Orlando Student Life

HEADLINES

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Financial Aid for 2012-2013
The RTS Orlando online financial aid application form is now open!  You may access the form through the RTS website or by clicking the following link: RTS Orlando Financial Aid.  Remember, if you wish to receive or continue to receive any form of financial aid next year (this includes Ministry Partnerships and Church Partnerships), you must fill out the form and submit the required documents to the Admissions Office before May 1, 2012.  New students have until June 1, 2012 to complete this process. The Financial Aid Committee will review all applications and grant priority to those students who have completed their application by March 1.

EPC Jumper Scholarship
EPC Jumper Applications are now being received for the Andrew A. Jumper Scholarship. M.Div. Students in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church may qualify. Obtain an application with instructions from the Admissions Office and see Tim Trouten for instructions. Application deadline is March 31, 2012.

Graduating in May?
Now is the time to submit your application, which will secure your place on the list of candidates for graduation and is used to order your diploma. Please pick up an application for graduation in the rack outside Lanny Conley’s office – or email (lconley@rts.edu) for a copy. The graduation fee is not charged until April, so there is no need to submit it along with the form.

Attention: RTS Curriculum Change
Dear RTS student,
The message is to apprise you of a curriculum change that may affect your academic planning at RTS. Beginning next academic year (2012-13), ST540 “Christian Encounter with Islam” (a new two-hour course), will be required of all MDiv students, and it will be an elective for MA students. This course will replace HT506 Church World, as a required course in MDiv and certain MA programs. (Church and World may continue on some campuses as an elective course).  The new course description is as follows:

ST 540 Christian Encounter with Islam (2 hours): An introduction to the history, culture, traditions, beliefs, and practices of Islam. Students will reflect on the ways in which Islamic faith and life have been shaped by historical and cultural circumstances, study the diversity of Islam both in history and in contemporary expression, and develop a deeper understanding of Islam in order to love Muslims as their neighbors and witness more effectively to them.

How does this affect you? If you are currently enrolled in the MDiv and MA programs, and you are not graduating this May, you are at liberty to choose between Church and World or Christian Encounter with Islam to satisfy your degree requirements. (Note however: some campuses may discontinue Church and World as a residential offering, in which case you will only have access to this course through the RTS virtual program).

RTS Orlando students, please take special note: because this change entails the replacement of a three hour course (Church and World) with a two-hour course (Christian Encounter with Islam), you will now have an additional elective hour in your program.