By Ryan Vasquez ⎹ Reporter
Scholarship support at Baylor’s Truett Seminary goes beyond financial aid, shaping where and how students pursue a calling to ministry.
Surpassing all other programs and disciplines at Baylor, 100% of Truett students receive scholarships for their program. Truett’s donors allow students to be considered for many different scholarships, with an impact that goes beyond statistics.
Truett awards more than $5.5 million to students each year, according to the Truett Seminary website, helping students study ministry at a greater capacity.
Melissa Lambeth, coordinator of student services administration and scholarship coordinator for Truett Seminary, said Truett’s funding makes theological education accessible.
“Due to our large number of generous donors, Truett is able to offer substantial scholarships to our students,” Lambeth said. “Having access to these scholarships makes seminary education feasible for men and women who are called to vocations in and alongside Christ’s church.”
Because all students who attend Truett receive additional funding in some form, scholarships from the program can greatly impact a student’s decision and ability to study at Truett Seminary, including Ed Wells Jr., a first-year Master of Divinity student from Birmingham, Ala.
“With my scholarship, tuition is covered, but I still pay for books and housing and things like that,” Wells said. “It makes Truett a real possibility for me as I’m preparing for ministry. The scholarship enables me to study here, which may not be possible without it.”
Truett awards an allotted scholarship amount to students, which is then sorted into different scholarship pools. As a Baptist student, Wells also receives funding from the Baptist General Convention of Texas in addition to his Truett scholarship, both of which go toward his tuition.
Among the different types of scholarships Truett offers, one is the church-matching scholarship. This program allows students and churches to partner together to further aid the cost of tuition for ministry students.
“The church-matching scholarship is a great way to not only get a student’s church involved in their seminary education but also support the student beyond the cost of tuition,” Lambeth said. “We encourage all students to utilize this resource, as it is a wonderful partnership and opportunity for churches to be involved in training future ministers.”
The ability to study at Baylor for ministry is a financial struggle for some students, but scholarships impact where many decide to pursue ministry education.
“It enables them to receive high-quality theological education without going into debt that could hamper their ability to follow God’s leading,” Lambeth said.
For Wells, finances were a huge component of his final school decision, he said.
“There were other schools I was looking at,” Wells said. “I can’t say for sure what I would have chosen to do, but it would have been much more difficult.”
Truett’s goal is for students to be able to continue their path to ministry with as little financial burden as possible, a feat that is achieved through scholarship opportunities.
“I know several students who benefit from the scholarship and would not be able to study at Baylor otherwise,” Wells said. “I’m really grateful for it because I get to study at Baylor and learn from the professors here.”
