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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

My Thoughts...

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.

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!!!!!

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.

Thanks for this advice

I appreciate that

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.

You are correct about JSBC. But many alumni have had no problems transferring their credits to other schools even with the school only having had Candidate status. It is very sad because there was nothing fly by night in an academic sense about JSBC. Jimmy's pride effected so many others than just himself

I know it was not a mill, there were several COG guys on the faculty. If you keep searching you may find a place to accept your credits there, but in the main it will be challenging. But not impossible. It is possible that I might have to settle on some of my credits being transferred to another Bach's program