FAQs

1. Our M. Div. degree program requires our students to study all the books of the Bible.
2. Every professor remains in the field and speaks from extensive parish experience.
3. We combine Classroom work with Field Education over four years, which helps to alleviate stress from frequent moving.
4. The program is set without electives so that the student may be well versed in all four branches of theology.
5. Field Education is over four years which gives the student more opportunity to train over an extended period of time.
6. This degree program is without tuition cost and helps to alleviate the financial burden during and after Seminary.
7. Our program is offered in the blessing of unity and the bond of peace.

1. This program is designed for anyone who desires to live their vocation in an increased knowledge of God’s Holy Word.
2. Every professor remains in the field and speaks from extensive parish experience.
3. This program gives laity the opportunity to learn the original languages of Greek and Hebrew.
4. Tuition cost is reasonable at $100 per credit hour.
5. Our program is offered in the blessing of unity and the bond of peace.

Does that mean that you get what you pay for?

The Gospel is free, but the cost was not cheap.  Our Savior Jesus Christ offered his body and shed his holy, innocent, precious blood to redeem lost and condemned creatures!  In the spirit of that great sacrifice, God is working through 3 main groups to make the WTS Master of Divinity program tuition free:

1. The many (often unnamed) friends of the Seminary: people who selflessly sacrifice their time, talents, and treasure in order to make it possible for future pastors to serve God’s Church.
2. The congregation of Pilgrim Lutheran Church, Decatur, Illinois that is providing the free use of the facilities. 
3. Individual professors are volunteering to pass on the prophetic and apostolic Word to future generations of pastors. 

It was the dream of Dr. Robert D. Preus, one of the great Lutheran theologians of the Twentieth Century, to provide confessional Lutheran Seminary training with no tuition cost. We pray that we will be able to continue to make that dream an ongoing reality.

The catch (if you want to call it one) is that books, room, board and incidentals are not included. 

One of our faculty members was the beneficiary of a quality nearly tuition free seminary education. His experience is that it is not the cost, but the people, faithfulness, and curriculum that makes for a quality seminary program.

Our video conferencing room is a comfortable, business-like setting that uses the latest technology designed for optimum teaching and learning. The images are crisp and clear—designed to avoid the low-quality pixilation, jumpiness, and poor contrast found in many legacy video-conferencing systems. The goal is to provide a learning environment where the technology fades into the background and all parties feel like they are in the same room. We continue to study developments in the high-tech education industry, and since we are a new seminary, we are able to quickly adapt and implement the best of what is available to post-graduate institutions. We have spent a great deal of money and time making sure that our Video Conferencing Room is Comfortable with a technology that is the best it can be so that the student feels as if the professor is in the room.

We spent some time researching the LMS market—weighing the tools that have been out in the market for a number of years as well as more recently introduced products. We were looking for a learning environment that is easy to use and implement. We have chosen to use the open software provided by ALMA. ALMA is an easy to use, modern approach to student information and learning management for a better experience.

Presently, we do not have housing or a meal plan. Oftentimes, the cost of housing and a meal plan for students are the same or more than if the students were simply living on their own.