D T BI RI TA A VE T E SE SAPIEN IA ES ER S V OS LIB ANNUAL REPORT 2018 STUDENT SPOTLIGHT SWC AT A GLANCE ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT 2017 GIVING BACK GRADUATION FACULTY & STAFF REVENUES & EXPENDITURES Our Lady Seat of Wisdom College was founded on the twin pillars of prayer and sacrifice WHY SUPPORT SWC CURRENT & FUTURE NEEDS MICHAEL D. O BRIEN
JULIA HOLMQUIST CLASS OF 2019 SWC AT A GLANCE STUDENT SPOTLIGHT AN ACADEMICALLY EXCELLENT LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGE OFFERING A BACHELOR OF CATHOLIC STUDIES... > 40 >40 alumni have completed or are completing Masters, PhD, or other graduate programs. Most of our 500 alumni have gone on to further academic studies. Our Lady Seat of Wisdom is an amazing place to study and live! The class sizes are small, and the courses offered are true to the teachings of the Church. Though the work is extremely demanding, my classmates, rather than competing with me, instead assist me to do well, either by explaining a certain concept, or making me a cup of tea. The professors are absolutely brilliant, teaching things you could not learn anywhere else. Another main reason I chose to study at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom was the residence life. Students live in unique houses with a living room and full kitchen. Every evening we gather and pray; this may be followed by baking cookies, having interesting discussions, watching a show, or making silly videos. I really love the community life. My Saturdays, for example, are filled with Mass, homework and reading, swing dances, hockey, card games, and cooking. WHAT HAS IMPACTED YOU THE MOST BY BEING HERE? In my first year, I was encouraged by my Residence Assistance to do the consecration to Our Lady. I would not have finished on my own, but every night we would stay up together and pray. And after taking Biblical History and Biblical Literature, I now understand how complex and incredible the Bible really is! WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE AWAY FROM YOUR TIME AS A STUDENT? As a student over the past three years, I have been able to form valuable habits (like daily Mass), my classes have taught me how to think critically, and I have established fantastic friendships. Alumni are excelling in a large variety of fields, e.g. medicine and health care, education, law, academia, public service THAT IS FAITHFULLY CATHOLIC... 100 % Faculty are practicing Catholics, and choose to profess the oath of fidelity to the Magisterium Spiritual Life opportunities for students and the College community include daily Mass, two chaplains for spiritual direction/confession, school-wide Day of Recollection, pilgrimages, and more. AND AFFORDABLE! WHERE DO STUDENTS COME FROM? 59 27 14 $ 7,463 FULL-YEAR TUITION (CAD) $ 6,277 ROOM & BOARD (CAD) ~ 50 % STUDENTS RECEIVE FINANCIAL AID IN 2017 2019 ONTARIO REST OF CANADA USA AND OVERSEAS
JOHN & ELIZABETH ESPADERO 2008 2010 ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT JOHN The value of Our Lady Seat of Wisdom continues to grow the longer we ve been married, in every stage in our life. J Even academically and professionally, the role that it has played for me personally in my career as an occupational therapist, in the raising and teaching of our children: it only gets better! And that s why we re here [at Homecoming weekend]. J Our best friends are here, and now our children and theirs are growing up as friends. ELIZABETH We kind of unpack it as life goes on and we reach new stages, because it held up an ideal to strive for in family life and marriage in a really beautiful way. But not just in a speculative way. It made it very real, it gave us the tools to try to live our vocation very deeply: to marriage, and to parenthood. At every stage of our journey, we ve been really empowered by our time at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom to be builders of community as much as we can, in our parish, and in the wider community, to do our little part to try to build up the Church in Canada. E It continues to be a place where we want to bring our young kids, to try to continue to foster the relationships that we made here 10 years ago. $ 34,302 Raised from September October 2017 by the alumni, together with a generous matching donor, for a new steel roof for St. Mary s Hall, which was installed in the summer of 2018 38 BACHELOR OF CATHOLIC STUDIES 53 25 STAFF AND FACULTY OUR ALUMNI GIVE BACK! 2018 GRADUATION 21 ASSOC. CERTIFICATE OF CHRISTIAN HUMANITIES $ 35 K HIGHEST SALARY MEAN SALARY PER YEAR 33 BASIC CERTIFICATE OF CHRISTIAN HUMANITIES Bachelor of Catholic Studies degrees granted to the two graduating classes of 2017 & 2018 OUR STAFF & FACULTY A committed and talented team of faculty and staff believe this mission is worthy of sacrifice. < $ 40 K PER YEAR J Long live Our Lady Seat of Wisdom College! E The people we met here are people we can call on in tough times in marriage, and we still call our teachers to ask questions when we re struggling with something, or reach out to the priests here, and our good friends. $ 0 No benefits, health coverage, retirement plans are yet able to be offered. We thank our retiring president who for the last seven years has chosen to not take a salary, for the financial benefit of the College.
REVENUES EXPENDITURES REVENUE 2017/18 EXPENDITURE 2017/18 28.2 4.4 STUDENTS Tuition, room & board, activity fees 67.4% 67.6% 5.1 3 2.4 4.3 67.4 DONORS Donations, gifts-in-kind, restricted gifts OTHERS Resale items, events, grants 19.2 66 2017/18 28.2%* 2016/17 28.7%** 2017/18 4.4% 2016/17 3.7% * includes $210,000 restricted gifts The only Government grants received included approx. $14,000 from the Canada Summer ** includes $135,000 restricted gifts Jobs Program in 2017 to hire students as summer employees. As of February 2018 with changes made by the Government of Canada to the program s application process, due to our pro-life stance, we no longer qualify. 66 32 1 UNRESTRICTED GIFTS RESTRICTED GIFTS GIFTS-IN-KIND $420,000 $445,000 $210,000 $135,000 $5,360 $1,163 PROGRAM Salaries, books, student costs, cafeteria, transportation, library, graduation 66.0% 63.9% BUILDINGS Rent & utilities, repairs, maintenance, external contractors, telephone & internet, amortization 2017/18 19.2% 2016/17 21.3% DONATION SOURCES 2017/18 OVERHEAD COSTS Office, interest, professional fees DEVELOPMENT Fundraising, promotion, accreditation 25 3 3 518 INDIVIDUALS Individuals, couples, or families 32 CHURCH GROUPS Knights of Columbus, Catholic Women s Leagues, religious communities, etc. 5.1% 4.8% 4.3% 4.0% 69 9 FOUNDATIONS & NOT-FOR-PROFITS 7 BUSINESSES SCHOLARSHIPS 3.0% 3.4% INSURANCE 2.4% 2.6% Benefactors, faculty and staff have offered countless non-monetary contributions of prayer and service which we are unable to measure or receipt, and without which we could not achieve our goal of faithful Catholic education. The generosity of our benefactors helped to fully cover the costs for the 2017-2018 year. The total expenditures were $1,852,296, up from $1,650,131 for the 2016-2017 year.
KAREN & DUNCAN WITH THEIR GIFT OF A PIANO DONATED TO THE COLLEGE S MUSIC BUILDING ~ NOVEMBER 2018 CURRENT NEEDS SCHOLARSHIPS & BURSARIES +$30K/YEAR SACRED MUSIC RESOURCES & TEACHING $30K/YEAR HEALTH SPENDING ACCOUNT $40K/YEAR SCIENCE EQUIPMENT E.G. MICROSCOPES $6K LIBRARY RESOURCES & ONLINE JOURNALS $10K/YEAR INDUSTRIAL KITCHEN EQUIPMENT $3K TRANSPORTATION $90K CHAIRS FOR CLASSROOMS, STUDY SPACES & OUTDOORS $7K RESEARCH STIPENDS & PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT $13K/YEAR FITNESS EQUIPMENT STUDENT SERVICES RESOURCES $1K DRAMA RESOURCES KAREN & DUNCAN BARBER We first became interested in Our Lady Seat of Wisdom after being invited by a friend who was working at the school to come to a fund raising dinner in Pembroke. There we discovered that a past choir director we knew was now teaching at the school, and the Schola performed. We are ardent lovers of good Latin church music. This led to learning more about the school and its purpose for existence. We liked what we learned and decided to become supporters. We began by creating a new scholarship for music students and continued with more funding for general use as we were able. Karen became active in spreading the word as far as the US about funding for the new music program by contacting all her music loving friends and family. We believe Seat of Wisdom has a much needed place in the world. It s a light shining in the darkness and we want to help to keep the flame alive. WITHIN 1 5 YEARS SWC RELIES ON DONOR SUPPORT $ 0 We do not receive government funding, and will remain a privately-funded institution faithful to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church $ 430,000 The goal of unrestricted gifts fundraising was met in 2017/18. Please help us meet this same fundraising goal for 2018/19. 28% $ Students this year are on deferred payment plans due to proven financial needs. Scholarships / bursaries were provided to students in 2017/18, up from $55,906 in 2016/17 4-YEAR BACHELOR OF CATHOLIC STUDIES DEGREE BUILDING SACRED MUSIC PROGRAM, COURSE OFFERINGS, FULL-TIME MUSIC PROFESSOR CONCENTRATION IN SACRED MUSIC WITHIN 6 15 YEARS 57,000 MORE STUDY ABROAD OPTIONS NEW RESIDENCE COMPLEX ~ $3M MULTI-PURPOSE MAIN CAMPUS BUILDING: FITNESS ROOM, CAFETERIA, AUDITORIUM, CLASSROOMS, ETC ~ $5M
SEDES SAPIENTIAE VERITAS V OS LIBERABIT Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, is our patroness. St. Joseph the Provider is also being invoked to help provide for the spiritual and material needs of the College. We specifically ask him to help find new donors to join our mission of faithful Catholic education. Saint Joseph the Provider, painted for Our Lady Seat of Wisdom College by Michael O Brien, 2018