Bethany Theological Seminary

Accreditation:

best

SOURCES:

2021 Accreditation

Institutional Control

Bethany Theological Seminary is a private not-for-profit organization.

SOURCES:

2021 Peterson's

Denomination

Church of Brethren

SOURCES:

Find the most recent accreditation information for Bethany Theological Seminary

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Accreditation

Accreditation provides important oversight over a school's instructional practices and institutional stability.

Bethany Theological Seminary holds an accreditation from one of the seven regional accreditors, which should ensure that credits earned transfer easily to other schools.

Accreditation History

Commission on Accrediting of the Association of Theological Schools (Accredited January 1, 1940 - present)

The accreditation was recently renewed on February 2, 2017.
The next accreditation review is scheduled for March 31, 2027.

Higher Learning Commission (Accredited January 1, 1971 - present)

The accreditation was recently renewed on January 24, 2017.
The next accreditation review is scheduled for August 31, 2027.

SOURCES:

2021 Accreditation

Programs

Bethany Theological Seminary program offerings

What award level are you pursuing?

Postbaccalaureate Cert

Theology

A program that focuses on the beliefs and doctrine of a particular religious faith from the intramural point of view of that faith. Includes instruction in systematic theology, historical theology, moral theology, doctrinal studies, dogmatics, apologetics, and applications to specific questions of ecclesiastical polity and religious life

Note: The name and definition of this program are based on Department of Education CIP code descriptions, which ensures uniform reporting across schools in the US. Please check this school's website for detailed program information and their specific course descriptions._

Choose how to look at program completions

By Level

By Race/Origin

By Gender

Completions in Theology by award level

Master's Degree

Postbaccalaureate Cert

Recently College Scorecard released data on starting salaries and cumulative federal student debt for each school/program combination with sufficient graduates to allow for privacy concerns with data releases. Shown in the box plots below are data for all schools offering theological and ministerial studies (which may contain several related fields) by award level. If a value is reported for Bethany Theological Seminary, then that is shown in blue.

Starting Salaries

Cumulative Federal Student Loan Debt

What can I do if I study Theology?

Below we list the careers that the US Department of Education suggests are best fits for people who studied theology. You can get an idea of salary and the level of education you'll need, as well as whether this is a growing or shrinking career field. Sometimes this list of recommended careers doesn't match what people who earned this degree are really doing. Our theology program page has much more information about the interplay between study in this field and possible careers. Select any table row to learn more about listed career.

Clergy

Postsecondary Philosophy and Religion Teachers

4.0%

6.7%

SOURCES:

2021,2020 Ididio: Award levels

2021 College Scorecard

2021 Peterson's

2018,2019 ACS microdata

2010 CIP Codes

2019 BLS Occupational Employment

Costs

Graduate general costs

Here's a quick summary of costs to attend Bethany Theological Seminary. You will find the most up-to-date information at their website for admissions.

View

All

Annual fees

Annual tuition

Per-credit charges

$720

$12,000

$500

SOURCES:

Fewer details

Historic Annual Costs

This chart shows an inflation-adjusted view of the costs for general full-time graduate students over time. The shading reflects charges within your comparison group over the same time period. Private and public universities' charges are difficult to compare due to the in- and out-of-state structure of public universities, and therefore we only compare Bethany Theological Seminary to other private schools within your chosen comparison group.

Graduate Assistantships at Bethany Theological Seminary

Keep in mind that many graduate programs fund or partially fund their students through teaching, research, or other graduate assistantships. Some programs have provided graduate financial aid information that you can check for in the Programs section on this page. If we don't have that data, be sure to inquire with the academic department that interests you and do not assume you would have to pay full tuition for an academic graduate degree.

We believe that Bethany Theological Seminary does not offer assistantships to its graduate students. We calculated this percentage by dividing the number of graduate assistantships offered at Bethany Theological Seminary by its number of full-time-equivalent graduate students.

Graduate tuition, fees, books, and supplies over time

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Research

The library is the backbone of academic learning and research

We have no library data for Bethany Theological Seminary in spite of the fact that about 100 of the degrees it awards are bachelor's or higher degrees. It is unusual for a school with this focus to not have library data. In fact, about 90% of the schools that graduate at least 10% of students at the bachelor's or higher level report library information.

In the age of digital resources, a library can offer incredible support even to distance education students. For students on campus, the library is the study and meeting hub for both residential and commuting students. Through the academic libraries, students can freely access resources not available on the internet.

It is difficult to imagine a meaningful bachelor's or graduate degree program that does not require independent research projects from its students. Without academic library resources, those projects could become quite expensive and also much more difficult, because academic librarians are indispensable for guiding students toward appropriate resources for a research project. The greater fear is that a lack of library means that minimal research and outside reading is expected of students. If you're interested in attending Bethany Theological Seminary, you should ask about their library resources and research expectations, and make sure that you would be receiving the academic challenges and support that you and your future reputation deserve.

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Research funding: the best indicator of post-baccalaureate academic rigor

Any school that reports at least $150,000 in research and development expenditures in a given year should have submitted out the Higher Education Research and Development (HERD) survey to the National Science Foundation (NSF). We did not find HERD data for $Bethany Theological Seminary, so there would at most modest graduate-level academic scholarship campus-wide.

SOURCES:

2018 NSF HERD Survey

Classroom Experience

Student attention at Bethany Theological Seminary

Schools are required to report the ratio of students per instructor, but look for a small number of students for every full-time instructor as your best indicator of personal attention and a modern well-integrated curriculum.

SOURCES:

2020 Ididio: Student-to-faculty ratio

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Quality and Quantity of Bethany Theological Seminary faculty

Faculty are the heart of a school. Make sure the school you attend has highly-qualified faculty who are regularly in their offices and happy to meet with you.

Full-time faculty overview

The best bachelor’s and graduate programs are generally taught by long-term faculty with tenure, as these instructors typically hold the highest degree possible in their field of expertise. Their commitment to research, their students, and to the school itself should be outstanding. The more green in the chart, the more long-term faculty are available to offer you steady classroom quality.

Learn more about the bars in this chart

Traditionally, the long-term faculty at a school are hired as Assistant Professors. After about six years, they then advance to the Associate Professor level after proving excellence in three areas: teaching, service to the institution, and significant contributions to their field of expertise. Assistant professors who are not promoted to the Associate level are usually required to leave the school. The rank of Professor is reserved for senior faculty who have demonstrated the highest standing in those three areas. The standards of excellence differ widely across institutions; nonetheless, the presence of a large proportion of faculty in the three professor ranks suggests you will be taught by faculty who are invested in their academic fields and in the school. Generally, instructors with any of the three professor titles will hold the highest possible (terminal) degree in their academic fields.

The instructor/lecturer positions are generally held by full-time faculty who are focused on teaching alone, often for lower-level classes. These positions usually require some advanced education or experience, but not the highest (terminal) degree in a given academic field. Those teaching with no academic rank may be hired to teach in mostly non-academic fields, giving skills- or vocation-based guidance.

Not Faculty

Faculty, not tenure-track: sub-annual

Faculty, not tenure-track: annual

Faculty, not tenure-track: multi-year or indefinite

Faculty, tenure-track

Faculty, tenured

Context: Percentage of full-time faculty

Full-time faculty are mostly likely to be on campus and available for interaction, and most likely to craft up-to-date courses and programs.

Read more about why you want mostly full-time faculty teaching you

Context: Full-time faculty with long-term employment contracts

Faculty with multi-year contracts have a mutual commitment with their school, and they provide curricular stability and knowledge that contribute to meaningful classes for students.

Not so much?

Faculty Diversity

Here's an opportunity to explore the faculty's diversity. For many schools, attracting a diverse teaching faculty can be a challenge. It's important to judge their success with the reality check of what their peer schools have accomplished.

An overview of faculty race and gender

Here the bars show faculty rank, with male faculty to the left and female faculty to the right. The race/origin of faculty are shown by color. The view with rank is important because many of our elite schools have a problem with diversity at the higher faculty ranks. Are women and minorities being promoted at Bethany Theological Seminary?

White

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Student Body

Study Types

About 30% of students are full-time. About 40% of students take all of their courses via distance education, while another 60% take some courses online.

Full-time

Online classes

SOURCES:

Context: Student body size

Bethany Theological Seminary enrolled 67 students over the past academic year. The the student body size is smaller than almost all the context schools.

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Gratduate student gender

Is the gender balance of Bethany Theological Seminary students important to you? You can see the breakdown in this donut chart.

Gender

Men

Women

SOURCES:

Gratduate student race/origin

Bethany Theological Seminary reports that 4% of students are minority, which is less than 99% of the context schools. With 6% international students, this school additionally has a lower percentage of international students than 99% of the context schools.

Race/Origin

White

Black

Multiracial

Not Reported

International

SOURCES:

Fewer details

Context: Gender Balance

It is very difficult for many types of schools to achieve a gender balance, and this context is valuable in evaluating the balance at Bethany Theological Seminary.

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Context: Percentage of women

With 45% women students, Bethany Theological Seminary has a lower percentage of women than 89% of context schools.

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Context: Student race/origin

Here is how Bethany Theological Seminary compares to the rest of the context group in terms of diversity in the student race and origin.

SOURCES:

2019 Ididio:Race/origin

Student age distribution

Graduate students' ages may vary a lot from program to program, and we can only provide this statistic as a total for all graduate programs. In general, if the colors in the time chart lean towards lighter turquoise, you can surmise that this school is attracting students soon after they've completed their undergraduate degrees.

Age range

22-24

25-29

30-34

35-39

40-49

50-64

65 and over

Unknown

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School Finances

Bethany Theological Seminary: What its budget can tell you about classroom quality

Where a school spends and collects its money can suggest a lot about the educational experience it offers. The tabs below offer a look at spending that is important for the quality of your experience if you attend.

Instructional spending

Student services spending

Context and trends: Instructional expenditures per student

Instructional expenses are primarily the salary and benefits paid to the heart of a school: its full-time instructors. High expenditures in this area suggest care in hiring enough highly qualified full-time faculty to provide personal attention and up-to-date subject-area excellence.

Bethany Theological Seminary

On the blue curve, we see how the instructional expenses per student at Bethany Theological Seminary have changed over the years.

Context Schools

The shading shows the spread of the instructional expenses per student for the context schools. The dark shading shows the middle 50% of context schools, and the light shading shows all but the smallest and largest 10%.

All values have been adjusted for inflation. Customize your context group using the gear at the top of the page!

SOURCES:

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Does incoming revenue consistently cover expenses?

Bethany Theological Seminary is a private not-for-profit school. Along with publicly-controlled schools, not-for-profit schools do not have the goal of annual profit, but they do want to have healthy finances with adequate revenue to meet all expenses. On the other hand, private for-profit schools have creating a profit for shareholders as an annual goal.

Total revenue and expenses by category

We divided revenue and expenses for Bethany Theological Seminary into categories to give some insight to what may have influenced peaks and ditches in the chart above. The purple shades correspond most directly to student education. The blue shades, auxiliary expenses and revenue, are often related to room and board. We show investment gains and losses in apricot.

Investment gains

Tuition and fees revenue

Private and capital gifts

Other revenue

Investment losses

Instructional expenses

Student services expenses

Academic support expenses

Institutional support expenses

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Not so much?

The power of a large endowment

Related to the previous question of whether the annual revenue stream is stable is the question, "How deep are this school's pockets?" For many schools, a major source of annual income is investment growth. Schools with large endowments have a built-in revenue stream, although you'll see in the accompanying graphs that this revenue stream is highly dependent on the nation's economy. You can choose how to examine the depth of Bethany Theological Seminary's resources by selecting from the buttons below.

Choose asset category

Net Assets

Total Endowment

Endowment Growth Rate

Net Assets Per Student

Here we examine assets at Bethany Theological Seminary in context, and it seems most fair to adjust for the size of the institution. We examine the assets per full-time-equivalent student so that we level the playing field for size.

There's a catch to these assets, though. Many gifts to a school's endowment have strings attached; the money is restricted to a specific purpose. Assets shown in green below are unrestricted, and are very important to a school's ability to meet its financial obligations. Some assets are the land and buildings that a school must have in order to function, and these may appear as green (unrestricted assets) but are nonetheless less helpful in meeting annual financial commitments. This look at assets is only a piece of the puzzle as we decide if a school is stable.

Restricted net assets

Unrestricted net assets

Context: 2019 net assets per student

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