Piedmont International University

TRACT http://www.tracs.org/TRACS_Staff.html Timothy is at the bottom right.

Timothy Eaton may be a free willy Pelagian Baptist heritic, this raises a red flag towards the college's ability to discern the qualifications of the leaders. I would need to ask those leaders a few questions to make sure they are theologically sound in doctrine.

 

I did my B.A and M.A. at Piedmont. At the time, it was Piedmont Baptist College and Grad School. They are distinctly baptist, basically fundamental (although not KJVO), and quite small. I dropped out of their PhD program for lack of rigor and changes in my theology. Their accreditation is garbage, as I have found out first hand. They are heavy into dispensationalism, almost as if that were the gospel. My guess is that they will be closed in 10-20 years. They have had to sell off buildings, such as my old dorm. They stay afloat b/c they keep absorbing other schools, Tennessee Temple being the latest. But eventually there will be no one left to help them. For an associates degree, they're alright. But I would not recommend them for much more than that. If I could do it all over again, I would never have gone there.

Here's an idea, you have Southeastern Seminary not too far away. They have online programs and a top notch faculty. Why not give them a try? Tuition is half if you are SBC. Or since you are in TN, look at Mid-America Seminary.

 

Look into LBU (Louisiana Baptist University). They have extension courses where you work on your courses at home at your pace. There is also Slidell Baptist Seminary, they also allow home study.

 

Slidell is a degree mill. Don't bother. If that is the route you're gonna go, then Liberty has a home study course too.

Like I said, Southeastern Seminary has distance education. You will actually be challenged in that one.

 

What in your opinion qualifies as a degree mill? The Reason I ask is I have heard several folks on several schools which they say are diploma mills. Yet if you ask someone who received a degree from them they tell you how hard they worked for that degree. So what constitutes a diploma mill, I have even heard LBU called that even though they are recognized by the BBFI as an accepted school.

 

Well you just weren't looking in the right place. Here is Southeastern Seminary's Associates page:

http://www.collegeatsoutheastern.com/academics/associates/default.aspx

 

1) faculty... they don't say where their degrees are from but my guess is that they are inbred and all slidell grads... and let's be honest, there is really only 1 guy teaching "Dr." Dabdoub.

2) pick the degree... want to be a "doctor" just pick the title: divinity, theology, bib studies

3) accreditation... NEXT!

4) they use the same degree designation (like master of theology) but you don't have to do near the work to get it. My Th.M was a post MDiv degree. In fact, they are all that way except these degree mills. And it was tough. Theirs: "The Master of Theology is composed of thirty (30) credit hours above the Bachelor’s degree." Say what??? Not even a post MDiv. And their MDiv is a 60 credit hour program??? Not even the standard 90 credits of actual classes! So while a real Th.M is 120 credits after the bachelor degree, theirs is 30 "credits". And then there are the classes themselves:

5) speaking of course load: "COURSE COMPLETION DATE: Students working towards their degree by correspondence are allowed to complete at his/her own rate of progress. No pressure will be applied to finish at a particular speed , time or date." uh huh... and? aren't these courses basically read these books, write a few short papers, and there you go?

Need I continue?

 

Bump in case you didn't see this post.

 

I work in Distance Learning at SEBTS, and we have an ADiv, fully online degree program. However, I seem to recall something about our operating in TN with respect to their laws; I can find out tomorrow and get back to you.

 

Here's the link showing the degrees we offer at SEBTS online: http://www.sebts.edu/distance/online/default.aspx

As you can see, we offer two associate's degrees online, right there on the site!