DETC mtg june 4th & 5th

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Peace123, Jun 6, 2010.

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  1. Peace123

    Peace123 New Member

    Any guess on who might get accredited ? The first time applicants are:

    American Fitness Professionals and Associates, Manahawkin, NJ
    Antioch School of Church Planning and Leadership Development, Ames, IA
    Nations University, West Monroe, LA
    The Northwest Institute of Literary Arts, Freeland, WA
    Trinity College of the Bible and Theological Seminary, Newburgh, IN
    UNAD Florida, Weston, FL
    University of Fairfax, Vienna, VA

    peace123
     
  2. Chip

    Chip Administrator

    Wait, the unwonderful Clayton College of Natural Health was in the listing before. I wonder if they withdrew, or if DETC politely told them not to bother?
     
  3. b4cz28

    b4cz28 Active Member

    I would be real happy if Nations is on it. I have all my work done for my last class but I have not turned it in so my degree will be accredited. AFP&A will get it; I don't think they offer any degrees, so the process won't be that hard.
     
  4. Havensdad

    Havensdad New Member

    Is this a somewhat historic meeting? Is this the first completely free University that has made a serious bid for recognized accreditation in the U.S.? If so, Nations could make history!

    However, I think there is far too much money in the game for DETC to accredit Nations. I have been thinking about this a lot, and unless some serious pressure is brought to bear, I think that DETC may well continually make up excuses to keep from robbing their own back pocket, with the for profit universities they have and continue to accredit.
     
  5. Peace123

    Peace123 New Member

    Ok, my mistake, in the original post I was listing the first time applicants from their last meeting, but below is the list from the DETC website for applicants for initial accreditation.

    Source:Distance Education and Training Council: Applicant Schools

    Applicants for Initial Accreditation

    As of January 2010 the following institutions have submitted applications for accreditation to the DETC Accrediting Commission.



    * American Fitness Professionals and Associates, Manahawkin, NJ
    * Antioch School of Church PLanting and Leadership Development, Ames, IA
    * Clayton College of Natural Health, Birmingham, AL
    * Nations University, Brentwood, TN
    * The Northwest Institute of Literary Arts, Freeland, WA
    * Trinity College of the Bible and Theological Seminary, Newburgh, IN
    * UNAD Florida, Weston, FL
    * University of Fairfax, Vienna, VA
     
  6. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Maybe I don't wear a tinfoil hat enough or something, but I naively assume that if DETC finds that Nations is up to snuff then they'll accredit them, and if not then they won't.

    -=Steve=-
     
  7. Havensdad

    Havensdad New Member

    Your silly remark about tinfoil hats aside, do you also believe that politicians are always seeking the public's best interests, and that no judge would ever take a bribe?

    I think you chose the correct terminology..."naive."
     
  8. Randell1234

    Randell1234 Moderator

    While I would agree that not every politician is always seeking the publics best interest, I would say that there is at least a few good people. This just seems bitter-;)
     
  9. emmzee

    emmzee New Member

    Does the DETC make more money if a school charges $500/credit rather than $250 or $0? If not, then they would have no financial advantage to not accredit them. However, I can kind of see Havensdad's point, in this way: There may be pressure from other religious schools that DETC accredits (ex, INSTE) to not accredit Nations. After all, if Nations offers their degrees for free with the same accreditation, it would be a harder sell for the schools who are charging. But hopefully if such pressure exists DETC would be professional enough to not cave into it.

    That said, I do hope that Nations gets accredited, because from what I've heard they are really trying to do something good and new in the field of online education. I also hope that they hire a better web designer ... their most recent redesign is really not much of an improvement. :( Maybe I should offer to help, not that I'm a great graphic artist or anything ...
     
  10. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    No.

    Several accredited schools are not only free, they pay their students to attend them.

    An example is the Gerstner Sloan-Kettering Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. All students receive free tuition, a financial stipend (currently $32,155/yr), subsidized housing, free medical and dental, travel expenses to attend conferences, books and journals, a laptop, membership in the New York Academy of Sciences and more.

    http://www.sloankettering.edu/gerstner/html/51505.cfm

    And there's what is probably the most unusual school in the United States, Deep Springs College. It's both an RA two-year college located in the remote desert near Death Valley and a working cattle ranch. (Every European's nightmare: American cowboy-students in stetsons on horseback!) Deep Springs is free-tuition and free room-and-board for a very highly-selected cadre of students in exchange for ranch labor. (The students rotate jobs.) When they aren't riding horses, castrating steers and discussing philosophy, the students are running the school administration and hiring their own faculty. The students make all the decisions on which new applicants to admit to their little world and they are very picky about the kind of men they want, as they should be since they are essentially handing the school over to them.

    http://www.deepsprings.edu/admissions/faqs
     
  11. JWC

    JWC New Member

    I am going to go waaaaaaaaaaaaay out on a limb and pick Trinity.
     
  12. b4cz28

    b4cz28 Active Member

    When is there next meeting.
     
  13. Havensdad

    Havensdad New Member

    But these are not really free. You have to apply for, and win the grants at Sloan, and the other requires you to work your tookus off.

    I meant a school that was open to all (non-competitive enrollment) which was accredited, and free. Sorry if I was not specific enough.
     
  14. emmzee

    emmzee New Member

    According to this page:
    Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) Meetings and Reports Information

    Accrediting Commission Meeting
    June 5-6

    DETC seem to take their time releasing the results on their own website, but sometimes the schools which receive accreditation will break the news early on their own sites. :)
     
  15. b4cz28

    b4cz28 Active Member

    Its been a few months now, but I had talked to Mac Lynn about when they might get. He told me it would be a while, they lacked the funds to push it like other schools do. You never know, I hope they get it, and soon.
     
  16. Chip

    Chip Administrator

    Well and... DETC either announces that a school was granted accreditation, or stays completely silent. So, thanks to their lack of speed and non-transparent reporting, it can be really difficult to know what's going on, since some schools will trumpet it from the treetops immediately, others will wait for the DETC announcement, and the ones who don't get it (along with DETC itself ) are generally not quick to talk about it at all.

    How hard would it be for DETC to update their website the day after the meeting at which decisions are made?
     
  17. BillDayson

    BillDayson New Member

    I think that my personal favorite of that bunch is one that I've never heard of until now - the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts in Washington state.

    http://www.writeonwhidbey.com/mfa/

    It seems that a group of Pacific Northwest writers formed the Whidbey Island Writer's Association (WIWA) in 1989 and incorporated it as a non-profit. They have hosted several writer's conferences and publish a literary journal. Now they have rolled out what they say is the first creative writing MFA program hosted by a writer's organization and not by a conventional university. The MFA appears to require two residencies a year on the island with study by DL the rest of the time.

    This thing might have potential. I think that I like it.
     
  18. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    Not to jump the gun here, but that sounds AWESOME. If they are as good as you make them sound, I hope they survive the accreditation audit.
     
  19. TCord1964

    TCord1964 New Member

    I'm actually pulling for Nations U to get accreditation. They seem to have some decent programs and I have heard nothing but good things about them.
     
  20. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator


    I don't know anything about this particular program but I'd like to point out that there are a LOT of low residency MFA-Creative Writing programs around. The fact that this one is not being offered by a convential university distinguishes it in what way?
     

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