Whitefield College

Has anyone has any experience with Whitefield College in Lakeland, FL? I understand that they are not accredited; however, I am curious what the Florida State Board of Independent Colleges and Universities (SBICU) backing does for the institution?

There has been discussion of the Seminary, but I cannot seem to find discussions about the college on the Forum. I am primarily interested in whether or not the program is respected in Christian circles for employment. Specifically for someone with an accredited A.S. from a state school.


From their website:
"Whitefield College is a member of the American Federation of Colleges and Seminaries (AmFed), and is seeking membership in the Association of Christian Schools International (ASCI)."
"The Florida State Board of Independent Colleges and Universities (SBICU) has designated AmFed as an approved educational agency, for the purpose of assuring conformity with the statutory requirements that mandate the disclosure of consumer-type information. As such the Federation represents and evaluates religious postsecondary institutions for ‘authorization to grant degrees’ in the State of Florida."

 

Does the SBICU even still exist? I had never heard of it before and could find very little information about it on the web ... according to an old DI thread here: "The State Board of Independent Colleges and Universities is now the Commission for Independent Education."

Checking the CIE's website, I don't see Whitefield College on the list:
https://app1.fldoe.org/cie/SearchSchools/

AmFed is listed as an "unrecognized accreditation association of higher learning":
List of unrecognized accreditation associations of higher learning - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
They seem to have no website that I can find.

ASCI is fairly well known but it is not government recognized and IMHO isn't worth much ... they seem to offer both "accreditation" and "membership" which are two different things. "Membership" in ASCI (which Whitefield is seeking, not accreditation) has very minimal requirements:
http://www.acsi.org/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=sTHRkEnO0rs%3d&tabid=613

 

Check out Nations U, it’s cheap and they may have DETC by January. Nations runs about $100 a year and it is respected.

 

*blinks* I live less than 30 minutes from Lakeland and have never heard of this school... That doesn't necessarily mean anything, since it looks like they don't have a campus. Still, I'm also a homeschooler and I have never heard homeschoolers talk about it, either.

 

Drive by there, let us know if its just a Mail Box Etc. or a campus.

 

Probably don't need to drive there, what with Google Maps and all ...

1347 Ariana Street Lakeland, FL 33803 - Google Maps

If they're there, they must be off the main road.

 

I think I might try to drive by it anyway at some point - even with Google maps - just out of curiosity. We almost never go in to Lakeland. When we need something we either go to Haines City or Kissimmee, or, if necessary, Orlando, but we do sometimes head that direction instead, usually to meet other homeschoolers for a field trip.

There's a Baptist College in Haines City called Landmark Baptist College and it's in an old hotel. Every time I drive by it, I think - "Oh, look, there's the Tower of Terror College." I know that's really so unfair of me, but it reminds me of it so much, especially when you see it at night. I mean, I know they don't look *that* similar, but there's something about being several stories tall, but very narrow... *shrug*

Polk Hotel - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Anyway, if I get a chance to go by Whitefield soon, I'll let you know what I find.

 

I must say your wit made me think you were much older. I had to re-read the fact you were home schooled. Seems to me you are a much needed breath of fresh air after the last homeschooler we had posting here. So I take it your in high school?

 

LOL! Um... I should've said "homeschooling mom" instead of "homeschooler." I'm 40. High school was a couple of decades ago.

 

Lol...I'm sorry!

 

haha..... I know right, crazy! Your killing me, my side hurts.

 

Heh. Google only shows a street view of outside my neighborhood. But yes, Google can be wrong. They seem to think, for instance, that my house is the house across the street. (Zillow has it wrong, too, though, so it's clearly something to do with inaccurate records.)

@b4cz28 - No worries. My bad for not being clearer.

 

This college is actually associated with the Church of Christian Liberty.
I only know this because I was homeschooled(high school only) through the Christian Liberty Academy CLASS program,which is their K-12 program.

I can vouch that the high school curiculum is pretty rigorous,their college ???

 

A bit more about Whitefield ...... you might take at look at this link:
Whitefield College - Conservapedia

The school is linked to the the RPC, or Reformed Presbyterian Church. While a credible school, it should be the choice of those seeking RPC ordination, or others interested only in religious / theological education, especially from a Reformed perspective.

 

So, I haven't actually forgotten about this. My daughter and I are going to the Lakeland Mall tomorrow to get her a few new outfits before our co-op starts up again. It's the first time since this topic came up that I've had a need to head there. I figure we'll see if I can find the school (or lack thereof?) and take a couple of photos.

Just keep the following in mind. My husband describes me as thus:

"Couldn't find her way out of a paper bag with a flashlight and compass."

That is sadly 100% accurate. So, it may be that I just get us hopelessly lost. And since my car has no AC, I don't want to spend too much time driving in circles. Yeech.

 

We found it.

Considering we didn't even leave the mall until 8:45, so we were driving around in the dark, I'm pretty proud of myself. Hee.

The pictures you can see on the Google Street View feature are completely wrong. For some reason, even though Google has the address listed correctly, the pictures is shows are for the 1500 block of Ariana Street, not the 1300 block where Whitefield is.

I did take some photos. So, if the OP or anyone else really wants to know what Whitefield looks like (or anything about the surrounding area), feel free to PM me.

 

Lol I forgot all about this thread...post the pic's on here. So is it a one room school?

 

The school is in a strip center, with its church next door.


Apparently my pics are too large to upload here.

Here's one:
WHITEFIELD COLLEGE AND THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY

I have two more, taken from further back in the parking lot, if anyone wants to see the surrounding area.

Anyway, as you can see from the photo, I couldn't see anything *inside* the building, so I can't tell you anything more about it.