Online Associate’s Degree Programs at Emmaus Bible College
Emmaus Bible College appears in our ranking of Best Tiny Colleges.
Emmaus Bible College added distance learning programs to its catalog as a way to reach students outside of Iowa. All programs include opportunities for students to meet with their peers and professors online and give them access to a platform that makes online learning easier. Traditional students can sign up for online classes while enrolled in an on-campus program. Students can also take the online classes needed to complete an associate’s degree.
In the Associate of Arts (AA) in Youth Ministries program, students study theology and religion as they prepare to help children and young adults. This program features an educational ministries core that is worth 19 credits and includes Marriage and Family Life, Small Group Ministry, Technology in Ministry and Youth Groups and Challenges. They also take 23 credits of general education courses and 24 credits of theology classes to complete a minimum of 66 credits. In the Servant Leader Training class, students look at how leaders train and work with others as servants of the Church.
An AA in Biblical Studies program is available from Emmaus Bible College for students who want to focus on the Bible and theology over two years. Students must take at least 30 credits from the college and maintain a grade point average of 2.0 or higher to stay in the AA program. In addition to six hours of electives, majors will take 29 credits of general education classes and 27 credits of Bible and theology courses. Those courses include Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, New Testament Survey, Old Testament Survey I and II, Chapel and Survey of Doctrine.
Another option for online students is the college’s AA in K-12 Education, which can help students get the training necessary to work as helpers. It also allows students to meet some of the requirements of a bachelor’s program if they want to get an Iowa teacher’s license. Majors will take Introduction to Education, Educational Technology, Developmental Psychology, and other courses to complete the education core.
Those who want to study theology and think they will transfer to another school can enroll in the general studies program and earn an AA degree too. Introduction to Literature and English Composition are two of the courses they need to take. They’ll take Bible, theology, religion and social science courses too. This program allows students to transfer to four-year programs in Iowa and other states and helps them complete most of their general education requirements.
About Emmaus Bible College
Emmaus Bible College is a private college that opened as a Bible school. Established in 1941 by three men, it opened with a small campus in Toronto. Known as the Emmaus Bible School, it offered select courses on the Bible and theology. It added correspondence classes just one year later and encouraged those in the military to sign up and take classes from locations around the world. Near the end of the 1940s, the school moved from Canada to the United States and opened a new campus in Chicago, Illinois.
It would remain here until moving to Dubuque, Iowa in 1984, which coincided with the school becoming Emmaus Bible College and EBC. The college now has an affiliation with the Open Brethren and offers courses that train students to do missionary work and work in the ministry. Students can choose from both professional degree programs and religious study and biblical degree programs. A few hundred students attend EBC every year.
Emmaus Bible College Accreditation Details
EBC has accreditation from the Commission on Accreditation of the Association for Biblical Higher Education, which shows that the college offers religious study programs that help students earn their degrees. The State of Iowa award the college accreditation for its music education and teacher education programs, both of which allow students to get their teaching licenses in the state. Emmaus also has regional accreditation, which comes from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). This accreditation helps online and traditional students get government financial aid when they apply with the Free Application for Financial Aid (FAFSA). Students can access this form each year as early as the beginning of October.
Emmaus Bible College Application Requirements
Students hoping to attend EBC need to complete both the EBC application and reference form. The application asks students about their salvation and requires that they write an essay on how they accepted Jesus Christ into their lives. It also asks them to read through the catalog and handbook and check a box to show that they understand what the college expects of them. The handbook goes over the rules that students must follow when they’re at home or away from campus. EBC accepts reference forms completed online or sent through the mail but asks that the reference talks about the student and his or her commitment to the Church or studies.
Incoming students must have some type of educational background. EBC accepts students with a GED or another type of equivalency diploma or certificate and those who were homeschooled. Students with a high school diploma should submit a copy of that diploma. The college requires a transcript to make sure that the student had a GPA of 2.0 or higher in high school. Those without a diploma may need to submit a standardized test score or agree to maintain a GPA of 3.0 to 3.5 before the college will fully accept them.
Tuition and Financial Aid
Both on-campus and off-campus students pay the same amount at EBC, which is $19,250 a year for tuition and fees. Those living on-campus pay an average of $8,850 for their room and board packages every year too. Those who take fewer than 12 credits or more than 18 credits will pay different rates.
With the Church matching scholarship, the college will match every $1 that a student gets from a Brethren Church up to a maximum of $1,000 each semester or $2,000 every year. It offers a similar program for students who receive scholarships from ministry organizations. Students who complete the FAFSA qualify for financial aid based on their overall need. This can include a grant or scholarship from the college as well as federal and state grants. In the online associate’s degree programs at Emmaus Bible College, students can qualify for work-study and government loans too.
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