Department of Biblical Studies and Theology

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Accreditation is an organized way of determining the acceptance of credits or degrees from any particular institution. In most countries, the government regulates colleges and universities. The United States is unique in that accreditation is a voluntary process governed by independent accrediting agencies that may or may not be recognized by the federal government. 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.

 Vessel Bible College - affiliated with Minnesota  Graduate school of theology -  maintains accreditation with a Accreditation Christian International organization that shares the school's objectives of encouraging and maintaining sound Christian scholarship with the highest academic achievement.

There are two reasons why Vessel Bible College did not seek to be regionally accredited or be registered with or in association with the U.S. Department of Education.

 First, because Vessel Bible College students attend distance education classes at campuses across the United States and around the world, a traditional regional accreditation does not fit the scope of Vessel Bible College. Second, because Vessel Bible College has assumed a position of not wanting to have any governmental influence on what it may or may not teach, Vessel Bible College has submitted to accreditation with a strictly independent Christian accrediting organization. In each accreditation review, Minnesota Graduate  School of Theology  received a rating of Comprehensive Member with Honor, which is the highest accreditation status.

Regional Accreditation: There are six private corporations, referred to as agencies, that provide accreditation for universities within certain regions of the country. The federal government recognizes these agencies and lists all colleges accredited by them 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.

National, International, and Distance Education Accreditation: Since accreditation is purely voluntary, and since all accrediting agencies are private corporations, many agencies have formed to provide recognition in areas where regional or professional accreditation has left gaps. For instance, in the past, no college or seminary offering all three levels of instruction (bachelor, master, doctoral) through distance study, has ever been regionally or professionally accredited. Vessel Bible College specializes in distance education, often called theological education by extension. Therefore, Vessel Bible College has embraced the accountability of being reviewed and accredited by an independent national accrediting organization.

State Accreditation: The term “state accreditation” is a misnomer, as states do not provide accreditation for colleges or seminaries.

Yes. For decades, schools have found acceptance based on the merits of their programs rather than their form of accreditation. In a study, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services documented acceptance of nontraditional or non-regionally accredited programs. Of the thousands surveyed, 97 percent of graduates from these schools gained acceptance into the traditional graduate school of their choice. Another 94 percent experienced no problems in graduate school admission because of having an unaccredited degree. Furthermore, 99 percent of the holders of nontraditional degrees felt that their degree was as good as, or better than, the degree offered by a traditional regionally accredited school.

 Also, a survey of the top personnel officers at 81 large corporations indicated they felt that a nontraditional degree was just as useful as one received even from a traditional school with a “strong reputation.” As the report said, these findings “run counter to some popular beliefs” (Sosdian, Sharp). Ultimately, Vessel Bible College believes that the merit of the program of study and the performance of the student will be the determiners of success.