I have just joined this forum today but I have been viewing it for information on online schools for some time now. About 18 months ago I actually read some threads and was discouraged from enrolling at the Trinity College of the Bible theological Seminary. I have a MA from the Melbourne College of Divinity, which allows for full completion online now. What do you guys think of the MCD degrees? and also has anything changed about the Trinity college of the Bible? and do you have any good suggessions for an online doctoral degree that is reasonably priced?
Melbourne College of Divinity is a good school from all that I have read. Trinity College of the Bible theological Seminary, I don't know.
There are a lot of schools named "Trinity." To be sure that we respond to the specific one that holds your interest it would be best if you would post a link to that school.
Thanks for the replies. The Trinity school that i am refering to is Trinity College of the Bible Online Theological Seminary.
The school's website says they were founded in 1969 and went to a DL delivery system in 1978. So, they've been "working toward accreditation since 1969?" Is that like saying that I've been working towards becoming a billionaire since 1984? I know that the topic of accreditation and religious schools is charged with emotion but, to my way of thinking, someone has to have a very compelling reason for choosing an unaccredited degree program over an accredited alternative. Most posters can't articulate such a (convincing) compelling reason.
There is no reason for any school religious or not, not to get accredited. I would stay away from this one. There other schools out there. I went to Nationsu.org. I did the program for free, they are unaccredited but at the cost I did not care.
That particular Trinity has a rather complicated past. They are attempting DETC accreditation. Based on past history there are better options. South African Theological Seminary (SATS) is by all reports a solid though new theological school. I believe their doctorate is around 3 or 4 thousand US dollars for the entire program and is "accredited". This would seem to be a better option in terms of reputation, the fact that it is accredited and cost. South African Theological Seminary
I kind of thought there was a caveat that some religious schools don't really want accreditation because a religious school would shy away from the outside interference imposed by a 3rd party. If the school is being run by a group or church respected by people subscribing to the religion and/or denomination I would consider that enough to have value. Consider Bob Jones university which did not attempt to achieve accreditation until 2004 and was accepted by 2005. The reason was to avoid outside involvement in school policy, a reasonable concern for a religious institution.
While I agree in principle with that viewpoint, and I don't think anyone would argue that Bob Jones is, academically at least, an excellent school, the problem is that the religious argument becomes a loophole one can drive a truck through. Every substandard and unwonderful school can claim to be "religious" and use the "Oh, we don't apply for accreditation because we believe it would compromise our integrity"... and many of them do. Steve Levicoff's excellent (and now out of print) book "Name It and Frame It" talked about religious degree mills and this very problem. And Bob Jones rightfully didn't apply for accreditation because they had some really ass-backwards policies; among other things, they were racist as hell. I remember hearing a story, perhaps even here at degreeinfo, about a mixed-race student (half white/half black) who enrolled and was dating different girls (some white, some black) and was called into the dean's office because, apparently, interracial dating was prohibited. When the student protested that he was mixed race, he was told to choose one race to identify with and stick to that one. There were some other rather wacky things they did, and I suspect that's why they waited so long to apply for accreditation. One would assume that they eventually made an economic decision that changing some of their wackier policies to qualify for accreditation made sense.
Oh, I loathe and despise Bob Jones. I was actually ranting about them on my facebook today which is why I even know this stuff. They didn't allow interracial dating until 2000--and with great reluctance! They didn't desegregate until 1975, and they didn't apologize until 2008. They are still greatly stifling their students in other ways to this day. That said, I don't believe that is the only reason they did not seek accreditation because the issue and that school goes back to when segregation was the norm. I simply brought them up as an example of a prominent and accepted Christian school that had this philosophy. One should still be vigilant in searching for the right school. My post was not intended to defend all unaccredited Christian institutions.
