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Advice on college accreditation

Acts-dicted Posts: 8065 **7/13/16 4:12 pm**

OTCP will like this one.

The Bible College I attended (Jimmy Swaggart) lost its accreditation status sometime after I graduated in 1988. Because it had some accreditation at the time I attended there, many schools have accepted credits from there when various attendees of that school have sought to continue their education elsewhere. I even got a job as a social worker and survived an audit by the Florida Dept of Children and Families when they rechecked my educational qualifications several months after I had been hired.

Sadly, the school I applied to recently to work on a Masters program decided to reject my credits based on JSBC's current lack of accreditation.

So should I just give up on pursuing a Master's program? Should I just start over from scratch and get a whole new Bach's degree?
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Hon. Dr. in Acts-celeratology Posts: 6385 **7/13/16 7:40 pm**

I would start from scratch Res from a good established accredited school. That will stay with you for life , never be questioned by anyone reputable and can be used across the board should you decide another career choice.

My Thoughts...

Acts-celerater Posts: 875 **7/14/16 8:07 am**

Accreditation is very important as you know. I have completed one BS, one MA, one M.Div, and one D.Min. - all accredited.

Option One: I have a colleague who has the same degrees, but his original BS was not accredited but highly valued. He went to Lee and asked if they would accept credits from that school, and they accepted about half. He transferred them in and completed his BS at Lee. Now he does not list the original school at all because he has an accredited bachelors degree from Lee.

Option Two: Find a graduate school that will accept the degree from JSBC and complete an accredited MS or MA. I am quite certain that an accredited Master's will take precedent over the JSBC degree. If asked when applying for a job, your answer should be "they were fully accredited when I received my degree." If they push back, ask "if Penn State were to lose it's accreditation today, does that nullify the degrees of the thousands of people who have degrees from that college?" Of course the answer is NO. Best wishes.

Re: Advice on college accreditation

Friendly Face Posts: 496 **7/14/16 10:08 am**

I work in Higher Education. Don't give up just yet. Have you tried appealing the ruling. Most universities have either a formal or informal appeals process that can be surprisingly effective for those that try to get exceptions from "official policy". Provide evidence that the college was accredited at the time you graduated! I cannot emphasise that enough!

I don't know if you know Dr. James Stone, but I know he was at JSBC for a while after leaving his post as Academic Vice President at Tomlinson College. I would propose that you contact him for advice. Contact the former Registrar at JSBC. Get them to write letters of support.

Regarding the appeals process, contact the admissions office to see what the official appeals process is. If there is no "official" process, try the unofficial channels. See who the Admissions office reports and arrange a meeting with that official (with supporting information in hand). If that fails, go up to the next level, ultimately to the President. You can get amazing results with this process.

The stakes are too high to not pursue all channels before the arduous task of starting over!!!!!

Friendly Face Posts: 496 **7/14/16 10:11 am**

I am no longer in contact with James, but last I remember he was still in Louisana. His brother Duke, is pastor at the Church of God of Prophecy in Chattanooga. I can't recall the name of the church, but contacting COGOP HQ should help find Duke at least. I suspect they may have contact info for James. But, they certainly would for Duke.

I know Duke's Church use to be Hickory Valley COGOP, but I seem to think they may have changed the name.

Acts-dicted Posts: 8065 **7/14/16 10:54 am**

Re: My Thoughts...

Acts-dicted Posts: 8065 **7/14/16 10:55 am**

Acts-pert Poster Posts: 15570 **7/14/16 11:52 am**

While some continue to wail/bemoan my stance on the necessity of legitimacy in matters of accreditation/academics/education, RS's scenario is one of myriad such cases confirming why I have such a stance.

FGMinister is to be commended for his solid resume of legitimately accredited academic credentials.

JSBC was never regionally accredited. The school was pursuing regional accreditation, but after Swaggart's debacle the pursuit was dropped.

Most legitimately accredited schools do/will not accept unaccredited degrees/courses. Periodically, you find a small denominational/independent religious school that has a matriculation agreement with an accredited school in which a certain number of courses will be accepted.

Those who suggest that accreditation is simply a "money racket" don't know what they're talking about. Yes, there is a cost. The cost covers the personnel/capacity to maintain certain standards of academic integrity and substantive academic training so that in the end, the faculty/graduates have a legitimate foundation of which to be proud and from which to operate.

If all one wants is to learn something, read a book, attend a conference, or pursue self study. Why obtain a piece of paper that is for all intents/purposes of no value other than saying, "Look what I've got." And in all honesty, to those who know the difference, the integrity of the person who takes a short cut through Mill Village (degree mill degree) goes down a notch. If they aren't honest in little things, can they be so in larger matters (cf. Jesus)?

C'mon, guys, if you're going to do something please pursue it with integrity.

Now to RS, all you can do is apply to some masters programs and see if they will accept you, or, take the JSBC credits and try to gain admittance into a regionally accredited undergrad program, then your degree will be legitimately accredited.

Acts-dicted Posts: 8065 **7/14/16 11:58 am**

Acts-pert Poster Posts: 15570 **7/14/16 12:03 pm**

Acts-dicted Posts: 8065 **7/14/16 12:37 pm**

Acts-pert Poster Posts: 16646 **7/14/16 1:32 pm**

Try Liberty U.
They may take it.
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Whether you like it or not, learn to love it, because its the best thing going today!

Acts-pert Poster Posts: 15570 **7/14/16 5:38 pm**

Acts-dicted Posts: 8065 **7/14/16 7:45 pm**

Acts-pert Poster Posts: 15570 **7/14/16 10:19 pm**

Friendly Face Posts: 496 **7/15/16 8:31 am**

Well said, OT.

RS, to latch on to the good advice of OT, if your "appeals" process fails, try transferring to another accredited undergrad program. Normally, one can get a degree from the other school by taking 30 hours on campus. That would be far better than starting from nothing. See what major would allow you to complete it with 30 hours with your transfer credits. Since you would need to take 30 to 45 hours anyway, I would seriously consider a major, other than the one you already have, to broaden your educational experience and enhance your future employment opportunitities.

Good catch, OT, I hadn't thought of transferring to undergrad!

Friendly Face Posts: 496 **7/15/16 8:33 am**

Hopefully, SACS may have record of that as well. But, the previous JSBC administration may have it.

Golf Cart Mafia Consigliere Posts: 3174 **7/15/16 12:41 pm**

Don't give up. What some schools will make you do is take a certain numbers of classes as a probationary student before being admitted. One person I know had to take three or four undergraduate classes and then was accepted into a masters program at Lee University. There are ways to get around these limitations. Also, If there was some recognition at the time of your graduation, they can't penalize you because the school is no longer accredited. It works the other way too. If you graduate from an unaccredited school that later is recognized, it doesn't retroactively benefit the person.
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Romanos 8:37
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