Coastland college?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by scotty, Jun 30, 2005.

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  1. scotty

    scotty New Member

    Anybody ever heard of Coastland College in souther Cali? I'm asking for a friend. It doesn't seem to be accredited.

    http://ccbcu.edu/

    I have heard lots of horror stories about people that went to bible colleges and then were unable to transfer any credits to other schools, so this one raises some red flags for me.
     
  2. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    They do have California approval, which is not exactly the same as accreditation, but it ome measure of quality control. They also have applicant status with the Association for Biblical Higher Education, formerly known as the American Association of Bible Colleges. Now, it seems from the ABHE website that applicant status means is that the school might get candidacy status in four years and then it might get accredited status in another four years.
     
  3. CoachTurner

    CoachTurner Member

    One of the problems with transfer credit from a Bible college is applicability to the degree program -- even when the Bible college is regionally accredited.

    Bible college curriculum is (of course) heavily bible classes. Bible 101 - Old Testament may transfer to local state U but Bible 122 Christian Apologetics probably will not -- even from an RA Bible college.

    Even if it does transfer, these courses will quickly fill the "electives" of local state u == not too much help.

    My opinion is - if your friend is thinking of transferring to an RA later, why not just start out there...
     
  4. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    It looks to me like it's operating under a religious exemption. All of its degrees seem to have religious titles. Here's its BPPVE listing:

    http://app1.dca.ca.gov/bppve/school-search/view-school.asp?schlcode=3014791

    Despite being a new school, it's already offering doctoral degrees. The website provides little information about the programs, despite talking about their call from Jesus on every page.

    They apparently are a formal applicant to the Association for Biblical Higher Education (formerly AABC). This is a recognized accreditor (but obviously not RA). That suggests that this is more substantial than the typical phantom seminary that operates out of a church basement. Unfortunately, I don't think that ABHE's scope of accreditation extends to doctorates.

    http://abhe.gospelcom.net/applicants.htm

    If I had some interest in enrolling in a school like this, I'd probably wait until it becomes an ABHE candidate, at least.

    The problem with Bible colleges, and with unaccredited religious schools generally, is the existence of religious exemptions. As long as they restrict themselves to offering religious degrees, state governments are prohibited by law from regulating them as they do all other schools.

    In the San Francisco Bay Area, more than half of the non-accredited degree-granting schools on the BPPVE list are phantom seminaries. Anybody can start one and they pop into and out of existence constantly.

    While I'm not the biggest fan of ABHE, if Coastline does succeed in becoming an ABHE candidate, it will indicate that the thing is something more tangible than that.
     

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