The Chicago Theological Seminary has stopped admitting new students in its degree programs amid mounting financial woes at the 170-year-old institution that participated in the abolitionist movement and the Underground Railroad prior to the Civil War and where civil rights icon the Rev. Jesse Jackson once attended.
Brad Braxton, the school’s president, told the Tribune in a statement Tuesday that the seminary decided to cease admissions while it undergoes a “board-approved strategic planning process” that is focused on ensuring the school is able to continue its mission for “generations to come.”
“CTS has prepared bold, justice-minded leaders for public service, grounded in progressive approaches to theology and ethics,” he said. “That calling has never been more urgent, and our commitment to it has never been stronger.”
He also said the seminary remains committed to ensuring that currently enrolled students have a “clear, supported path” to finishing their degrees.
He declined to go into specifics about what necessitated this process during a brief phone call with the Tribune, saying “at this point, the statement encompasses all that we think is appropriate to say.” He said current students were made aware last month.
Audited financial statements from the previous fiscal year, however, show financial troubles at the school, located in the Woodlawn neighborhood. The Chicago Theological Seminary incurred an operating loss of about $1.4 million and $1.8 million for years that ended on June 30 in 2025 and 2024, respectively. It also had a net cash outflow from operations of $3.3 million and $1.4 million during the same periods, records show.
“The Seminary’s historical operating results indicate that without drawing on nonoperating reserves over the next year, the Seminary would not have sufficient liquidity to meet its current and future obligations,” records said.
The records said the seminary’s management developed plans to mitigate these concerns and improve operations, including selling “certain valuable assets,” planning fundraising events for its 170-year anniversary and eliminating positions.
Numerous faith-based colleges nationwide have faced financial challenges in recent years amid surging costs, enrollment declines and lower church attendance rates. Moody Bible Institute, for example, laid off around 9% of its staff last year as it underwent a steep enrollment drop. Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights also plans to permanently close at the end of the year, citing “no sustainable path forward amid declining enrollment.
“There’s an arms race in higher ed, and the smaller schools that spend the money often have the house collapse on them, because they just aren’t financially able to compete,” Silas McCormick, the former president of now-shuttered Lincoln Christian University, about 30 miles north of Springfield, told the Tribune last summer.
At the Chicago Theological Seminary, enrollment recently dropped 27%, from 297 students in fall 2023 to 215 in fall 2024, according to the most recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics. It’s remained relatively steady otherwise for most of the past decade.
The seminary, a graduate school affiliated with the United Church of Christ, opened in 1855, and has pushed “at the boundaries of theological education” and advocates for social justice, according to its website. Degree programs include a master of divinity, master of arts and master of sacred theology.
Perhaps the Chicago Theological Seminary’s most famous former student is the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who died in February. He moved to Chicago in 1964 to pursue a master’s degree at the school. While he was ordained a Baptist minister in 1968, he didn’t receive his degree until 2000. A recent oral history project showed how the seminary served as an incubator for the Civil Rights Movement’s early leaders.
Other universities in the city also cut spending and laid off employees in the past year, including DePaul University and Columbia College Chicago. The University of Chicago paused admission for some Ph.D. and master’s programs for the 2026-27 academic year amid budget challenges that intensified with funding cuts from the federal government.
Chicago Tribune’s Tess Kenny and the Lake County News-Sun’s Joseph States contributed.
