for students at Truett Seminary during its Nov. 5 meeting.

The “sticker price” per credit hour for master’s degree classes at Truett Seminary’s campuses in Waco, San Antonio and Houston will decrease from $1,071 to $690. Regents also extended the reduced tuition rate to seminary doctoral programs.

Already, 100 percent of Truett students have received some scholarship assistance, and about one-third of students in master’s degree programs have been awarded a full tuition scholarship.

Price point matters in comparison shopping

However, the published “price point” matters to students who feel called to ministry when they are comparing schools and deciding where to attend seminary, Dean Todd Still said.

The dramatic reduction in tuition costs came as part of a long-term initiative on the part of the seminary and Baylor University to make theological education as affordable and accessible as possible, Still explained.

“This drastic—indeed historic—reduction in tuition for every student on each campus is directly attributable to a university that is committed to providing quality ministerial training and to donors who care deeply about those who are being educated and equipped for gospel service,” Still said.

“I see this as the shot heard ’round the theological education world. Who else does this? I’ve never heard of it.”

Based on the current “sticker price” for tuition, Truett appears roughly equivalent to Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University, where the cost is $1,000 per credit hour for master’s degree students.

However, once the tuition reduction takes effect, Truett Seminary will be comparable to Dallas Theological Seminary, where the published tuition price is $619 per credit hour for master’s degree students and $665 for students in the Doctor of Ministry or Doctor of Educational Ministry degree programs. DTS also charges a $65 student fee per term. Truett removed its student fee last year.

Removing financial barriers to theological education

Beginning in Fall 2022, the $690 per credit hour tuition cost applies to Truett Seminary students pursuing the Master of Divinity, Master of Arts in Christian Ministry, Master of Theological Studies, Doctor of Ministry, and Ph.D. in Preaching degrees, as well as the newly approved Master of Arts in Theology and Sports Studies, Master of Arts in Contextual Witness and Innovation, and Master of Arts in Theology, Ecology and Food Justice.

“This significant tuition reduction affirms the university’s commitment to the training of thoughtful, faithful Christian ministers by seeking to make theological education at Baylor affordable, transparent and accessible for those who have been called to gospel ministry,” said Baylor Provost Nancy Brickhouse.

Truett Seminary will continue to award merit and need-based scholarships totaling more than $2.3 million each year. Still expressed appreciation to individual donors, churches and the Baptist General Convention of Texas for the financial support that makes those scholarships possible.

Each year, Truett Seminary applies more than $5.5 million in scholarships and institutional support to lower the cost of tuition for students.

Master of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry degree students who attend a BGCT-affiliated church receive a $150 per credit hour scholarship, and Master of Arts in Christian Ministry and Master of Theological Studies students from BGCT churches receive $100 per credit hour.

For students who feel God’s call to ministry, Truett Seminary remains committed to removing as many financial barriers as possible that could stand in their way of receiving an education, Still said.

“If Truett offers the kind of theological education a student is seeking to pursue, we don’t want to let finances stand in their way of doing so,” he said.