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Adventist Education - Is It Expensive?
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I’m surprised how often I hear the comment, “You know, I believe in Adventist education. But it is just soooo expensive. I’m not sure it’s worth the money.”
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Is this the way you feel? Do you want your children in an Adventist school, but feel the cost is just too high? I know the feeling, having sent my own three children to Adventist schools for almost two decades. My wife and I have been paying tuition to an Adventist elementary school, academy or college for the past eighteen years—simultaneously to all three for most of that time.
Has it been worth it? Has it been expensive, or has it been a bargain? Or both? Personally, I choose to regard the glass as half full. Let me share what that means to me in terms of Adventist education.
First, a quiz. See if you can match the items below on the left with their corresponding costs per hour to their right:
1. Car wash A. $2,150.00
2. Wisdom teeth pulled B. $5.10
3. United Flight to L.A. C. $1.48
4. Day at Disney World D. $90.00
5. 5th Grade at an Adventist School E. $30.00
Let’s look at each service individually, along with its benefits and costs:
Car Wash
Benefits: clean car, clear windows and good visibility, dents and
scratches easily identified.
Cost: 8 quarters for 4 minutes = $30.00 per hour
Wisdom Teeth Pulled
Benefits: aching jaw pain eliminated, you never have to go through it
again, fewer teeth to brush and maintain.
Cost: 4 teeth in one hour = $2150.00 per hour
United Flight To L.A.
Benefits: cramped but adequate seating, one small snack, one beverage, transportation from here to there.
Cost: $225.00 for a two-hour fl ight (when rates are good) = $90.00 per hour
Visit To Disney World
Benefits: full day of make believe, exercise (tired, aching feet), hero
status (in the eyes of your children), travel time spent with family.
Cost: $51.00 admission for a ten-hour day = $5.10 per hour
5th Grade At An Adventist School
Benefits: loving, caring, college-trained, professional teachers; lasting
friendships for children and their families; basic education; all the extras (computers,
music, etc.); daily worship and Bible study; safe, nurturing environment; child prepared for this world and the world to come; small student/teacher ratio; drug and alcohol free; child invited to accept Jesus as their personal Savior.
Cost: $190.00 per month = $47.50 per week for 32 hours per week =
$1.48 per hour!
Let’s review the hourly costs:
Wisdom teeth pulled $2,150.00
United flight to L.A. $90.00
Car wash $30.00
Day at Disney World $5.10
5th grade at an Adventist school $1.48
How did you do? More importantly, which of
the above activities invests in a lifetime, builds for the future, and yields eternal results?
Only one: Adventist education.
Over the past eighteen years I could have made payments on a Corvette or a Harley Davidson or even a Cadillac or two. But instead I invested in my children.
Is Adventist education expensive, or is it a bargain?
My wife and I would have to answer, “Both!”
Adventist education costs money. But what a bargain it is in light of the long-term benefits for families like ours – and yours!
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Lonnie Hetterle is the assistant to the president for Education at the
Rocky Mountain Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
Adventist Education Is It Expensive?
by Lonnie Hetterle
Mid-America Outlook Mid-America Outlook | August 2005 7
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