Alternative way to earn a degree

A Recognized Alternative

Northwestern Theological Seminary offers the most time efficient and affordable way ever to receive your quality, theologically accredited, Bachelor, Master's and Doctorate Degrees. There is NO Tuition... Our students simply make a Love Offer which SAVES you up to 99% when *compared to traditional Degree programs.*See Application Page.

Non-traditional accredited online education is quickly becoming as acceptable as a traditional education. In fact, most universities accept and give credits for Test Challenging and Life Experience as legitimate modalities.

Government-approved universities and nursing associations now permit the LVN/LPN (Licensed Vocational Nurse/Licensed Practical Nurse) to earn a RN (Registered Nurse) license through these means.  Engineering education is undergoing these same changes.

More on Accreditation

Although, accreditation of a school by a well recognized agency is a good thing, representing some guarantee of quality, there is much more to the picture. For example, a few years ago, the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education wrote:

...as we look toward the future, it appears likely that accrediting organizations will lose their usefulness and slowly disappear.  Colleges will be judged, not by what some educational bureaucracy declares but, by what they can do for their students.  Of much greater relevance would be statistics on student satisfaction, career advancement of graduates and other data.

In other words, whether a school is traditional or non-traditional, it should be rated according to educational results.

Life Experience Learning

How do we give academic credit for “Life Experience Learning?”  Although it may sound ambiguous or arbitrary, the concept and actual measurement of credit-worthiness is based on a standard that we have developed. Fortunately, there are guidelines set forth by The American Council on Education, which have been taken under consideration.  Northwestern, like many schools uses their own guidelines, which involve documentation of prior experience or learning. Such documentation provides a measure for assessment and evaluation in approving potential experiential credit.

The American Council on Education is recommending that Life Experience Learning be acceptable for graduate credit. The A.C.E. guidelines state that graduate credit should be granted based on...independent study, original research, critical analysis, and the scholarly and professional application of the specialized knowledge or discipline.