TOO POOR TO TAKE
A VOW OF POVERTY?
ACCORDING to the 2012 NRVC/ CARA Study on Educational
Debt and Vocations to Religious
Life, seven in 10 institutes ( 69
percent) turned away at least
one person because of student
loans. In addition, many religious
communities ask people to delay
their applications to enter because
of educational debt.
“For those entering religious
life, the expectation is that
they be debt-free,” says Holy
Cross Brother Paul Bednarczyk,
executive director of NRVC, “but
for graduates in today’s economy,
where education costs have
risen by 900 percent since 1978,
paying off loans can take years to
accomplish. The burden of student
debt has become a serious
problem for religious communities
desirous of welcoming younger
members.”
Those applying to enter
religious life during the past
10 years carried $3 million in
educational debt, and if national
trends continue, that overall
student debt load will likely rise by
5 percent annually.
“Because religious sisters,
brothers, and priests are vital to
the life of the church and provide
great service to society,” says
Bednarczyk, “we plan to bring
together key stakeholders to
develop strategies to ease this
significant and growing barrier to
religious vocations.”
NOTE: Vocation Match has been
tracking this debt trend. In 2012, 38
percent of VISION site visitors who
completed a Vocation Match profile
said they were not debt-free. That
was up from 27 percent in 2007.
Find more VISION reader statistics
online at VocationNetwork.org.
VISION 2013
For more features go to VocationNetwork.org
Enter #166 at VocationMatch.com
