Mentorship and Counseling Reimbursement Policy

SPS students may request to meet with a pastoral mentor to support their vocational and professional discernment process at no expense. These assignments will be limited to three formal meetings with an assigned mentor per academic year, and will be arranged with an understanding that they will forgo the funds that might otherwise be available to reimburse any counseling or spiritual direction services.

As an alternative to the mentoring, Seattle Pacific Seminary (SPS) will provide a 50% reimbursement for expenses that students incur for counseling and/or spiritual direction. This reimbursement will be available for up to $300 per student for each academic year you are enrolled in the Seminary. SPS cannot recommend a specific therapist or spiritual director to you, but will provide a list of counselors who are known to the Seminary, and are sympathetic to your Christian faith commitment.

SPS students will be eligible to take advantage of this mentorship or counseling reimbursement benefit for up to three years total.

Eligibility Criteria

In order to be eligible, students of SPS must:

Be admitted to a master degree or the Graduate Certificate in Christian Studies program of SPS in Winter 2015 or later.
Be enrolled in a minimum of five credits of THEO courses (i.e. classes offered by the School of Theology) during each quarter of your first-year, and six credits of THEO courses thereafter unless otherwise approved by the Dean, Associate Dean, or Director of SPS.
Meet with the Associate Dean or Director of SPS to obtain approval for reimbursement.

SPS students will be able to obtain reimbursement for their counseling expenses beginning the first day of instruction of the Fall quarter through June 1 of each school year. They will be permitted to obtain reimbursement for any counseling services that they have received after September 26, 2016. Students will submit receipts by the last day of class instruction at the end of each quarter. See Academic Calendar on SPU website, but for reference, see this example for Academic Year 2021-22:

Autumn – November 17, 2021
Winter – March 11, 2021
Spring – June 3, 2021

Reimbursement Instructions

To obtain reimbursement, students of SPS will need to follow the instructions below (in the order they are listed):

1) Complete the form below and email it to the Dean or Director of SPS to obtain approval for reimbursement of your counseling services. Once the request has been approved, the Dean or Associate Dean will email the SPS Associate Director who will save the form to their file. If the student wishes to be assigned a pastoral mentor, the student should meet with the Associate Dean of SPS.

2) Complete a W9 and submit counseling receipts to the SPS Associate Director. The SPS Associate Director will process receipt(s) and issue reimbursements directly to the student; the Seminary will not compensate counselors directly. Please note that if a student has already submitted a W9 on file for other purposes, an additional W9 is not required.

If students have further questions about the SPS Mentorship and Counseling Reimbursement Policy, please contact the Director of SPS, Rev. Ashley Skinner-Creek directly.