Accreditation & Reconization

ACCREDITATION AND RECOGNITION:

St. Paul's Seminary is not accredited by any agency which is recognized by the US Department of Education, or recognized by the State of Mississippi. We feel it is in our best interest to be honest and inform all prospective students of this, but however we do wish for all students to read this section in its entirety, before just giving up on us.

By Dr. Richard J. Hoyer

Accreditation in the United States began in the early 1960's as a means for educational institutions (colleges and universities) to demonstrate to the Federal government a basic level of quality in their institution and programs for the purpose of certifying eligibility to receive Federal funds, which include Stafford loans, grants, and research monies.

A non-governmental peer process of evaluation of post-secondary educational institutions and programs was established, developed and administered by private educational associations and commissions of regional or national scope.

The purpose for this short writing is to provide human resource managers and various other professionals with the cold hard facts about the accreditation myth that has been prevalent in our society. The findings from my research are not intended to belittle the importance of any third party quality review of a college or university program by any means. In fact, I am an accreditation evaluator for three such organizations. My only intention is to educate the general public.

Myth 1: It must be accredited to be Legitimate.

Laypersons and professional alike have been brainwashed to think that to have a legitimate college or university degree, it must be accredited. The average person and most professionals have no idea what accreditation is, they believe or have been told through out the years, that accreditation equals a legitimate degree. This is not true! In fact it takes four years for a college to become accredited, making it technically impossible to disallow unaccredited schools. With this mindset, no new college or university could ever open.

Myth 2: The degree must be a US Department of Education Recognized degree.

This falsehood is where people believe a degree must be recognized by the US Department of Education. The US Department of Education does not, and has never had a responsibility to recognize college or university degrees. There are Regional, National and Professional accrediting agencies, which are non-governmental, non-profit, peer review, third party organizations that the US Department of Education recognizes for the purpose of federal tuition loans. This has nothing to do with making the college or university legitimate. Again, not true!

Myth 3: Foreign degrees are not valid in the US and are inferior in quality to US degrees.

This falsehood is actually funny, that a degree earned outside of the United States are not as good, or not as legitimate as a regionally, national or professional "accredited" US degree. Not true! Most foreign countries require that all colleges and universities be licensed, registered and/or accredited by the Ministry of Education (a government agency), which in most cases, is much more stringent that our non-governmental accrediting process. Foreign university administrators laugh at our regional accreditation process.

Myth 4: If the college of university is not listed in my guidebook, it's not legitimate.

Everyone and their brother have written their version of guidebooks. Just like my book: ''A College Degree in your Spare Time Through Distance Learning'' is my opinion and based on my research, so are the other guidebooks that are on the market. Again, not true!

Myth 5: A state licensed college or university is not legitimate without accreditation.

Not true! Many colleges and universities throughout the US receive state license or authority to grant degrees. Some are schools are exempt from licensing based on offering only religious degrees. Others decide that the regional, national or professional accreditation (peer review from a non-governmental, non-profit, peer review agency) is not needed. Each state has their own requirements for degree granting institutes.

Myth 6: An accredited college or university is just as inexpensive as non-accredited or foreign degree programs.

The average for regional, national or professional accreditation can cost from as little as $4,000.00 to as much as $100,000 a year. Who do you think pays for that great privilege of having a degree from an accredited college or university? You do! The cost of being accredited is hidden in your tuition fees. One school I used to list in my book went from a $5,000.00 total tuition to a whopping $27,000.00 for the same four-year program after obtaining their accreditation. Not true!

Myth 7: If an education evaluation firm says the degree is not equal to a US accredited degree, it is not.

Educational evaluation firms or agencies are private companies. The opinion that they provide in a written report is just that, an opinion. These firms or agencies are not the US Department of Education and are not a governmental agency. You could send your degree to three or four of these agencies and get two to three different opinion reports. There is also an educational evaluation membership organization that several of these private companies join to (pay membership dues). They attempt to give the impression that only their members are qualified to conduct educational evaluations. Again, not true!

Myth 8: Accreditation is the only true mark of obtaining a quality education.

Well, let's think about that for a minute. All of the US public schools are accredited. Yet we are graduating 18 year olds who can't make change without a calculator and can't spell.

One man, who worked for me while I was in hospital administration, had a four-year degree from Bowling Green State University on an athletic scholarship. He asked me his first day on the job how to spell the word hospital. I pointed to the top of the report form he was filling out.

Myth 9: If my college or university belongs to several professional organizations, it makes my degree legitimate.

Any college or university can join professional and educational organizations simply by paying the necessary membership fees. It has absolutely nothing to do with legitimizing your degree. A perfect example is my membership in the American Bar Association, yet I am not a practicing attorney.

Myth 10: State Professional Licensing Boards and Professional Registrations Will Only Accept Regionally Accredited Degrees.

In many states this is true, however, there are exemptions from this requirement in some cases, and those with foreign and non-accredited degrees may only be required to obtain an educational evaluation from organizations like NAHE to satisfy the state requirements. Contact your state licensing board to get their exact requirements before enrolling in any degree program.

Myth 11: Any accreditation not recognized by the US Department of Education is useless.

Actually any third party review of a college or university is a good thing. But just remember, it is an opinion not a requirement and based on the peer review of self-established standards of a non-governmental, non-profit agency. It should not be confused with making that college or university legitimate. Reputation speaks volumes for the quality of a college or university. Many foreign Ministers of Education I have spoken to actually laugh about the US non-governmental accreditation process. The foreign accreditation requirements are much more stringent than the regional accreditation process.

(Richard J. Hoyer, Ph.D., M.D., Ed.D., has a B.S. (in Applied Psychology); a B.A. (Criminal Justice Administration); Master of Public Administration; M.S. (Environmental Safety and Health); Ph.D. (Public Safety Education); a Doctor of Education (Education Administration and Psychology); Doctor of Medicine in Psychiatry and Immunology. (Russian, not licensed to practice medicine in the USA)

Since 1972, he has been working in such diverse areas as law enforcement supervision; safety, health, industrial hygiene and environmental management; security management; and chief of an industrial fire department and hazardous materials emergency response team. He developed, trained and managed a proprietary police force consisting of 48 employees. He has worked in the area of criminal justice client behavioral health management of persons on probation, parole and work release programs and worked with county, state, and federal inmates at community based correctional facilities.

Dr. Hoyer is the former Chair of the Environmental and Safety Engineering Department at Kennedy-Western University; an Adjunct Professor for the MBA program at Newport University; an instructor at Corning Community College, for their safety (OSHA) and environmental (EPA) compliance programs; and he has taught the Educational Methodology course as an Adjunct Instructor at the New York State Academy of Fire Science. He is the former Associate Dean of Rochester Business Institute, a private business college in New York, where he taught psychology and several business related course. He designed, developed and managed the undergraduate and graduate programs in Occupational Safety and Health; Industrial Hygiene; Safety Engineering; Environmental Engineering; and Health Science for Columbia Southern University. He is the North American Educational Accreditation Commissioner for the Educational Quality Accreditation Commission (www.eqac.org) and Chief Educational Accreditation Commissioner for the Accreditation Governing Commission of the United States)

There are advantages and disadvantages with accrediting. There are many "bogus" accrediting agencies which exist to give a certificate of accreditation, for a sum of money. The fact is that any two people can form John Doe accrediting agency, go out and accredit schools, for a fee and those schools can then honestly say, "Yes we are accredited." The Problem with this is what is not said, but with what is not said and what is inferred. It is dishonest, and fraudulent to present a learning facility in such a way. (Among the many some are listed below under the subheading of "Bogus Accrediting Institutions" Please bear in mind, that does not mean it is not a good accrediting agency, but that someone decided it was not in the mainstream of "approved" and "recognized" agencies). A real problem is the tremendous amount of money and expense which must be paid to the so-called "approved" accrediting agencies, such as the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and the Association of Theological Schools. The third problem is the credibility of these "approved" agencies. They would have you believe that their stamp of approval means you will get a "quality" education, and they have "peer review" to make sure their schools give quality education.

Here is a little history on Yale, Harvard and Princeton University:

Yale was started in 1701 as a collegiate school in the home of its first Rector Abraham Pierson. It has a graduate school of arts and science and ten professional schools from law to divinity to medicine.

Harvard University, the oldest in America was founded in 1636. Harvard University, which celebrated its 350th anniversary in 1986, is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Founded 16 years after the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, the University has grown from nine students with a single master to an enrollment of more than 18,000 degree candidates, including undergraduates and students in 10 principal academic units. An additional 13,000 students are enrolled in one or more courses in the Harvard Extension School. Over 14,000 people work at Harvard, including more than 2,000 faculty. During its early years, the College offered a classic academic course based on the English university model but consistent with the prevailing Puritan philosophy of the first colonists. Although many of its early graduates became ministers in Puritan congregations throughout New England, the College was never formally affiliated with a specific religious denomination. An early brochure, published in 1643, justified the College's existence: "To advance Learning and perpetuate it to Posterity; dreading to leave an illiterate Ministry to the Churches."

Harvard was founded in 1636 as a Puritan/Congregationalist institution, and trained ministers for many years. The separate institution of the Divinity School, however, dates from 1816, when it was established as the first non-denominational divinity school in the United States (Princeton Theological Seminary, the nation's oldest graduate school of theology, having been founded as a Presbyterian institution in 1812). Nevertheless, for most of its early history, Harvard Divinity School was unofficially associated with the Unitarian church. Today its students and faculty come from a variety of religious backgrounds.

Remember that Harvard University, Yale, and Princeton, were Religious Schools started by religious people and were NOT accredited by any state or federal agency until the early 1960's.

Accreditation is found only in the United States of America, as all other countries regulate colleges and universities through governmental approval.  In the United States, accreditation is a voluntary process governed by independent accrediting agencies that are either recognized by the federal government or not.  The license to operate a college or university is regulated by the state government and is not considered accreditation.  Each state has different guidelines concerning universities, seminaries, and Bible colleges.

However if you will just look at the congressional records, the state records, you will find many, many schools which have been sanctioned by an accrediting agency recognized by the State, are turning out students who cannot read, write or do simple math. Why do you think the "No child left behind" mentality came into being? President George W. Bush had this to say:

Although education is primarily a state and local responsibility, the federal government is partly at fault for tolerating these abysmal results. The federal government currently does not do enough to reward success and sanction failure in our education system.

Since 1965, when the federal government embarked on its first major elementary-secondary education initiative, federal policy has strongly influenced America's schools. Over the years Congress has created hundreds of programs intended to address problems in education without asking whether or not the programs produce results or knowing their impact on local needs. This "program for every problem" solution has begun to add up -- so much so that there are hundreds of education programs spread across 39 federal agencies at a cost of $120 billion a year. Yet, after spending billions of dollars on education, we have fallen short in meeting our goals for educational excellence. The academic achievement gap between rich and poor, Anglo and minority is not only wide, but in some cases is growing wider still.

In reaction to these disappointing results, some have decided that there should be no federal involvement in education. Others suggest we merely add new programs into the old system.

--George W. Bush

Even more frustrating is that many private Christian Schools and Home Schooled students who graduate, are far above their peers from the public schools. So, so much for "accreditation" being the answer to a quality education.

The best accreditation an institution can have is to turn out a product which shows they have been properly educated. In other words, You the students are the real accreditation. This is what established Harvard, Yale, Princeton and the many great universities, was their product. Not, some agency.

John D. Rockefeller

Rockefeller was born in Richford, New York, second of six children to William Avery Rockefeller (November 13, 1810 - May 11, 1906) and Eliza Davison (September 12, 1813 - March 28, 1889). William was a traveling salesmen of dubious products, such as "cancer cures," a philanderer and bigamist. As he was frequently gone for extended periods, Eliza struggled to maintain a semblance of stability at home. Young Rockefeller's contemporaries described him as articulate, methodical, and discreet (Chernow 1998). When he was a boy, his family moved to western New York from Richford to Moravia and, in 1851, to Owego, where he attended Owego Academy. In 1853 his family bought a house in Strongsville, near Cleveland, Ohio. At fifteen, John entered Central High School in Cleveland. He and his brother, William, lived in a house near their school. John joined the Erie Street Baptist Church, which later became the Euclid Avenue Baptist Church, where he became a deacon at the age of nineteen and a trustee at the age of 21. He left high school in 1855 to take a business course at Folsom Mercantile College, completing the six-month course in three months.

From his very first paycheck, Rockefeller tithed ten percent of his earnings to his church. As his wealth grew, so did his giving, primarily to educational and public health causes, but also for basic science and the arts. He was advised primarily by Frederick T. Gates after 1891, and, after 1897, also by his son.

Rockefeller believed in the Efficiency Movement, arguing that "To help an inefficient, ill-located, unnecessary school is a waste...it is highly probable that enough money has been squandered on unwise educational projects to have built up a national system of higher education adequate to our needs, if the money had been properly directed to that end."

REGIONAL ACCREDITATION

There are six private corporations, referred to as agencies that provide accreditation for universities within certain regions of the country.  These agencies are recognized by the federal government and all colleges accredited by them are listed in a publication produced by the Department of Education.

Many excellent colleges and universities have chosen to become regionally accredited, while others of equal standing and reputation have chosen, for Biblical or theological reasons, to remain non-regionally accredited.

PROFESSIONAL ACCREDITATION

Almost 100 different professional accrediting associations such as the American Dental Association, The American Bar Association, the American Psychological Association, and the National Home Study Council, have been established to provide accreditation for a particular field of study or professional occupation.

Obtaining a regionally or professionally accredited degree is not important to many of the ministers who apply to International Seminary since most are in church-related occupations. Those interested in military chaplaincy, government-affiliated positions, or teaching positions in regionally-accredited colleges, are concerned with regional accreditation. These students have, in many cases, been accepted by virtue of International Seminary's position in the academic community. For example, military chaplains are required to have a Master of Divinity degree or the equivalent, from a regionally accredited seminary, or from a seminary whose credits and degrees are accepted by regionally-accredited colleges. Since International Seminary's credits have been accepted in regionally accredited colleges, a number of graduates have received appointments as military chaplains.

INDEPENDENT ACCREDITATION

The term "state accreditation" is a misnomer, as states do not provide accreditation for colleges or seminaries.

SUMMARY

Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools
Distance Education and Training Council
Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
New England Association of Schools and Colleges
North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Western Association of Schools and Colleges
The Association for Biblical Higher Education

ACCREDITING AGENCIES NOT RECOGNIZED BY THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION:

Accrediting Commission International (ACI) (in Arkansas)

Accrediting Council for Colleges and Schools (ACCS)

Accreditation Governing Commission of the United States of America

Alternative Institution Accrediting Association (AIAA)

American Accrediting Association of Theological Institutions (AATI) (in Rocky Mount, NC)

American Association of Non-traditional Colleges and Universities (AANCU)

American Association of Drugless Practitioners Commission on Accreditation (AADPCA)

American Association of International Medical Graduates (AAIMG)

American Association of Schools (AAS)

American Council of Private Colleges and Universities (ACPCU) (connected to the operator of Hamilton University now called Richardson University)

American Federation of Colleges and Schools (AFCS)

American Federation of Colleges and Seminaries(AmFed)(AFCS) (in Lakeland, FL)

American Naturopathic Medical Certification and Accreditation Board (ANMCAB)

Arizona Commission of Non-Traditional Private Postsecondary Education

Association for Distance Learning (ADLP)

Association for Online Academic Excellence (AOAE) (in Wales)

Association of Christian Colleges and Theological Schools (in Louisiana)

Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI)

Board of Online Universities Accreditation (BOUA)

Central States Consortium of Colleges & Schools (CSCCS) (connected to the operator of Breyer State University)

Central States Council on Distance Education (CSCDE)

Commission on Medical Denturitry Accreditation (COMDA)

Council for Distance Education Accreditation (CDEA)

Council for International Education Accreditation (CIEA)

Council on Medical Denturitry Education (COMDE)

Distance Education Council (DEC)

Distance Graduation Accrediting Association

Distance Learning Council of Europe (DLCE) (connected to University Degree Program)

European Committee for Home and Online Education (ECHOE) (connected to University Degree Program)

European Council for Distance and Open Learning (ECDOE) (connected to University Degree Program)

European Quality Improvement System (EQIS)

Examining Board of Natural Medicine Practitioners (EBNMP)

Global Accreditation Commission (GAC)

Higher Education Accreditation Commission (HEAC)

Higher Education Services Association (HESA) (connected to University Degree Program)

Integra Accreditation Association (IAA)

Inter-Collegiate Joint Committee on Academic Standards (ICJCAS)

Interfaith Education Ministries (IEM)

International Academic Accrediting Commission (IAAC)

International Accreditation Agency for Online Universities (IAAOU)

International Accreditation Association (IAA)

International Accreditation for Universities, Colleges and Institutes (IAUCI)

International Accrediting Association for Colleges and Universities (IAACU)

International Accrediting Commission for Postsecondary Institutions (IACPI)

International Association of Educators for World Peace (There are different groups by the same name though none are authorized accreditors.)

International Association of Universities and Schools (IAUS)

International Commission for Higher Education (ICHE)

International Commission of Open Post Secondary Education (ICOPSE)

International Council for Accrediting Alternate and Theological Studies (ICAATS) (Kerala, India)

International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICODE)

International University Accrediting Association (IUAA) (in California)

Middle States Accrediting Board (MSAB)

Midwestern States Accreditation Agency (MSAA)

National Academy of Higher Education (NAHE)

National Accreditation Association (NAA)

National Association for Private Post-Secondary Education (NAPSE)

National Association of Alternative Schools and Colleges (NAASC)

National Association of Open Campus Colleges (NAOCC)

National Association for Private Nontraditional Schools and Colleges (NAPNSC)

National Council of Schools and Colleges (NCSC)

National Commission on Higher Education (NCHE)

National Distance Learning Accreditation Council (NDLAC)

Non-Traditional Course Accreditation Body (NTCAB)

Online Christ Centered Ministries^[1]

Pacific Association of Schools and Colleges (PASC)

The Association for Online Distance Learning (TAODL)

Southern Accrediting Association of Bible Institutes and Colleges (SAABIC)

United Congress of Colleges (UCC) (Ireland, UK)

US-DETC�Nevada (not to be confused with the legitimate DETC, based in Washington DC.)

Universal Council for Online Education Accreditation (UCOEA)

Virtual University Accrediting Association (VUAA)

West European Accrediting Society (WEAS)

Western Association of Private Alternative Schools (WAPAS)

Western Council on Non-Traditional Private Post Secondary Education (WCNPPSE)

Virtual University Accrediting Association (in California) (VUAA)

World Association of Universities and Colleges (WAUC) (in Nevada)

World Online Education Accrediting Commission (WOEAC)

World-wide Accreditation Commission of Christian Educational Institutions (WACCEI)