Bad Economy Divine For God Schools

With the economy suffering, more people are turning to God.

That’s what Yale University is finding any way. More people are applying to Yale Divinity School, the Yale Daily News reports.

The 550 applications the school received by Feb 1 is the highest number the school has seen in six years, the school paper reports. The rise in people seeking the spiritual solace from lessons of the divine has been happening for two years.

The reasons for more interest in the spiritual? A bearish economy and the stress it causes, the school paper reports.

Across the nation, more people applied to and enrolled in theological schools after the dot-com crash and Sept. 11, the Association of Theological Schools told the Yale Daily News.

If you want to know more about God, Connecticut seems to be the place to be.

There are a plethora of places to learn more about our Creator. Not all schools have a school dedicated to theology, some have majors or minors within other schools.

  • Albertus Magnus College
  • Bais Binyomin Academy
  • Connecticut College
  • Fairfield University
  • Hartford Seminary
  • Holy Apostles College And Seminary
  • Sacred Heart University
  • Southern Connecticut State University – religious studies is a minor
  • St. Basil College Seminary
  • Trinity College
  • University of Hartford – Judaic studies
  • Wesleyan University
  • Yale University

“There are people who are seeking second careers, people who have lost their jobs, and people who were contemplating graduate degrees and then decide to pursue something meaningful like the Divinity School,” said Divinity School Dean Harold Attridge told the Yale Daily News in an interview Tuesday.

There is some financial incentive to study God at Yale.

The Divinity School subsidizes about 82 percent of aggregate student tuition, up from 65 percent in 2007, Attridge told the Yale Daily News.

So what do you do with a divinity degree?

About half of Yale’s Divinity School graduates seek ordination to become ministers, while many go on to teach, work at nonprofit organizations or practice law, the paper reports.

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