Click here for answers
to some frequently asked questions about accreditation.
Dear Students and Parents,
Many of you have
asked about or expressed concern regarding our accreditation
status. The decision of whether or not to pursue accreditation
is one of the most critical decisions that a new school must
face. This is a decision that the board and administration discussed
and investigated at length. As a result, the board directed the
administration to pursue accreditation through the Association
for Biblical Higher Education (www.abhe.org), formerly the Association
for Accreditation of Bible Colleges. We entered into Applicant
status in February, 2007. A normal timeline with ABHE is to be
granted Candidate status in 4 years and Accredited status in
8 years from Applicant status. We are unable to make any predictions
or guarantees regarding future accreditation because that is
up to ABHE to grant. If we follow the “typical” timeframe,
we would be granted Candidate status in 2011 and Accredited status
in 2015.
ABHE is a “real” accrediting agency, approved
by the US Department of Education (USDE) and the Council for
Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). ABHE has been in existence
since 1947 and has maintained recognition with the USDE since
they began recognizing accrediting agencies in 1957. A full description
of ABHE’s history and credentials is available at their
website (noted above). We chose ABHE because we believe they
provide the best option for helping us to maintain high academic
standards while also sharing our Christian faith.
One of the
main reasons that people ask about accreditation is to know if
EBC is a “real” school. In other words, is the education
at EBC comparable to other institutions? From the beginning,
the board, administration, and faculty have been committed to
providing exceptional education. All of our professors meet the
requirements demanded by accreditation (a Master’s degree
or higher in the area of instruction or extensive life experience).
We get regular feedback from students who have attended other
institutions that the both the educational rigor and the quality
of teaching are very high.
There are three main benefits that
accreditation provides for students:
1) Access to Federal and
State financial aid programs
2) Easier transfer of credits
3)
Degrees accepted by graduate institutions
Until we are accredited,
we are doing everything we can to make these issues as minor
as possible. We are keeping our tuition cost as low as possible
to decrease the need for Financial Aid. We also try to make the
transfer of credits and acceptance of degrees as easy as possible
by offering a quality education. It should be noted that #2 and
#3 are always at the prerogative of the institution that is accepting
the student. Even accreditation does not “guarantee” these
things.
However, the main reason we chose to pursue
accreditation is not the benefits that it provides to our students,
but rather the accountability that it provides to the school
in three primary areas:
1) A comprehensive and specific mission
statement (What do we want to accomplish?)
2) A comprehensive
assessment process (Are we accomplishing it?)
3) A planning process
in response to #2 above (How can we better accomplish the things
we’re
not?)
We believe this process of self-examination is a healthy
one for any organization serious about accomplishing long-term
goals. We have already seen the benefits of this process within
our organization. It has been a growing experience that we are
thankful for.
I’d also like to clear up a couple of common
misconceptions. First, the term “full accreditation” is
a meaningless phrase because there is no such thing as partial
accreditation. An institution is either accredited or not. Second,
schools are accredited, not degrees. Therefore, questions like “will
my degree be accredited?” don’t make sense and should
actually be “will my degree be granted from an accredited
institution?” Third, the question of whether degrees will
be “grandfathered” also doesn’t make sense.
This should be obvious in light of the previous point. The real
question is “how will my degree be viewed after my school
is accredited if I received it when the school wasn’t accredited?” The
answer to that question is that it depends on the context; if
you are applying to another school, then it will depend on the
registrar of that school. Most people in higher education understand
that the accreditation process is a lengthy one that requires
ongoing improvement, and therefore they understand that the education
offered at an institution in the years immediately preceding
accreditation should be comparable to that after achieving that
status.
The administration and Board of Trustees of
Eternity Bible College are committed to the accreditation process.
We trust that this roadmap and our actions thus far will provide
you with a good picture of where we are headed and our commitment
to get there. If you have any specific questions, please feel
free to contact me directly at  jwalker@eternitybiblecollege.com.
In His Service,
Joshua Walker
President
Eternity Bible College
|
