S/O Christian College threads - a couple of questions

[Hoggirl]

1) What is the definition of a "Christian college?" I am just wondering what criteria is used to classify a school as "Christian.

 

2) Accreditation: My understanding is that some of the colleges listed in the

Christian college stat list are nationally rather than regionally accredited. We had a discussion at a home school moms' meeting about the difference and my understanding was that the credits from regionally accredited schools were more widely accepted (in a transfer situation - not sure about admission to graduate school????) than credits from a nationally accredited school. Just sort of the idea that national accreditation wasn't as desirable??? If this is wrong, PLEASE correct me! I am wondering if this was a factor in your decision-making process about where your dc would attend college.

 

3) Is there a list on-line somewhere of how individual colleges are accredited? To see whether they are nationally or regionally accredited?

Edited April 12, 2010 by Hoggirl
typos

[RegGuheert]

1) What is the definition of a "Christian college?" I am just wondering what criteria is used to classify a school as "Christian.

All Christian colleges are different, so, in a sense, they all define it differently. I suppose accreditation by a Christian accrediting organization may be involved, but I am not sure.

2) Accreditation: My understanding is that some of the colleges listed in the Christian college stat list are nationally rather than regionally accredited. We had a discussion at a home school moms' meeting about the difference and my understanding was that the credits from regionally accredited schools were more widely accepted (in a transfer situation - not sure about admission to graduate school????) than credits from a nationally accredited school. Just sort of the idea that national accreditation wasn't as desirable??? If this is wrong, PLEASE correct me! I am wondering if this was a factor in your decision-making process about where your dc would attend college.

We have the same understanding that regional accreditation is better than national accreditation. This issue did affect our decision-making process.

 

Please note that there are also accreditations for the degree programs that are important. For instance, it tends to be better to attend a program which is accredited by the American Chemical Society (ACS) for chemistry or biochemistry than one that is not. In our case, this was a benefit of Geneva over Liberty, as Geneva's chemistry program has been ACS approved for over 50 years and their biochemistry just received ACS certification while Liberty's programs are not ACS certified. Still, we decided that Liberty would better serve DD17's goals as a pre-med school for a variety of reasons.

3) Is there a list on-line somewhere of how individual colleges are accredited? To see whether they are nationally or regionally accredited?

U.S. Department of Education Accreditation System Search

[TravelingChris]

I think that there are different meanings for different people. I see two main groups- colleges that are tied to denominations- UMC, Presbyterian, Baptist, RC, etc and then non denominational colleges that proclaim they are Christian. In either group, you can find conservative colleges and ones which are much more liberal.

 

My dd doesn't feel the need to go to a college with a denominational tie but does believe she should go to a college with a good acceptance of Christians which denominational ties do help with. OUt of the colleges she is most interested in right now, all but one are denominationally tied and the last one used to be but separated and still has plenty of Christian students attending. She is an old earth creationist and is not going into either Biology or Geology so there are no concerns there one way or another.

[creekland]

1) What is the definition of a "Christian college?" I am just wondering what criteria is used to classify a school as "Christian.

 

I didn't come across any one thing that a school had to do to call itself Christian. Some belong to a Christian organization, others don't, but even then, it doesn't seem to have any correlation with what is taught or what is expected of students. It seems to be a self-labeling situation. Some, of course, are associated with denominations, but even then, their college doesn't always seem to match what the denomination teaches.

 

It took a lot of searching (for me) to come up with Christian colleges that I didn't mind if my son attended. I think that will be the same for most people. When it comes to our relationship with God, well, it's just more important than other issues. And, with that, I wanted a higher academic school that fit my youngster academically and was well-respected by graduate schools should he want to further his education later.

 

Christian colleges vary as much (or more) than churches (and worshippers) do - from ultra liberal to ultra conservative and everything in between. Some want to educate Christian students and have only Christian profs. Some have only Christian profs. Some don't care about either. Most require a Bible class or two and offer or require chapel during the week. All end up "right" for a certain number of students each year - just as their secular counterparts do. There's just one additional component to consider than with their secular counterparts - faith teaching.

 

2) Accreditation: My understanding is that some of the colleges listed in the

Christian college stat list are nationally rather than regionally accredited. We had a discussion at a home school moms' meeting about the difference and my understanding was that the credits from regionally accredited schools were more widely accepted (in a transfer situation - not sure about admission to graduate school????) than credits from a nationally accredited school. Just sort of the idea that national accreditation wasn't as desirable??? If this is wrong, PLEASE correct me! I am wondering if this was a factor in your decision-making process about where your dc would attend college.

 

3) Is there a list on-line somewhere of how individual colleges are accredited? To see whether they are nationally or regionally accredited?

 

The only issues I've come across are with those few that call themselves colleges but aren't accredited (like with Pensacola Christian College). Credits from those generally don't transfer to other places. Places we considered were regionally accredited, so I'm just not "up" on the others. With PCC my info comes from a person I know that went there for a year - then needed to redo everything. That school is WAY too conservative for us anyway, but even if it fits ones "flavor" people ought to know credits aren't likely to transfer.

[LibrarianMom]

1) What is the definition of a "Christian college?" I am just wondering what criteria is used to classify a school as "Christian.

 

There are several definitions of a Christian college. Some Christian colleges are more rightly described as a Bible college. Although they may have other majors, the main emphasis of all degree and majors is ministry in the church or serving in para-church organizations. They will often state that all students major in Bible and something else often requiring students to have 30 hours of Bible credits.

 

Other Christian colleges are liberal arts colleges where the Bible/theology is taught and there are some manner of faith acceptance by faculty/staff/students. However, you can major if many of the same things you can at other colleges such as the sciences. There can be a great deal of variation in how Christian a Christian liberal arts college is. They have varying requirements on how many Bible courses students must take, service hours, chapel attendance, etc. Some of these colleges require students to take a great deal of Bible while others simply require a Bible overview course.

 

There are also some colleges that are in-between. They require the 30 hours of Bible credits, but also have majors in non-ministry related subjects but not the entire gamut of majors.

 

2) Accreditation: My understanding is that some of the colleges listed in the

Christian college stat list are nationally rather than regionally accredited. We had a discussion at a home school moms' meeting about the difference and my understanding was that the credits from regionally accredited schools were more widely accepted (in a transfer situation - not sure about admission to graduate school????) than credits from a nationally accredited school. Just sort of the idea that national accreditation wasn't as desirable??? If this is wrong, PLEASE correct me! I am wondering if this was a factor in your decision-making process about where your dc would attend college.

 

Many Bible colleges are accredited by ABHE (Association of Bible Higher Education) which a national accrediting association that has been around for a long time. A more recent player is TRACS (Transnational Association of Christian Schools). Many of the Christian liberal arts college are member of the CCCU (Council for Christian Colleges & Universities) but it isn't an accrediting body.

 

The regional accrediting bodies are ones like North Central, also known as HLC, SACS, Middle States, and I'm certain there are others. These bodies accredit colleges based on their academic standards and are the accrediting bodies for state universities, private liberal arts colleges, and community colleges. Regional accreditation makes it much easier to transfer credits although not foolproof.

 

There are also some accrediting bodies that are tied to majors such as NCATE for teacher education programs.

 

Many Christian college are accredited by more than one association. For example, my employer is accredited by ABHE, ATS (American Theological Schools for seminaries), and the Higher Learning Commission. This ensures they offer enough Bible courses and service hours to be authentically Biblical but also that they are offering academically rigorous courses that will transfer to other institutions and their degree ought to be accepted by graduate schools. However, some colleges will see the word "Christian" in an institution's name and decide that college isn't academic even with regional accreditation. For example, I have a former student who is now also a librarian who was admitted to library school on probationary status even though he had a 4.0 from his undergraduate and graduate degrees at our institution.

 

3) Is there a list on-line somewhere of how individual colleges are accredited? To see whether they are nationally or regionally accredited?

 

You can go to any accrediting organizations website to view a list of member institutions and the accrediting standards. Most institutions should list their accreditation status as well.

 

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

[Guest Katia]

The only issues I've come across are with those few that call themselves colleges but aren't accredited (like with Pensacola Christian College). Credits from those generally don't transfer to other places. Places we considered were regionally accredited, so I'm just not "up" on the others. With PCC my info comes from a person I know that went there for a year - then needed to redo everything. That school is WAY too conservative for us anyway, but even if it fits ones "flavor" people ought to know credits aren't likely to transfer.

 

My understanding is that this is also true of Bob Jones University. We know a young man that went there for 3 years, didn't graduate, and tried to transfer to a local university. There wasn't a college or university around that would accept BJU's credits as they weren't accredited. So, he still doesn't have his college degree, but instead has worked for four years to pay off his private loans (not federal, as BJU won't accept them he said) to BJU.

 

Now, if he wants his degree, he has to start over at square one as a freshman at an accredited college/uni. That is just so sad.

 

Oh, and as far as employers are concerned, BJU and PCC's degrees are not considered college/uni degrees. We know a young man that graduated from PCC and he finally started his own business as no place would hire him (said his degree was worthless).

 

This has been our experience and understanding with these two colleges/universities. Just something to keep in mind. For the young man that attended PCC, he knew and understood this from the outset, but wanted the PCC education. For some people, it is worth it. For others, maybe not.

[Hoggirl]

My understanding is that this is also true of Bob Jones University. We know a young man that went there for 3 years, didn't graduate, and tried to transfer to a local university. There wasn't a college or university around that would accept BJU's credits as they weren't accredited. So, he still doesn't have his college degree, but instead has worked for four years to pay off his private loans (not federal, as BJU won't accept them he said) to BJU.

 

Now, if he wants his degree, he has to start over at square one as a freshman at an accredited college/uni. That is just so sad.

 

Oh, and as far as employers are concerned, BJU and PCC's degrees are not considered college/uni degrees. We know a young man that graduated from PCC and he finally started his own business as no place would hire him (said his degree was worthless).

 

This has been our experience and understanding with these two colleges/universities. Just something to keep in mind. For the young man that attended PCC, he knew and understood this from the outset, but wanted the PCC education. For some people, it is worth it. For others, maybe not.

 

Patrick Henry is accredited by the same organization as Bob Jones.

 

Part of the reason that I posted this in the first place, was I had NO idea about the accreditation thing. I wanted to verify that the information was accurate (I was pretty sure it was as the mom in our group is very knowledgeable), but I also wanted to put this "out there" in case people were not aware of this.

 

My alma mater (Hendrix College) has a Methodist affiliation, but I sure wouldn't call it a Christian school.

[RegGuheert]

Patrick Henry is accredited by the same organization as Bob Jones.

In 2002, Patrick Henry College was denied accreditation by the American Academy for Liberal Education, which is a "hybrid" accrediting agency, because they teach Biblical creation to the exclusion of evolutionism. They attained national accreditation on April 17, 2007 from the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools.

 

The end result is that Patrick Henry College is one of the most difficult Christian colleges to gain admissions into, they are one of the most expensive, there are fewer choices for financial aid, they excel in many areas of academic study, but they are not regionally accredited.

 

You can study either government or classical liberal arts. Personally, I cannot imagine sending a child to PHC unless they want to become a lawyer focused on government.

My alma mater (Hendrix College) has a Methodist affiliation, but I sure wouldn't call it a Christian school.

Many, many colleges that we reviewed with denominational affiliations were like this. It was to the point where a denominational affiliation became a red flag for us. Edited April 14, 2010 by RegGuheert

[K-FL]

Many, many colleges that we reviewed with denominational affiliations were like this. It was to the point where a denominational affiliation became a red flag for us.

 

Especially if the denomination is a liberal one. They are like wolves in sheep's clothing to us.

[74Heaven]

We called PCC and we were told upfront that the courses wouldn't transfer to other colleges and that their teaching (and I think nursing) degrees were accepted by the state of Florida and their graduates could teach/nurse in FL schools/hospitals but in order to teach in say Nebraska - the graduates would need to get a job in FL, get their teacher certification (nursing or whatever?) and then another state would almost certainly (no guarantees from PCC) allow them to transfer their certification and they could teach in the new state.

 

This is all kind of "general info" from me because I wasn't taking notes and verifying every bit of info from PCC but I thought it might be good to mention that PCC was upfront with us about this fact.

 

And altho they explained what "other graduates" had done; they made sure we knew there were no guarantees. Also, we know a local teacher personally who went to PCC and then retook her whole coursework with a national university (online) to get her state teaching certificate. So, yes, did the whole B.A. over... And this particular teacher also said something to the effect, that she felt it was "God's will for her to go to PCC; she loved it there and she doesn't regret it at all."

 

Btw, our pastor thinks "a year of Bible college" is good for every young student as preparation for the challengers of the 18-25yo years....

 

lisaj

[creekland]

Especially if the denomination is a liberal one. They are like wolves in sheep's clothing to us.

 

One really has to check out the individual school though. Some of the very liberal are independent. Grove City, one of the ones considered very conservative (at least socially), is PC-USA - one I always considered a liberal denomination. It makes one wonder sometimes...

 

I almost ditched the one my son is going to (Covenant) because they are PCA (Conservative branch of Presbyterian) and I thought it would be a bad match since we aren't reformed/Calvinist, etc. That said, yes, the teachings in his Bible classes will be from that point of view, but they don't consider him (or others not of their denomination) heathens because they Biblically disagree.

 

I, personally, think checking out Christian colleges takes far more effort than their secular counterparts due to so many of our varying beliefs. It's impossible to look at names or brochures or denominational affiliation (or lack thereof) and figure out the whole picture. What has been most helpful for me has been talking with students and/or their parents to see what is actually taught in class or expected of students. I also like google searching their names (college names) and seeing what comes up beyond their web site - good, bad, and ugly.

 

Then, of course, one has to add in the academic majors, level, and ability to progress toward ones desired future. Then one has to add in location, size, fit, and all those other things. Fun, fun!

 

I will say... I've discovered there are FAR more Christian colleges than I ever imagined existed... and I'm certain I haven't heard of them all yet.

[K-FL]

:iagree: It's always confusing as to how they're actually connected to the denomination. Eckerd College says they are "related by covenant to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)" ---what ever that means in the big scheme of things.