A series of articles on why we do what we do here at St. John’s.

Why do we charge tuition for our school’s ministry?

In the beginning, 165 years ago, St. John’s Lutheran Church followed the leads of hundreds of other new Lutheran congregations, providing a day school education for the children of the church.  ONLY members of the congregation attended. Families were expected to provide financially for the needs of ministry INCLUDING a school education.  The result: no tuition.

While free public education is commonplace today, it was not common in the United States until the early 20th century and there was no consistency across the country until the 1930s. La Porte High School did not graduate a student until 1869.  St. John’s Lutheran School was established in 1865 by the German Lutheran immigrants who took the initiative to educate their family’s children.  For this same reason St. Joseph and St. Peter Catholic Schools were established to provide a school for their community’s children.

Over a period of decades, especially as the congregation grew, funding the school completely through the donations provided through the offering plate became unsustainable. Teacher’s were woefully underpaid.  A small tuition fee was added, often with a “per family maximum” so that each family could continue to access the ministry of St. John’s Lutheran School. 

Part of the reason a church could sustain a school ministry without direct tuition payments were the large number of church members who also served as “called” teachers. Fast forward to the beginning of the 21st century when most teachers at St. John’s were no longer members of St. John’s Lutheran Church. Increasing the amount of funding for our school became a top priority.

Over the years, tuition and fees were set using a variety of factors, including family size and church membership. The congregation has continued to subsidize the ministry of the school, in recent years this amount has grown to well over $600,000 annually. Tuition was increased, but never reflected the true cost of education. 

The Indiana Choice Scholarship program has changed everything. Since the scholarship is limited to the amount of tuition actually charged, St. John’s has shifted from a “subsidy” model to a “scholarship model.”  Over a period of years we have increased the amount of tuition to more closely reflect the actual cost of education. Next school year we estimate the cost of education … excluding capital expenses like mechanical systems or renovations … will be $9,500 per student.

The Indiana Choice Scholarship Program provides a partial scholarship to 95% of our school’s students. Next school year this scholarship will provide most of our students a $7,200 scholarship … LEAVING $2,300 of cost per student. At 122 K-8 students (our current estimate for next school year) that leaves a “gap” of more than $275,000.

St. John’s DOES provide 100% of our students some form of scholarship or financial aid. In 2025-26 that amount will likely climb to $200,000, scholarships provided as much as possible through donations made to the Lutheran SGO. The balance is currently charged to our General Fund (e.g. donations made through unrestricted offerings). 

Next month: Why is Easter so late this year?