Seminary/College degrees - accredited

Does anyone know about a Christian Seminary or/and College which grants accredited degrees via distant education?
I am tired on reading of institutions promising to give "accredited" diplomas and finding out later that the accredited agency is another flaw. Thanks.

 

For starters, see: Baker's Guide to Christian Distance Education

 

Thanks Gregg!

 

LIBNYSR,

The only two schools that I know of that offer masters level degrees via distance eduaction and which are accredited are Reformed Theological Seminary (www.rtsvirtual.org; www.rts.edu) and Covenant Seminary (http://www.covenantseminary.edu/access/default.asp).

Both of these program are accredited by the Association of Theological Schools and have regional accredidation. There are some that are TRACS accredited such as southern evangelical seminary (http://www.ses.edu/external/index.html).

All of these are a little pricy however they offer good theological education. I am currently in the RTS program and like it very much.

If cost is a concern you may want to check into some foriegn programs.

Hope This Helps,

cbryant

 

THANK YOU Cbryant!

Libnysr

 

There seem to be very few total DL accredited seminary programs... most have some residency requirements, at least through short-intensives (usually week-long or weekend courses)...

The other variable is what kind of seminary degree are you looking for... at the graduate level they come in an assortment of 1, 1.5, 2, and 3 year degrees.

The most cost effective RA DL graduate programs seem to be from Lubbock Christian University and Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary.

Of course neither of these schools is accredited by ATS... who is the industry "gold-standard" on accrediting seminaries...

I second the recommendation to research Baker's Guide to Christian Distance Education... it is an awesome site that is very informative.

 

You could look here:
http://www.holyapostles.edu
Jack

 

Why? I mean... just curious... why did you pick that one above all others?

Also, help me, here... I'm having trouble seeing what, if any accreditation it has. I'm not doubting that it has at least some kind of accreditation (er... well... okay, maybe I am), but I'm just having trouble finding it. In fact, a search of the site for the word "accredited" indicates that the only five times that the word is even used anywhere on the site are to specify what kinds of credits one must have from other institutions.

If it were accredited, you'd think they'd have an "accreditation" menu item or something. I mean, LIBNYSR did specify that the degrees must be accredited, right?

Or have I missed something?

 

I am somewhat familiar with this program too... Holy Apostles College and Seminary is RA... but not ATS accredited... HACS sponsors the program and awards the degrees, but the coursework is conducted by "International Catholic University" which is not accredited... supposedly the faculty is well-known in Roman Catholic circles... Their prices are not too bad... theology is going to be the issue for other Christians (Protestants, Eastern Orthodox, etc...)unless you are RC.

This is one of the shorter graduate degrees in theology (30 semester hours as I recall).

 

Holy Apostles College & Seminary
Offers 2 Masters programs in Philosophy and Theology, and they are RA

 

Hi Greg - I did not pick it "above all others" as you say, I referenced this program because it is the one that I knew of that had not previously been mentioned.

Otherwise, jra is correct. This is an RA degree program.
Jack

 

You might want to check out South African Theological Seminary. It's totally distance learning and fully accredited offering a Bachelor of Theology and a Master of Theology at very affordable prices.

 

We've had this discussion a few times before.

It all hinges on what you mean by accredited. There are several regionally accredited schools which offer distance degrees. However, in the field of theology -- specifically ministry training in the US and Canada -- as Bruce pointed out, ATS accreditation is the gold standard. No ATS accredited degrees are offered exclusively by distance education. However, there are lots of ATS degrees offered through a combination of distance education and abbreviated or dispersed residencies.

There are also some good schools with TRACS accreditation which offer distance options. Generally speaking, they do not meet the rigorous standards of ATS. But that doesn't mean that you can't get a good education through those schools.

It all comes down to what you are trying to accomplish. Do you just want a degree? Are you trying to meet the ordination standards of a denomination which requires ATS accreditation? What do the people you will be serving expect out of you? What is the best way to really push and challenge yourself in this area?

 

Holy Apostles is not only RA but the teachers are top of the top scholars on their respective areas of study

 

Liberty University offers seminary degrees entirely via DL and they are regionally accredited. Their prices are fairly reasonable and I believe they offer open enrollment.

Good Luck!

Pug

 

Help me out. Why is ATS the gold standard over RA? One of my alma maters, Western Seminary, is ATS/RA, [ AND offers some DL] but I'm not clear as to why that ATS accreditation is an advantage. I don't think that it could be well argued that instruction or curricula must be better, so is it utility only that is better? Do some denominations not accept that which is not ATS? Yes. I could research this, but some of you seem to know the answer , so help me save that time.

Thanks,

 

This is true and very cheap, $165 per credit hour if I remember correctly.

 

I'm not Jack, but one significant distinctive that Holy Apostles has, compared to the other schools suggested, is that it's a Roman Catholic program.

If anyone is interested in Catholic DL programs, the best source is an annotated listing prepared by the US Catholic Bishops. They surveyed every Catholic higher education institution in the United States and list all of those with DL programs, along with a short description of what's available and how it's delivered.

http://www.usccb.org/laity/laysurvey/schools.htm

A useful one-stop location for verifying accreditation is the CHEA website:

http://www.chea.org

They say this about Holy Apostles:

Database of Institutions Accredited By Recognized
United States Accrediting Organizations

Holy Apostles College and Seminary
33 Prospect Hill Road
Cromwell, CT 06416
Phone: N/A
Fax: N/A
Web: http://www.holyapostles.edu

Accreditation by:
New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC-CIHE) Commission on Institutions of Higher Education

 

Good question. Among other things (such as institutional stability and library standards) the faculty requirements are more precise and rigorous. e.g. -- In an RA school someone with a PhD in religion could teach a biblical lit class. In an ATS school it is more precise. People with only a PhD in Old Testament wouldn't be acceptible for teaching New Testament. Furthermore, curriculum is monitored more tightly. ATS accredited schools will not automatically accept transfer units from an RA school but it is standard to accept such from another ATS school.

Most ATS schools also have RA. Think of ATS as advanced accreditation. A parallel in business education is ACBSP standing. There are lots of RA business schools but not all also have ACBSP accreditation.

Most of the mainline or established denominational structures which have centralized ordination requirements expect that their people shall normally have an ATS accredited degree -- e.g. Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians. I'm a part of an evangelical denomination which has such a requirement.

This isn't to say that a school has to be ATS (or even RA) accredited to be good. There is lots of good education and formation going on otherwise. But ATS is setting the standard these days. Even schools which don't choose to go the ATS route are to one degree or another influenced by ATS requirements.

 

Re: Re: Seminary/College degrees - accredited

Gee... ya' think?

Wow. That's a strong categorical statement... which, coming from you, carries the probability of being accurate... or so it is my opinion. Speaking of those whose opinions carry weight...

I could ask (and now am asking) the same sort of question regarding Brad's TRACS vs ATS assertion. Having read Brad's cogent comparison of RA vs ATS; and having read (and quoted, herein, above) his strong categorical statement regarding ATS's superiority, generally, over TRACS, I am moved to ask him to make the same kind of comparative analysis between them, here, as he did between ATS and RA. Why, and in what ways, specifically, is ATS categorically superior to TRACS, do you think?

I ask, in part (and I express this now so that addressing it could, if you wish, Brad, become part of your response) because if there's one thing that bugs me about accreditation, generally, it's the whole notion that one USDoE/CHEA-approved accreditation standard can be vastly better than another -- the most obvious and familiar example being the seemingly endless argument about whether DETC accreditation can hold a candle to RA; and the ease and frequency with which some RA institutions become dismissive of a DETC-accredited credential, e'en though it be just as USDoE/CHEA-approved as any RA-accredited credential. From my cursory examination of the thing, I find that a deep-dig into most any DETC-accredited credential yields essentially the same amount of rigor as an RA-accredited credential -- the USDoE/CHEA-approval of them both being the safety net through which neither of them can fall, so to speak. If my "USDoE/CHEA approval is the thing that makes them all not only valid, but downright good" argument has any merit, then should not a TRACS-accredited MDiv (for example) have, if not precisely as much respect in the marketplace as one accredited by ATS, then at least enough respect, by comparison, that its holder may be reasonably certain that s/he can compete favorably with an ATS-accredited MDiv holder in the marketplace?