Louisiana Baptist University

They have a new President and have developed a new website. Wisely in my opinion they have changed their PhD from a PhD in Christian Psychology to a PhD in Christian Counseling. It addresses some of the confusion Rich noted about people in counseling and with licenses claiming certain degrees (in this case with Psychology in its name). Before long they leave off the "Christian Psychology" and just say PhD in Psychology from LBU.

No sign of attempting accreditation yet.

https://lbu.edu/academics/christian-counseling

 

I do not know much about LBU, so take this with a grain of salt. Here are my first-glance observations: 1.) Their counseling approach seems to err on the side of integrationism which may not be the preference for every student. Although, it is hard to discern where they land for sure. 2.) Their PhD/DMin courses are odd. Normally, biblical languages are a prerequisite for entrance into a doctoral program, but LBU includes one language as a core part. Further, NT/OT Introductions in a doctoral program? That is very suspicious. The PhD programs include seven electives from their graduate catalog. That is, doctoral students have to pick from seven master's level courses at doctoral level tuition. Oof. 3.) The cost for their PhD runs about $13k and about $16k for their MDiv. Personally, I think that is overpriced for this institution. One of the benefits of pursuing unaccredited theological education is the significantly lower tuition than a traditionally accredited institution. That benefit is partially mitigated here.

 

Their PhD was less expensive about two years or so ago. Around 100 per credit hour and they were generous with transfer and life experience credit up to 30 credit hours. So you were only paying about $3000. I understand that they no longer allow life experience credit at the graduate and Doctoral level and have increased tuition.

I agree that $13,000 is a little up there for an unaccredited degree. Graduate Theological Foundation is worse. I believe they are now around $20 grand for their unaccredited doctorate (and increasingly esoteric school).