St. Augustine College of SA to Close

Welp, after jumping through the hoops of enrolling (including the convoluted SAQA process), getting my proposal approved, finding a supervisor, and beginning research, St. Augustine College will close due to financial considerations.

 

Sad news. It appeared academically solid, distinctive, and low-priced.

 

That sucks. It appeared to be a nice option for theological and philosophical studies.

 

Wow. That sucks. I'm really sorry I u and others have been derailed, and I'm sorry for others who may have considered a school like this but no longer have the option.

 

I just did some quick reading. I was unaware, but it looks like it closed because it lost its accreditation with SACS over financial and other issues. That's too bad.

 

St Augustine College of South Africa is a Roman Catholic-affiliated distance learning principally graduate school based in suburban Johannesburg. Your reading describes an unrelated university with a similar name, Saint Augustine's University, an Episcopal Church-affiliated historically black residential college in Raleigh, North Carolina. Saint Augustine's University in Raleigh is experiencing financial and accreditation distress but still operating.

 

Thank you for the clarification. Much appreciated.

 

I cannot understand why anyone with no connection to a given college or school should care if that school closes. It makes zero sense.

But when the New College of California and its CalBar accredited law school folded in 2007, I nearly went into mourning over it. It's not that I even agreed with their extreme Left ideology. I don't. I never visited them, never walked their storied halls, never had any part of their institution intrude into my life.

But there was just something about the idea of such a school that made me want it to succeed.

 

I felt that way about Clark's Summit University (formerly Baptist Bible College). I'm still devastated over it. I never took a class there and never stepped foot on the campus, but I liked the school a lot. It seemed to be doing things right. It had RA and ABHE accreditation, had attractive programs at a reasonable rate, and it's counseling programs, licensure and nonlicensure, seemed outstanding. Though they were a Christian, evangelical college, they weren't Liberty in terms of the extreme politics and perspectives, and dealing with them on the phone and email the way I did at several points over the years, the school just really seemed grounded, solid, supportive. It's really a shame.

 

Does St Aug of SA allow distance Masters or Doctorates by US resident?

 

They did if a US resident ran their educational credentials through SAQA and gained admission. Same as all other SA universities.

 

Are there any comparable Roman Catholic colleges or universities in the region that are friendly to online or distance learning students?

 

Not at the doctoral level. The only other private higher education institution that is legal in SA is SATS (that offers doctoral degrees anyway). There are other private schools, but these depend on a validating university. Not a real drawback, but I personally liked the academic emphases of St Augustine. SATS is no doubt a great school, I didn’t particularly find their supervision model too compelling.

As an aside, I applied to two RA PhD programs just recently including the interviews. Both took me. One even allowed me to transfer my doctoral-level ThM coursework so I’d end up with having one seminar (!) and the dissertation. However, I’m bent on studying internationally. So I’m looking. Recommendations appreciated— not just in SA.