Association of Christian Colleges and Theological Schools, ACCTS, is a Christian

theological Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

"approval" board that is not recognized as an educational accreditor by the

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government. It began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare was split into the Department ...

(USDE). It is located in the state of

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

."Administration" on California Pacific School of Theology website
archived May 26, 2007 Gary Wilson is the current president. ACCTS holds no government license or official recognition. In the United States, recognition by the USDE or the

Council for Higher Education Accreditation The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) is a United States organization of degree-granting colleges and universities. It identifies its purpose as providing national advocacy for academic quality through accreditation in order t ...

(CHEA) confers an academic legitimacy on accrediting organizations. A

higher education Higher education is tertiary education leading to award of an academic degree. Higher education, also called post-secondary education, third-level or tertiary education, is an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completi ...

institution must be accredited by an agency recognized by either the USDE or CHEA in order for the institution and its students to be eligible for government grants and student financial assistance. In 2004, a correspondent or associate level membership could be obtained in six weeks for $100 and $200 respectively. The group charged an annual fee of $300 for "full institutional approval", which it says included a site visit and approval by an evaluation team.

History

The ACCTS website says that it was founded as an approval agency for those schools which for various reasons may choose not to affiliate with a regional or other professional accrediting agency because the qualifications and standards of "such accrediting agencies may run counter to the convictions and purposes of Christian schools" and because the "external interference with internal policies by organizations or agencies with different goals and purposes than the Christian university, college or seminary may prove to be non-productive". In 2005,

Tyndale Theological Seminary Tyndale Theological Seminary is an American private Christian seminary with its campus in Hurst, Texas. It has chosen not to seek state accreditation Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (suc ...

(which was at that time an ACCTS member institution) was fined $173,000 for issuing degrees without meeting state standards and calling itself a "

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

" without having

accreditation Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

. Charges were dismissed in 2007 when the

Texas Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) is the supreme court, court of last resort for civil matters (including juvenile delinquency cases, which are categorized as civil under the Texas Family Code) in the U.S. state of Texas. A different court, the ...

ruled that the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

government lacked legal jurisdiction over religious education or training.

Requirements

The requirements for approval by ACCTS are: proof of the solicitation of new students, the transfer of credits, "admission policies and procedures," a "financial policy," "learning experience," a "limitation" on life credit, a library, student records, "staff," and "facilities."Evaluation Criteria
Association of Christian Colleges and Theological Schools website, archived June 15, 2004

Schools approved by ACCTS

California Pacific School of Theology California Pacific School of Theology is a higher-education Christian theological school in the United States non-accredited at this time, issuing religious degrees in West Hills, California. The school offers distance education for Graduate and ...

(aka Pacific School of Theology) *

Louisiana Baptist University Louisiana Baptist University (LBU) is a independent Baptist conservative Christianity, Christian university located in Shreveport, Louisiana, Shreveport, Louisiana. LBU has both an on-campus program and a distance education program which teach ...

Pacific International University Pacific International University was an unaccredited, evangelical, Christian diploma mill college located in Springfield, Missouri. Carl Baugh, a 1989 alumnus, was the university's president. Background The school was founded in 1980 as Pacific ...

''(aka Pacific College Incorporated and Pacific College of Graduate Studies)'' *

Pacific National University The Pacific National University (PNU) is a public university in Khabarovsk, Russia. Established in 1958, PNU has over 21,000 students in 54 academic majors. History The Pacific National University (PNU) started as the Khabarovsk Automobile H ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Association Of Christian Colleges And Theological Schools Unrecognized accreditation associations

History

Requirements

Schools approved by ACCTS

See also

References