(Unaccredited) (Mostly) Free Master of Ministry in Pastoral Leadership

[Kal Di]

There are some seminaries that are free, but the scholarships are mostly for on-campus students. What's rather common is that a person will express interest in becoming ordained to their church or the governing board of their denomination, and the church will pay for their education.

Every religious person isn't a part of a nationwide religious denomination who has the formal ordination process. There are thousands of religious churches who don't identify as a branch of a mainstream denomination. So, while there may be some truth in what you said, it isn't applicable to one-third of Americans who want to pursue a religious career.

Being open about utilizing a religious exemption from accreditation requirements is better than being deceptive by claiming accreditation from a useless accreditation mill. It's really not that much more expensive to become accredited by a national accreditation body than an unrecognized, questionable accreditor that no one is holding accountable.

It seems that you're implying that independent accreditation agencies are useless or the same as accreditation mills. That seems to be a stereotype. I don't disagree that some schools deceive customers by leveraging accreditation mills. However, it doesn't mean that all independent accreditors are accreditation mills.

Regarding the cost of accreditation, "expensive" is subjective. The most successful religious universities and seminaries can easily absorb that cost. If it's an EdTech startup, it isn't so easy to absorb that cost when the school isn't even profitable and they have other startup costs to pay. It's why Nations University was unaccredited for a while. Yet, a few members of this forum still enrolled there before they became DEAC accredited. They enrolled there based on what I said earlier. They had a positive online reputation, a comprehensive degree curriculum, a religious exemption from the state, and a total cost less than $5,000 USD.

Some seminaries and religious universities are currently like what Nations U was before their accreditation. Some of them will become accredited, and some won't. As stated before, the prospective employer will be always be the one to determine if an applicant's degree is sufficient for their needs.