Help: Summit Semester FAQs
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- 1. If the program is not accredited, will I (my child) lose health insurance coverage?
- Summit Ministries' legal name is "American Christian College." So we are officially a college, doing business as "Summit Ministries." This helps with insurance issues. For our fall 2006 students, we sent letters on American Christian College letterhead to families in this position stating that their son or daughter was enrolled in American Christian College as a full-time student. Another issue regarding accreditation was resolved quite simply as well. We are not accredited, nor do we plan to be. But neither is Harvard. We have found in the past that simply mentioning that not all schools are accredited, including Harvard, some community colleges, and all trade schools, suffices for the purposes of retaining health insurance.
- 2. Why is Summit not offering college credit for this program?
- We know that character has as much to do with learning as it does every other area of life. Therefore, our main reason for not offering credit is to encourage students to appreciate the value of learning simply for the betterment of themselves and others. It is exciting to see students complete an assignment because they want to learn, rather than because they have to fill out a college transcript. Second, by not offering college credit we are free to run Summit Semester as we deem best, without following requirements imposed by colleges seeking to keep their accreditation. This flexibility allows us to move as quickly or slowly as the class needs. Third, we do not want students on two different tracks (some doing extra work for credits and others not), since this would detract from the cohesive student group we wish to create. Fourth, we are not looking for a large quantity of students - we only want to have 30 in our program at a time. This again contributes toward a very tightly knit group. Fifth, we do not want to add to the already high cost of the program, which would be required to earn credit. Sixth, only Christian colleges/universities grant credit for the kind of work our students are doing, which poses a problem for students seeking to attend some of the top schools in the country. Some Ivy League schools, along with other top institutions, will not accept transfer credits at all, while other schools balk at credits from a "religious" school.