Tuesday July 29, 2008, 11:30A.M. the eight from Indiana and Kentucky met at the STT Seminary with Rev. Dr. Darwin Lumbantobing, Principal; Rev. Colon W.Z. Pakpahan; Rev. Dr. Bonar H Nababan; Rev. Sikpan Sihombing and Rev. Nellie Hutahaean. A report of STT-HKBP was made available; it lists the make up of the student body and lists the faculty and their curriculum.
During our visit, we saw the chapel and the dinning hall. The group having lunch were the incoming students during a few days of orientation.
Most students are single and live on campus; married students, though few, live off campus. The school has 33 lecturers; at present there are two teachers from Australia for one month. Students come from many islands and many religions. The cost for a student for one year is IRp 3,500,000 (approximately $400.00). The HKBP churchwide pays faculty staff salaries, average salary being IRp2,000,000 per month ($250). Classes are taught in Bahasa Indonesian and Batak except for English class.
Scholarships are necessary as the majority of students cannot afford the tuition. Students from the lower economic strata are able to attend if they sign a promissory note to pay (extended family usually help them). Outside support of the seminary, say, from individual HKBP congregations, needs careful planning. Support from a congregation for an individual seminarian may cut short funds for the seminary itself if the congregation reduces their benevolence level to the HKBP church.
The seminary is accredited by the church, but not to government educational accreditation. One of the main reasons for this is that the library is inadequate. Rev. Wilda Simanjuntak (pictured), is the librarian (and also teaches Hebrew). She showed us through the library and gave us each a list of books they would like to acquire. They are deeply involved in the process of computerizing the Library’s catalog and it looks quite advanced. Lowell has sent books to the STT in the past, but the cost became prohibitive when the U.S. Postal Service changed their fee structure.
Most students are single and live on campus; married students, though few, live off campus. The school has 33 lecturers; at present there are two teachers from Australia for one month. Students come from many islands and many religions. The cost for a student for one year is IRp 3,500,000 (approximately $400.00). The HKBP churchwide pays faculty staff salaries, average salary being IRp2,000,000 per month ($250). Classes are taught in Bahasa Indonesian and Batak except for English class.
Scholarships are necessary as the majority of students cannot afford the tuition. Students from the lower economic strata are able to attend if they sign a promissory note to pay (extended family usually help them). Outside support of the seminary, say, from individual HKBP congregations, needs careful planning. Support from a congregation for an individual seminarian may cut short funds for the seminary itself if the congregation reduces their benevolence level to the HKBP church.
The seminary is accredited by the church, but not to government educational accreditation. One of the main reasons for this is that the library is inadequate. Rev. Wilda Simanjuntak (pictured), is the librarian (and also teaches Hebrew). She showed us through the library and gave us each a list of books they would like to acquire. They are deeply involved in the process of computerizing the Library’s catalog and it looks quite advanced. Lowell has sent books to the STT in the past, but the cost became prohibitive when the U.S. Postal Service changed their fee structure. 
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