I told my brother I am sure he could find a school that met this criteria. I looked and have whiffed: Are there any RA(must be RA), he has no money and needs financial aid, graduate programs in religion(theology, relgious studies, Bible) that have no residency requirements? Yes, we know about South Africa etc.
First order of business... Advice for the future... Choosing an appropriate title for your thread can be pretty important... there are people out there who might be able to help your brother out... but won't open this thread up because it doesn't mention something of interest to them... (Example - "Looking for an inexpensive nonresident undergraduate religious studies program") OK... now to address the issues raised in your question... 1. What level of studies are we talking about? Undergraduate or graduate studies? Are certificate (non-degree studies) acceptable? This relates to what he wants to do with this degree... ranges from general information to ministry ordination... 2. What "flavor" of religious studies is he looking for? General religious studies vs. bible/theology vs. ministry/pastoral studies vs. ??? 3. What is his denominational affiliation? Are there limitations to denominations of the seminary/school that he would study from? (Example - His background is X and he would be willing to study from a theologically similar background... but not Y or Z) 4. Does he belong to a church that would be willing to assist him in his tuition? Zero residency complicates the issue very much... but it is not impossible. Respectfully, BruceP
Have you checked the baker'g guide, http://www.bakersguide.com , also the requirement of financial aid will complicate matters significantly. I personally don't know of any program that will allow financial aid (at least in the form of gov't financial aid) and be totally distance. I do know of some seminaries that have distance education courses and do allow the use of financial aid (Denver Seminary comes to mind) but not a full degree. HTH, cbryant
Bruce, Thanks for your reply. Graduate, masters level programs, nonresidency, not ministry. Religious studies or Bible. No denominational boundaries, as strange as that sounds. None, only that it is legitimate. Has to be regionally accredited to get financial aid. He is going to get a little extra money to buy a car. This guy lives on 15k a year, because, well, thats who he is. No boundaries but RA no residency masters Thank you for your sound advice, I am out of practice in these parts!
cbryant My wife has her degree from Walden, totally on-line, and we used the extra money to buy a house, cheaper interest I might add. I tried Baker but am not finding anyone RA who does total nonresidency. I have tried.
There are two colleges that immediately come to mind that I think will fit your criteria. The first is Liberty University . It offers both a Masters in Religion and a Masters of Divinity, both entirely by distance education. The second is St. Mary of the Woods College , which offers a Master of Arts in Pastoral Theology, completely online. St. Mary of the Woods is a women-only institution, but they have recently opened their distance education programs to men as well. These programs are: RA Graduate (masters) and require no residency Hope this is what you were looking for.
I second the motion on Liberty Theological Seminary ... as I understand the MAR can be completed entirely by distance learning... however I was told the MDiv still required residency (which is OK... since the MDiv is beyond general religion studies). http://www.liberty.edu/academics/religion/seminary/index.cfm?PID=7887 I'm not up on financial aid, but the school can help him out with that. Walden is no where near inexpensive... and I don't recall that they offered religion programs... An excellent source for your brother to use would be to check out Baker's Guide... http://www.bakersguide.com/directory/Degree_Level/Masters_Degrees/ In summary, there are a slew of programs out there that are nonresident, however most are very costly. It is kind of hard to match the two criteria together... hopefully the financial aid folks know their jobs!
You also mentioned that you were familiar with the South Africa programs. Don't be so quick to dismiss those (if you have). Your brother can still get U.S. federal financial aid to attend some South African and other foreign universities.
