"You can't take it all with you."
When we repose we leave behind some possessions and resources, even if they are rather humble. Often they are split into chunks between family members and causes. But are we making the most of this in a spiritual sense? Yes, it is normative to bequeath inheritance to a child, niece, nephew, etc. But where else do we make the postmortem deposit? Here, I explore a common heir: higher education.
College and university realities today
Many bequeath something to their alma mater or a local college/university, and I am going to discuss a useful alternative to that. It is common to donate to scholarship funds or directly to an institution. Sometimes a name on a plaque is involved. It seems like a duty, especially among the upper middle class and upper class. Some consider a large donation or bequeathal to be a badge of honor demonstrating one's success and benevolence to all of society. Almost everyone these days is aware of the insane cost of education, and accordingly there is much enthusiasm about supporting young students. It seems each year that college education is a little bit further out of reach for many. There is also a sense of duty to support institutions that provided opportunities for us.
College itself, or perhaps more precisely, the conventional attitude toward the a) necessity; and b) promise of success; is in many cases, outmoded. Many degrees are literally "useless" as people say. So many go to college thinking that it is a guarantee of wealth and success. So many have the idea pounded into their head that college is a compulsory part of not dying penniless. They feel the need to get a degree in something, and then magically there is a job waiting for them, paying enough to support a starter household. This is rarely the case...
Scholarship funds help in the short term, but ultimately contribute to the rising cost of tuition. They destroy cost sensitivity and allow colleges to continuously raise tuition. There needs to be a legitimate risk of people not enrolling on account of the high price of tuition in order to bring the price of tuition down. When tuition is hiked, the colleges point to their scholarship funds and say "Why yes, we raised tuition, but look over here at our scholarship funds! There's still opportunity to come here, and we're committed to helping you fund it." They say this as they collect the tuition money supplied by the fund.
While funding students is helpful, and God wants us to show charity, overall it might not be the best use for your money.
What will be done with your money if you donate to an institution of higher education?
The concept of higher education is basically a sound one, and has a track record of providing value for society. Professionals are prepared with the breadth and depth of knowledge that they require, and this cannot be achieved in primary school. It takes a curriculum above and beyond, and additional time to learn. But learning useful knowledge is not the only activity that goes on there.
Higher education has served as a vanguard for anti-Christian teaching long before the widespread enrollment we see today was the norm. Many students are converted to atheism by professors as early as their freshman year. Modern, post-Christian ideas are developed there. Marxists continue to make their "long march through the institutions" through the university. The very cultural degeneration that causes the mass apostasy from the Church that we see today is formed and spread through universities.
Academia plays a major role in promoting anti-Christian teaching. The universities are usually at the vanguard of the social left, and are clearly leaders of cultural decline. This is easily noted in daily news. Note how many times a news article is run advocating for some immoral activity or another and how often it involves "experts" with PhD and a university next to their name. Universities regularly encourage degeneracy and punish those who oppose it.
The universities, particularly research-oriented ones, have lately been fostering Modernist activities within the Orthodox Church. The leading voices of change with respect to the Orthodox Church, along the lines of gay marriage, abortion, women's ordination, and other modern social issues tend to emanate from the university system. The grant-based nature of university operations lends itself to activistic influence. Often change agents head to the ranks of academicians, seeking clout and power to enact their agendas. Media platforms advocating for Modernism within the Orthodox Church are often associated with universities.
Universities and even smaller colleges are places where youth come together away from parents and communities for the first time in their lives. They often engage in excesses and share bad habits. Excessive drinking is considered a hallowed tradition in college. Drug use is popular. On most campuses, all sorts of sexual experimentation occurs. Plenty lose their virginity in filthy dorm rooms. But all of these things occur outside of colleges as well. There are conditions where young people who did not go to college are exposed to these sorts of activities. My point in bringing up the subject matter of dorm room immoralities is that young people who never participated in these activities have more exposure to them than they would otherwise, and this occurs in a space far away from the family and parish.
Am I preaching the total depravity of college? No, not exactly. I simply point out that colleges are not as good, holy, and worthy as a church or monastery. I do, however, hope to encourage skepticism toward higher education; skepticism it hardly categorically receives.
The alternative to including a college in your will
My recommendation to those who are writing their wills: Take whatever money you were going to give to a college, and give it to your parish. Leave a legacy there! Or give it to several parishes or monasteries. Or find a struggling parish and give it to them. In any of these cases, your money will be more well spent.
My second recommendation: Consider giving a larger portion of your estate to the Church.
By including the Church in your will, you will contribute to the continued celebrations of Liturgies into the future. Someone must pay for the construction of the temple, its maintenance, the utilities, and for the priest.
The possibilities
Conceivably, the estate of a middle class person could pay the salary of the priest for a whole year, according to the SFC's statistic on median inheritance. [1]
$25,000 could cover half a year's salary of a priest. As little as $10,000 could keep a struggling parish afloat after a financial setback, maintaining an Orthodox presence in its location. $5000 could fill the alms box for the poor for several weeks. $2000 could buy a set of new vestments to replace an old worn set.
If you are financially successful, your bequeathal could pay off a parish's mortgage. Conceivably, if you started investing in your retirement from a young age, earned an average salary, stayed thrifty into retirement, and did not have excessive medical expenses toward the end of life, you could quite possibly fund the complete design and construction of a whole new church temple. There may be a growing parish in a temporary structure or rented space that needs the funds to build a permanent temple.
Instead of sending your money to your alma mater, which provided opportunities for you, for which you already paid, why not send it to your childhood parish that built you up spiritually? Maybe an ancestral parish?
Consider these points and come up with a plan. Chances are, the Church has a need nearby. When you leave this world, the remains of your fortune could be all that it takes to facilitate continued liturgical life in your neighborhood.
Works cited
Coxwell, K. (2022, March 21). Average inheritance: How much are retirees leaving to heirs? NewRetirement. Retrieved April 30, 2022, from https://www.newretirement.com/retirement/average-inheritance-how-much-are-retirees-leaving-to-heirs/
The views expressed on this blog are my own and are not necessarily official positions held by the OCA. This blog is not intended to be an introduction to Orthodoxy or a catechesis, nor is it a place for intense theological debate and discussion. If you are an inquirer, please see links to helpful resources near the end of the first article: https://asonofthemetropolia.blogspot.com/2020/04/a-first-post-or-introduction-to-son-of.html
The primary purpose of this blog is to discuss Church life. If there is a topic or question that you have, feel free to contact.
