Trinity Theological Seminary Seeks NCA Accreditation

I corresponded today with a full-time faculty member of a RA/ATS seminary, who since 1995, has also been associated with TTS. He stated that he is currently on a committee at TTS which is heavily involved in seeking North Central accreditation. Further, that given the changes that TTS is making, it seems likely that they will achieve candidate status within a year or so. He stated that when TTS completes its current self-study process, the school should be in a very good position to reach their objective.

He also stated that the Liverpool accreditation was never intended to circumvent US accreditation (which he acknowledged that many US schools perceived was the case), but was meant to make TTS more attractive to an international audience.

Trinity has been discussed at length on this forum, pro & con, but if they do indeed achieve NCA candidate status, it would definitely lend credibility to their program.
And with NCA's recent awarding of candidate status to Northcentral University (Prescott, AZ), who knows?

Russell

 

Now for the $64,000 question: Will the graduate be better educated with the accreditation or will he/she learn the same things previous graduates have learned?

 

It seems to me they are already in major violation of North Central Association rules, which forbid people associated with a school from even hinting, much less predicting, that they will achieve candidacy.

As for Jimmy's question, the answer, based on the fact that they say they are making significant changes to their oft-criticized program, is probably 'Yes.'

 

The comments made to me were not made in an official capacity, rather in informal and personal correspondence--so this was not an official Trinity statement. IIRC, Northcentral hinted (informally) for many months that they were aligning their programs to achieve NCA candidate status, and that they expected to achieve it.

Perhaps I misunderstood the NCA rules, but I thought the concept was that a prospective school was not to issue a public statment (in literature, advertisements, etc.), which would give the impression that candidate status was guaranteed, i.e., a done deal.

The gentleman with whom I corresponded did not state that candidate status was 100% guaranteed, only that he felt very positive about the possibility of Trinity's obtaining such.

Russell

 

It's just talk until it actually happens. But nevertheless, assuming that what this gentleman says is accurate, it is very good news for Trinity and everyone associated with it.

They certainly advertised themselves as being "accredited" in domestic publications. It has always been the misleading, and in my opinion very unethical, "accreditation" claims that were the worst thing about Trinity C&S.

But if Trinity can find a way to achieve regional accreditation, then I guess that I would have to accept it as legitimate. At the very least, their graduates will receive much more useful degrees. And if the North Central Association makes them improve their academics, that would be a plus as well.

If Trinity really decides to turn its back on its past and do the right thing, I applaud them.

 

Surely, if they make candidacy they will have to drop that cheesy Masters Divinity School. I feel a wave of nausea coming on just thinking about it.

That said I wish them all the best.

North