Financial Policy of Our Schools

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 28, 1916

Financial Policy of Our Schools

Selections from the Writings of Mrs. E. G. White

Our church schools are ordained by God to prepare the children for this great work. Here children are to be instructed in the special truths for this time, and in practical missionary work. They are to enlist in the army of workers to help the sick and the suffering. Children can take part in the medical missionary work, and by their jots and tittles can help to carry it forward. Their investments may be small, but every little helps, and by their efforts many souls will be won for the truth. By them God’s message will be made known, and his saving health to all nations. Then let the church carry a burden for the lambs of the flock. Let the children be educated and trained to do service for God, for they are the Lord’s heritage.—“Testimonies for the Church,” Vol. VI, p. 203.

Some would be content with the thorough education of a few of the most promising of our youth; but they all need an education that they may be fitted for usefulness in this life, qualified for places of responsibility in both private and public life. There is great necessity for making plans that there may be a large number of competent workers, and many should fit themselves as teachers, that others may be trained and disciplined for the great work of the future. The church should take in the situation, and by their influence and means seek to bring about this much-desired end.

Freedom from Debt

That our schools may nobly accomplish the purpose for which they are established, they should be free from debt. They should not be left to bear the burden of paying interest. In the establishment of training schools for workers, and especially in new fields where the brethren are few and their means limited, rather than delay the work it may be better to hire some money from the friends of the enterprise; but whenever it is possible, let our institutions be dedicated free from debt.

The Lord has means for his work in the hands of his stewards; and as long as our schools have debts which were incurred in their establishment, in the erection of necessary buildings, and in providing necessary facilities, it is our duty to present the case to our brethren and ask them to lessen these debts. Our ministers should feel a burden for this work. They should encourage all to labor harmoniously, and to lift in proportion to their ability. If this work had been taken hold of with fidelity and diligence in past years, the debts on our older schools could have been lifted long ago.—Id., pp. 206, 207.

Low Tuitions

When the managers of a school find that it is not meeting running expenses, and debts are heaping up, they should act like level-headed business men, and change their methods and plans. . . .

In some of our schools the price of tuitions has been too low. This has in many ways been detrimental to the educational work. It has brought discouraging debt; it has thrown upon the management a continual suspicion of miscalculation, want of economy, and wrong planning; it has been very discouraging to the teachers; and it leads the people to demand correspondingly low prices in other schools. Whatever may have been the object in placing the tuition at less than a living rate, the fact that a school has been running behind heavily is sufficient reason for reconsidering the plans and arranging its charges so that in the future its showing may be different. . . . This is an important matter, and calls for no narrow calculation, but for a thorough investigation. The counsel of the Lord is needed. The school should have a sufficient income not only to pay the necessary running expenses, but to be able to furnish the students during the school term with some things essential for their work.

Debts must not be allowed to accumulate term after term. The very highest kind of education that could be given, is to shun the incurring of debt as you would shun disease. When one year after another passes, and there is no sign of diminishing the debt, but it is rather increased, a halt should be called. Let the managers say, “We refuse to run the school any longer unless some sure system is devised.” It would be better, far better, to close the school until the managers learn the science of conducting it on a paying basis. For Christ’s sake, as the chosen people of God, call yourselves to task, and inaugurate a sound financial system in our schools.

Whenever it becomes necessary to raise the prices at any school, let the

matter first be laid before the patrons of the institution, showing them that the fees have been placed at too low a figure, and that as a result, debts are accumulating upon the school, thus crippling and hindering its work. Properly increasing the tuitions may cause a decrease in the attendance, but a large attendance should not be so much a matter of rejoicing as freedom from debt.—Ib., pp. 210, 211.