Here's what seminary student Neal Armstrong expects to face when he's installed into his first job as a church minister: joyfully fulfilling God's calling to serve in a highly rewarding, yet low-paying, pastoral position.

And a second — or even third — job on the side to help pay off more than $40,000 in college and seminary educational loans.

"Obviously, I may not be able to do as much outreach and care for people as much if I'm bi-vocational," said Armstrong, 23, a recent seminary graduate of Nashville's Trevecca Nazarene University who is returning to school for a second theological degree next year.

The rising educational debt level carried by would-be preachers is an increasing concern to divinity school presidents, denominations and seminarians. Some new members of the clergy will have to take on additional jobs, diverting them from ministerial duties. Others are postponing starting families or buying homes, and are coping with financial stress as they become leaders and role models to congregations.

And some are simply forgoing ministerial work because they can't afford to take the jobs and pay their bills, exacerbating clergy shortages in many denominations.

"I think some of our best and brightest leave the ministry because of the debt," said Trevecca Nazarene University President Dan Boone.

DEBT LOAD RISING FAST

A 2005 study by Auburn Theological Seminary in New York shows that from 1991 to 2001, the average student loan debt for new pastors more than doubled to $25,018, from $11,043. If the trend continues, by 2011 about 84 percent of seminary students will have to borrow to finance their education, with an average loan burden of more than $54,000, the Auburn study showed.

In its own survey of seminarian students last year, the Episcopal Church found that students halfway through their training already had amassed an average of $42,874 in debts — on track to graduate owing well more than $50,000. Meanwhile, the median compensation package for new Episcopal clergy hovers at $44,500 per year, a starting salary that's considerably higher than in many other denominations.

"Financial planners say that if you graduate from school with a $36,000 debt, you should have an income of $60,000 in order to handle your finances and move forward," said John Mittman, executive director of the Society for the Increase of the Ministry, an Episcopal office that has been studying seminarian debt.

Seminary presidents said the growing debt load is the result of three factors: the increasing accessibility of student loans during the past 15 to 20 years, a lack of financial education about the loans among seminary students, and steeply rising tuition costs.

CHURCHES HELPING

Some universities and denominations are beginning to take a harder look at costs.

The Episcopal Church is building an endowment to fund the cost of seminary for its priests, Mittman said. Other denominations have similar endowments available.

The Southern Baptist Convention has long funded its affiliated seminaries to keep tuition costs down. A typical year at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., for example, costs just less than $4,400, with additional scholarships available.

The Roman Catholic Church, likewise, pays the way for its seminary students.

Trevecca Nazarene University offers mandatory financial management classes to its students. It also requires students to pay off university loans each year before continuing to the next, although this does not apply to federal student loans.