Bicentennial Campaign FAQ

• Gifts and pledges secured through the Bicentennial Campaign;
• Grants received for the projects outlined in the Case for Support;
• The Annual Fund for Fiscal Years 2019, 2020, and 2021; and
• Funds from the sale of the Assyrian Relief.

VTS is committed to being fiscally responsible and preserving the endowment for future generations. To accomplish this goal, VTS is only using funds from the endowment for operating budget items and is decreasing the annual draw from the endowment. Since the campaign is funding programmatic and capital projects that go beyond operating budget expenses, VTS needs to raise additional funds to cover the costs of these projects.

The renovated spaces and new endowed programs and scholarships being funded by the Bicentennial Campaign will increase VTS’ annual operating costs. To be proper stewards of the upgraded spaces and new programs and scholarships, VTS must ensure they are maintained at peak performance, which creates additional annual expenses. VTS has committed to not increase the draw from the endowment to cover the additional operating costs so that the endowment is preserved for future generations. In addition, VTS is not relying on tuition as a primary source of revenue. As a result, to cover the additional annual expenses generated by the spaces, programs, and scholarships created by the Bicentennial Campaign, VTS is increasing its Annual Fund goals. To ensure these goals are met and the Annual Fund continues to grow each year, VTS is including the Annual Fund as part of the Bicentennial Campaign.

We are pleased to report that our friends and alums are stepping up. The capital campaign is going well. As a result, the Board has authorized a start on certain projects. So, we are working on the Refectory and Addison. However, we have the Library and the Deanery still to come, as well as other campus renovations. This work will depend on continued support from friends and alums. We really do want to leave a campus ready to make a difference in the future.

All students applying for financial aid with assets less than $200,000 (excluding one’s primary home and any pensions) and a combined adjusted gross income (single/family) less than $150,000 annually and/or combined assets less than eight times the respective Cost of Residency category will receive a package that includes:

• The cost of tuition and housing;
• The cost of a meal plan (for single students – three meals weekday, for all others – the lunch-only plan); and
• A maximum contribution of $4,000 towards healthcare costs for those selecting the VTS sponsored health insurance plan.

For Cost of Residency categories and more information, Click here.

Thanks to the funds that have already been raised, we are ensuring that students benefit from generous financial aid packages. The decision to exclude personal homes and pensions from the qualifications for financial aid is a way of supporting second-career students. With second-career students, many had cashed in their pensions and sold their homes to pay for seminary. Under the new packages, this is no longer necessary. In addition, students of color and international students are given a $5,000 supplement to support their journey. These successful packages are made possible through a revision of our existing funds and through new sources that are part of the campaign.

The current financial aid packages being offered can only cover 116 students per year. Funding endowed scholarships allow us to increase the number of students the Seminary can admit while offering the new financial aid package. We aspire to grow our financial aid through endowed scholarships so we can grow the student body.

The Seminary is creating an endowment fund from which the income will fund reparation. VTS recognizes that enslaved persons worked on the campus and that even after slavery ended, VTS participated in segregation. VTS recognizes that we must start to repair the material consequences of our sin in the past.
The income from the endowment will be allocated annually in conversation with key stakeholders for the following purposes:

• the needs emerging from local congregations linked with VTS;
• the particular needs of any descendants of enslaved persons who worked at the Seminary;
• the work of African American alumni/ae, especially in historic Black congregations;
• the raising up of African American clergy in The Episcopal Church;
  other activities and programs that promote justice and inclusion.

For more information: Click here.

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Yes. Naming opportunities at the $50,000+ levels are available upon request. In addition, every donor will be included on the Interactive Digital Wall of Recognition. With pictures and quotes, we will have a testimony to the impact of the Seminary at our Bicentennial. A photograph of every parish will be included; a quote from every Rector; a picture from every friend, alum, and employee – past and present. Relatives in years to come will visit that wall and gain a sense of the reach of the Seminary and find their relative on the Wall of Recognition. It will be a historic record of this important anniversary.