Covenant College Alumni Debt

Your reading of the Anderson quote (and the Bagpipe's characterization of it) is curious: It's hard for me to see the elitism in saying Covenant students "are having to" spend their money on education rather than other things. It's not clear what, exactly, Anderson meant by his statement, but to me it suggests something other than your theory of a wealthier demographic. I'm not, however, saying that couldn't be part of the picture, as the factors you cite could produce that result.

But the article also included this quote:

“Alumni go into tremendous debt to send their kids here,” says Wallace Anderson. “I know that many students and families struggle immensely to be here, but it is because they know it is so vital to their education and growth.”

As a Covenant alumnus with two high-schoolers and two more kids coming along behind, I expect to be in this latter category in the near future. So, in addition to the family wealth data you seek, I'd be interested in knowing the comparative college-debt load of the parents as well as the exiting students.

As a parent of a current Covenant student and a Covenant grad, I can testify that the amount of financial aid offered is much less than 5 years ago. Our debt has increased. Having two in school at once didn't help either! Our first child has greater debt than our current student because she was offered more loans. I do think that your theory of wealthier parents is credible, however. We do "sacrifice", but what is sacrifice in our society? Doing without TiVo??

it's possible to live without tivo?

Anderson's claim to Covenant superiority is perhaps slightly belied by the number of Hummers sitting in the Sanderson parking lot. No material appetites here, nossir. But it's refreshing to hear the college's perspective stated so frankly: If you don't have any fun, you're a higher form of human. (Whether it is even possible for a Covenant student to spend money on education -- as strictly defined in the liberal Western tradition -- is a question I'll leave to others.) But keep ceding Wallace the moral high ground: your financial-aid reward will be great indeed.

Aaron, Josiah: I think you're reading Anderson's quote in possibly the most negative light possible. I think there's a fair amount of truth in what he says, elitism or no.

Yes, I have debt, as do most college students. But I don't regret my time at Covenant. The things that made it great were not the things for which Anderson is himself responsible, but it's still a worthy institution.

And Aaron, what do you mean about Covenant students not being able to spend money on education? I would be quite surprised to find out that wasn't what professors like Kapic, Foreman, Davis, and Fikkert were providing - no matter what tradition is your chosen reference point.

Who said CC student debt is less than it has been in the recent past, or even that it only recently dropped below that of surrounding schools? The bagpipe article didn't claim that, did it?

Maybe you know more than you're saying, but from what you cited in this post you can't conclude that CC student debt used to be higher than it is or used to be more than the debt of their peers. How do you know that CC student debt isn't at an all-time CC high, and that CC students haven't had less debt than area college students for years?

So I'm not sure what your suspicions about more wealthy kids coming to CC is supposed to explain.

Sounds like you're just assuming CC students used to, on average, have more debt than they do now, or that they used to have more debt than their collegiate neighbors.

That's a good point Paul. I should remove the modifier "now".

Its removal doesn't change the substance of my suspicions. They are not purely assumptions either, at least, there is some anecdotal evidence. How is it that the cost of tuition has gone up, but not student debt? Are the same parents (in terms of their economic standing) simply paying more, or are their wealthier students now attending?

etc. etc.

Would aggressive recruitment not also include a higher likelihood of scholarships -- further eroding the amount of student debt? Or does Covenant not pursue students that way?

Just asking.

Josiah, I think you've hit the nail on the head. It would be interesting to know the current student's family income in comparison to ten, fifteen years ago. Is Covenant education worth it? Yes. Would I trade it for another education? No. Will I try to send my future children to Covenant despite the tuition hikes? Yes. Does it justify a continuation of tuition hikes? No.

Since we can't easily get the specific context for the aforementioned article's single data point, I thought I'd see what can be gleaned from the numbers that are available:

Looking at the College's annual reports for 03-04 and 04-05, I'm seeing gross tuition and fee revenue per enrolled student remaining steady, as does the average student assistance amount.

The 03-04 report mentions a tuition cost freeze from the previous year, so I assume there was no tuition increase from 02-03.

That same report also deals with the situation from 2000-2003 of federal aid being over-awarded by the college and having to be reimbursed, which could be why there's a sense that financial aid has decreased in recent years.

Other factors cited in these reports include mounting energy costs and weak investment markets that affected endowment and scholarship funds.

The latest report is not out yet, so this year's numbers can't be addressed.

So, it would appear that the perception of recent tuition hikes is questionable. Are there substantial increases in room and board not reflected in the summary numbers of the annual reports? Maybe someone with current experience can say.

Financial aid, though steady 2003-05 may well have dropped since 2000-03, since almost $800,000 was awarded in error during that timespan.

Bottom line, that exiting student debt number tells us very little without context. Covenant's number may always have been about where it is, may have just dropped or may have just spiked dramatically. It could be due to wealthier parents, or more indebted parents, or more virtuous students, or some combination of all these and more.

And then there's the underlying question: What should the situation be, ideally?