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Southern Evangelical Seminary has its own independent Board of Trustees and is a non–profit corporation under Internal Revenue Service code of 1986, as amended, section 501(c)(3) and section 170(c)(2).
Degree programs of study offered by Southern Evangelical Seminary have been declared by the appropriate state authority exempt from the requirements for licensure, under provisions of North Carolina General Statues Section (G.S.) 116-15 (d) for exemption from licensure with respect to religious education. Exemption from licensure is not based upon assessment of program quality under established licensing standards.
After examination of our documents and a visit by the State, Southern Evangelical Seminary was found exempt and permission was granted to begin the degree programs on May 4, 1992.
In accordance with the provision of the North Carolina State statute noted above, Southern Evangelical Seminary offers the following degrees:
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)with major in: Religious Studies
Master of Arts in Religion (M.A.R.)
Master of Arts in Christian Apologetics (M.A.C.A)
Master of Arts in (M.A.) with majors in: Philosophy, Christian Apologetics and Theology, Church Ministry, or Biblical Studies.
Master of Divinity (M.Div.) with majors in: Apologetics, Biblical Studies
Master of Theology (Th.M.)
Doctor of Ministry (D.Min.) with major in: Apologetics
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) with major in: Philosophy of Religion
Every other seminary in the State offering legitimate degrees operates under this same statute.
Southern Evangelical Seminary is a member of the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) [15935 Forest Road, Forest, VA 24551; Telephone: (434) 525-9539; e–mail: info@tracs.org], having been awarded Reaffirmation II of its Accredited Status as a Category IV institution by TRACS Accreditation Commission on November 1, 2016. This status is effective for a period of ten years. TRACS is recognized by both the United States Department of Education (USDOE), the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE).
For more information about our TRACS accreditation, please visit the TRACS website.
SES Students have gone on to teach at various institutions, serve in many high-profile ministries, and earn acceptance into a number of high quality Ph.D. programs (other than our own program). It is worth noting that many of the accreditation requirements held by a particular institution or potential employer is completely up to the decision makers at that institution (in line with U.S. Dept. of Education standards) or employer.
We often receive questions about whether TRACS accreditation makes SES “fully” accredited or not. There are occasions where someone sees that TRACS provides “national” accreditation as opposed to the “regional” accreditation provided by a body such as SACS, and he or she concludes that TRACS does not provide the same level of accreditation as the more well known SACS. Rest assured, SES is “fully” accredited because there is no other kind. An institution is either accredited or it is not.Â
Furthermore, the U.S. Dept. of Education has recently stated, “Because the Department holds all accrediting agencies to the same standards, distinctions between regional and national accrediting agencies are unfounded. Moreover, we have determined that most regional accreditors operate well outside of their historic geographic borders, primarily through the accreditation of branch campuses and additional locations. As a result, our new regulations have removed geography from an accrediting agency’s scope. Instead of distinguishing between regional and national accrediting agencies, the Department will distinguish only between institutional and programmatic accrediting agencies. The Department will no longer use the terms ‘regional’ or ‘national’ to refer to an accrediting agency.”
SES offers a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies designed to prepare students for later graduate work in apologetics, philosophy, biblical studies, and more. Some hours can even be applied to M.A. studies.
In addition to apologetics degrees, several academically rigorous Masters degrees are available that provide students with integrated and in-depth studies that will prepare you for ministry or doctoral work.
A Doctor of Ministry in Apologetics (D.Min.) as well as a Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy of Religion (Ph.D.) offer students opportunities to develop their own research and practical resources.