The Economic Impact of Hurricane Katrina on NOBTS

Today was the first full day of the semi annual meeting of the New Orleans Baptist Seminary Board of Trustees. The various committees (Investments, Buildings and Grounds, and Instructional) had their individual committee meetings, discussing recommendations we will make to the full Board of Trustees tomorrow. One of the things seminary President, Dr. Chuck Kelley did with each particular committee, was to share the "Executive Summary of The Economic Impact of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary".

This report was created by Dr. Kelley to present to the SBC Executive Committee this past February. I will not try to recreate the full report here, but I think my readers would be interested in hearing some of the basic information. The photo at left shows the main gate of the Seminary campus on Gentilly Boulevard. The flood waters were about four feet deep at the front corner of the Seminary after Katrina's storm surge hit on August 29, 2005. The campus slopes gently downward toward Lake Ponchartrain, and as a result, the back side of the campus was under 15 feet of water. Officials opened up the campus for one week in October, so faculty, staff and students could salvage whatever they could, then the campus was closed for a complete renovation until August of 2006. Here are the basics of the final report on Katrina:

Total recovery cost from Hurricane Katrina on the NOBTS campus is $75,000,000.

Insurance reimbursement totalled $33,483.

Gifts from Southern Baptists were $12,300,000. ($6,000,000 of that amount came in an emergency gift from the Cooperative Program)

The state of Louisiana donated $1,951,000 toward faculty salaries.

The Bush/Clinton Fund (that you saw advertised so many times on television) gave exactly $0.

(FYI, according to Dr. Kelley, NOBTS was the only institution of higher learning in the Katrina "strike zone" that did not receive a dollar from the fund set up and publicized by the two ex-presidents)

The "Total Cost of Recovery" includes:

• Physical restoration of the campus


• Relief and assistance provided to the students, faculty and staff


• Operating the Seminary without the main campus for a year


• Loss of normal income streams, some of which are not back yet.

Obviously the disaster impacted the NOBTS annual budget, but the administration must be praised for doing all that was possible to keep the "per student costs" at one of the lowest levels of all the Seminaries in the United States.

Nationally, the average cost per student in Seminaries is $35,000.

Among SBC Seminaries the average cost per student is $14,000 (this difference is primarily due to the generosity of local Southern Baptist Churches in their gifts to the SBC Cooperative Program.)

The really amazing figure is the the "Pre Katrina" cost per student at NOBTS was $7,000! Even after the devastating losses due to the Hurricane, NOBTS still boasts the lowest cost per student at $9,000. We Southern Baptists can be thankful for what God has done for our theological students.

Dr. Kelley says that the greatest challenge the Seminary faces today is to replace the 92 two bedroom apartments that were destroyed and demolished after Katrina. There are now more students than there is housing. The Building and Grounds Committee has proposed three new buildings to replace those lost housing units, but it will be a long time before those kind of funds can be raised. Plans are underway now to try to build the first of those three, two bedroom apartment buildings, but the cost will be in the neighborhood of $7,000,000. We are praying that God will provide that amount through His people across the SBC. If you would like to help, gifts may be sent to the Office of Development, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, 3939 Gentilly Boulevard, New Orleans, LA 70216.

There are many, many other needs, that we do not have time or space to mention here. I would be happy to provide you with the full written report if you would like a copy. It is truly an eye opener. Just contact me at pastoradkins@verizon.net if you would like a copy, or if you would like more information. It is wonderful to see what God has done through His people to bring this great Seminary back from the brink of destruction.

As Joe McKeever, the local Director of Missions, says, "When you pray for New Orleans, pray big!"