Parent Newsletter - December, 2022

From the President

Dear Parents,

Students are completing papers and preparing for their final exams as the Fall Semester ends next week. We have had a good semester at Wheaton, enjoying a long and colorful autumn, filled with growth and discovery, discipleship and worship, hard work and fun.

Last weekend we paused to enjoy the artistry of faculty and student usicians in the annual Christmas Festival, giving testimony to the radiant glory of the one and only Son of God. This Beautiful Savior—offered to you in an Advent devotional available online—shows us the beauty of salvation in his embodied humility. Every moment in his saving work is a new display of divine beauty!

Lisa and I pray that you and your student will have a very Merry Christmas and prosperous New Year 2023 growing with us in understanding the beauty of God’s salvation in Jesus Christ.

With joy at Advent,

Philip Ryken
President 

Mark Your Calendars!

After the New Year, parents will have the opportunity to register for Zoom Parent Prayer Gatherings that will coincide with the February 23, Collegiate Day of Prayer. More information about the prayer gatherings will be forthcoming, but in the meantime, mark your calendars for Thursday, February 23, 2023, 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. Prayer gatherings will be offered in each U.S. time zone.

Learning & Teaching Collaborative

The Learning & Teaching Collaborative (LTC) will be recruiting additional academic peer coaches in the new year. We are particularly seeking male candidates as well as graduate students. If your student has gifts in leadership and providing academic support, please encourage them to reach out to las@wheaton.edu. The LTC will continue its monthly student success series, Foundations, throughout spring semester and will be covering high-interest topics such as motivation, the writing process, and limiting distraction while studying.

Questions? Contact ltc@wheaton.edu

Campus Housing

We look forward to welcoming our students back for the spring semester. Orientation for new and transfer students begins on Friday, January 6, 2023. Check out the details here. Housing opens for returning students at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 7 and meal plans also begin that Saturday. Classes begin on Monday, January 9.

New semesters provide opportunities for new beginnings. Encourage your student to take advantage of the new semester and make choices that allow them to create healthy patterns and routines as they begin their academics, continue their relationships, and care for their own physical and emotional wellbeing. Lamentations 3:23-33 says, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

Student Financial Services

The extended Christmas break is a great time for parents and students to complete the 2023-2024 Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)! Students will be notified by email if they need to submit additional requirements after filing and instructions and links for forms will be posted in the student’s portal.

Spring 2023 Billing
Students and authorized users will receive an automated email by mid-December when spring semester bills are available for online viewing. The spring due date is January 9, 2023, which is the first day of classes. Paying online in the Billing & Payment Gateway by electronic check is the fastest way to submit payment. When using 529/College Savings plans for payment, make sure to contact the plan administrator early to allow for sufficient mail time during the busy holiday season. Checks must be received by our office by the due date in order to avoid late fees.

Payment plan enrollment will be available online in the Billing & Payment Gateway when bills are completed. Fall plan participants will not be automatically re-enrolled, so please remember to enroll in a spring plan by the due date, as needed.

New option for international payments!
This spring we will offer a new and simpler way for making international payments directly through the Billing & Payment Gateway. Students and their authorized users will be able to pay with their local currency from nearly any country through our partnership with TransferMate.

Benefits of paying with TransferMate include:

• A safer and easier way to pay.
• Competitive exchange rates held for 48 hours.
• Local currency payment method options are available for some countries.
• No international sender/receiver fees.
• 24-7 multilingual customer

Watch for more updates coming soon on this exciting payment option!

Not receiving monthly eBill notices? Students need to grant parents access and permissions to their student accounts in the Billing & Payment Gateway under their Authorized User profile. Students can enter a parent's email address and parents will receive two automated emails with login information which will allow access to account activity, on-line payments, payment plan enrollment, and year-end tax statements (if student permits). We recommend that parents and students log in to the Billing & Payment Gateway at least once a month when the eBill notices are sent, to review their account. Authorized Users log in here. 

Please direct questions to Student Financial Services at sfs@wheaton.edu or 630-752-5700.

Year-End Giving

Exceptional educational programming, spiritual development resources, and career development opportunities probably are not on your student’s Christmas list, but they are critical parts of a Wheaton College education. The gift of these essentials opens the door for students to experience Wheaton to its fullest, and your contributions toward this effort do not go unnoticed.

Please consider a tax-deductible gift to the Wheaton Fund by December 31, and thank you for remembering Wheaton College in your year-end giving.  

Advent Blessings from Chaplain Wilson

St. Luke 2:8-18

“Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.”

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, “Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.”

And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger. Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child. And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them.”

Grace and joy to you family,  

This text is profound to me on many levels. It is profound because God reveals things in this text that He does not reveal in any other portion of Scripture. For example, when God got ready to bring in the savior of the world He had two types of witnesses, “The Lowly and the Holy.” [Shepherds and Angels] 

Both were on divine assignment and both were the kind of messengers that nobody expected to carry or deliver a word from God. That is what this text is about today. It is about God revealing Himself and His plan to humankind and doing it with a divine message for the world. 

He still uses the lowly and the holy. This season, may your lives be lived on mission for God, to carry the good news that the Savior has come and that there is peace and good will on earth towards all people.

Blessings, 

Chaplain Wilson

How to pray for Wheaton in December

• For students to have clear minds, great perseverance, and God’s peace as they prepare for next week’s finals;
• For students to know their worth is in God alone, and not in any academic grade they receive;
• For God’s hand of protection for students traveling over Christmas break and for God’s comfort for those who cannot go home;
• For the Lord’s strength and encouragement as faculty finish their classes and complete their grading.

Thank you for praying -- and a very Merry Christmas to you!

The Wheaton College Parent Engagement Team