Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary board of trustees welcomed reports of renewed financial stability and enrollment growth during their April 9–10 meeting held on the Fort Worth campus.
“Southwestern Seminary is in a very different place than in September 2022,” said President David S. Dockery, noting many factors. “All this has happened because of God’s providential kindness to us.”
Trustees unanimously approved a $35.6 million budget, elected and promoted faculty, named faculty to academic chairs, and approved graduates for spring 2024 during the meeting.
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Board Chairman Jonathan Richard added that the seminary’s current financial situation is “stronger than it has been in years, and I know that, with continued hard work and sacrifice, the financial future is hopeful.”
The board approved a $35.6 million budget for the 2025 fiscal year, a decrease of $300,000 from the originally approved budget for the current year. Trustees also approved the firm Guinn Smith & Company as auditors for the fiscal year 2024.
Enrollment increase
Dockery also reported an increase in enrollment and hours taught. He said the credit hours taught in the 2022–2023 academic year was 34,836, representing an increase of 1,583 credit hours from the previous academic year.
Enrollment also showed an increase of 171 students in the 2022–2023 academic year from the prior year.
Dockery added that there was an increase of 479 credit hours taught in the fall of 2023 compared to the fall of 2022 and the 15,821 credit hours taught in the fall of 2023 also reflected an increase of 1,066 credit hours taught compared to the fall of 2021.
The spring 2024 academic semester, he noted, includes 2,711 students — an increase of 71 students enrolled in spring 2023 which was up from 2,561 the year prior. Dockery said that “uptick in credit hours is the key to our stable tuition revenue line which is so important for our overall budget.”
Dockery noted that the total hours taught for spring 2024 has increased by nearly 600 hours over spring 2023, for 14,709 credit hours taught in the current semester compared to 14,152 credit hours taught in spring 2023.
The credit hours taught in spring 2024 represent an increase of more than 1,350 credit hours taught compared to spring 2022.
Citing data from the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) annual enrollment report, which includes 274 divinity schools and seminaries, Dockery said in the fall of 2023, Southwestern moved to fifth in total enrollment and sixth in total credit hours taught.
The increases in enrollment and total credit hours taught make Southwestern, third and fourth, respectively, among Southern Baptist seminaries.
Southwestern, he noted, was third among all of the ATS institutions regarding the total number of graduates in the past year and ninth concerning the size of the total endowment.
There is “no other Southern Baptist school that finished in the top 10” in all four categories of number of graduates, enrollment, credit hours taught, and endowment, he said. The ranking, he noted, “distinguishes Southwestern in a meaningful way” for which he gave “thanks to God.”
Providing a breakdown of the current student body, Dockery said 23% of students are women, while international students make up 26% of students. Additionally, 58% are online students, and a “Revelation 7:9 picture of the Kingdom of God” is reflected among the students as 40% of students are white, 28% are Asian, 21% are Hispanic, 5% are Black, and 6% percent of unknown ethnicity, he said.
Report on giving
The seminary is “very hopeful,” he said, about ongoing giving to the institution. Unrestricted giving is “steady” and that temporarily unrestricted giving is “ahead of the last three years.”
The seminary’s operational budget, he noted, is “in a good place” as it is more than $1.5 million ahead of the same time last year. The seminary currently has $8.4 million in cash, he said, “which no one would have imagined this time last year.”
Dockery also mentioned the $3.4 million that was placed in a “quasi-endowment fund” that is overseen by the board.
“We have moved from crisis to challenge to stability,” Dockery observed, adding “we’re not yet at a place where we can call institutional health; we still have work to do to get there.” He said the seminary will “continue to work as hard and as wisely and as carefully as we can, but we must not fail to give thanks to God for answering our prayers.”
‘Markers of hopefulness’
Dockery noted that one-third of the objectives of the Advance Southwestern 2030 institutional plan, which trustees adopted in the spring 2023 meeting, have been completed.
He explained there have been “markers of hopefulness,” including the spring 2023 chapel sermons focused on 1 and 2 Thessalonians; the new employee handbook; enrollment progress, including the upcoming Southwestern Preview Day; unrestricted giving; an embracing of the institution’s core values; and the commitment to prayer across the campus.
The next board meeting is scheduled for October 21–23, 2024.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written and originally published by Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
