Index of New Student articles by Director Student Services, 11 July 2007
How to Study by Distance Learning Your Tuition Plan Open Book Courses Sharing with Others The Next Degree Life Experience & Ministry Evaluation Encourage Your Spouse School of Ministerial Studies School of Christian Education
Changing Your Major Enlist New Students Undergraduate vs. Graduate Grade Point Averages Grading Plan A or Plan B tuition eGroup Devotions
How does distance learning work? by Student Services, 17 January 2008
>> How To Take Courses
Courses are delivered (via postal or e-mail) directly to the student who studies independently and at their own pace. When finished with the course, the student returns their coursework for grading. Each course consists of one or more textbooks and a workbook.
Course Ordering - Students may order online in our University Bookstore, by phone, by mail, or by fax. Students order courses as they are ready for them; learning is self-paced. Courses are affordably priced!
Online Courses: Many undergraduate courses are offered as interactive PDF's. The student downloads their coursebooks at www.ipbu.org and completes them using a computer loaded with Adobe Reader 8 (free program).
We conduct our student communications by phone, internet websites and e-mail, and postal mail. Student testing is assessed by workbooks turned in for grading.
Excellent Curriculum
Designed from the ground up specifically for correspondence and self-directed studies. Students love the courses! Patriot course books are carefully selected from Biblically conservative, professional authors who have written on a focused subject. Courses present and expound on the Bible’s absolute truth - not man’s modernistic reasoning.
What's Your Style Of Learning?
Patriot’s unique curriculum is reading-based. Students do not sit through taped lectures, write pages of notes, and take multiple 'guess' tests. Rather, each Patriot course includes a 200-300 page textbook accompanied by a colorful workbook. The high quality workbooks ask the student questions directly from the reading assignment and the Bible.
Every student chose a tuition plan when he or she enrolled. We refer to our plans as Plan A and Plan B.
Plan A is an innovative way to allow you to choose the amount of your monthly tuition. This allows some students to afford a higher education on a very limited budget while giving others the opportunity to help Patriot Bible University with its expenses beyond what others can afford. What is typical? Most students choose between $ 40.00 and $ 50.00 per month. Our minimum is $ 38.00 for undergraduate students. Some can afford $ 100.00 or more for this critical educational ministry.
Those who use Plan A are expected to order at least twelve undergraduate courses during each year they are a student (based on their enrollment date). Tuition offerings should be mailed by the fifth of each month.
Those who do not expect to order the required number of courses (above), should use Plan B. There is no separate tuition payment under this plan. Instead, it is included in the price of courses. A two-credit undergraduate course is $ 125.00 and includes tuition, books, and shipping.
Those who use Plan B are expected to order at least a minimum total of four undergraduate courses per year.
May your investment in God's work reap great dividends.
Open Book Courses by Student Services, 9 May 2007
Patriot Bible University's courses are "open book" studies. Most of our courses contain a textbook and a workbook. You simply fill in answers in the workbook as you read the text material and refer to your Bible (King James Version). The workbook reinforces your study of the material and encourages detailed thinking and systematic study skills.
We pray that your course work will be a time of spiritual growth. Begin with prayer that the Holy Spirit will speak through your study. Expect a blessing and you will receive one. Treat this as drudgery and it will be. It's up to you.
After you complete your workbook you simply return it to us for grading. Remember the goal: learning. If you take shortcuts you will cheat yourself of both knowledge and wisdom. So do your own work. Study diligently. The Lord will bless you for it.
May the Lord find you faithful when the mountain path is steep or the valley is parched and dry.
The Next Degree by Student Services, 9 May 2007
Have you considered whether you are going to continue your studies for another degree after you have completed the one you are pursuing now? Your reaction may be "one thing at a time!" Here are a few issues to consider. First, if you do not continue your studies now, you probably will not do so later. Momentum in education is hard to regain once it is lost. Second, each step you take to further your education will increase both your opportunities and your capabilities to impact the lives of others. Third, lifelong learning prevents hardening of the attitudes. Why not maintain a systematic approach to learning and obtain a degree at the same time?
Be in prayer about your higher education to see what the Lord would have you do next.
Patriot's Life Experience and Ministry Evaluation by Student Services, 9 May 2007
Are you aware of Patriot Bible University's Life Experience and Ministry Evaluation (LEME)? This form allows you to summarize your ministry experience (and other activities that have helped prepare you for ministry). We then use this to determine any credit that may be awarded for your prior experience. Even if you did not fill this form out during your application process, you may still do so. If you have several years of ministry experience, it will probably be to your benefit to fill out the LEME form. Available for Bachelor of Arts Degree students only.
We charge $ 40.00 to evaluate your portfolio, plus a $ 5.00 fee for each undergraduate credit hour ($ 10.00 per course) which is awarded to you. Using the LEME may save you both time and tuition.
You may request that a Life Experience and Ministry Evaluation form be mailed to you OR you may download it from our web site.
May the Lord bless you for your faithful stewardship of the time, talents, finances and ministries that He has entrusted to you.
Encourage Your Spouse by Student Services, 9 May 2007
Most students discover that their efforts to complete their degree are much easier when they have the encouragement and support of their spouse. Some of your spouses make sure you have the needed quiet time by getting the kids off to their baths and off to bed. Others take care of the chores that normally would be yours. Some earn extra income to cover the cost of your education. And, hopefully, your spouse intercedes for you with the heavenly Father as you continue this vital step of faith.
Have you thought about what you can do for your spouse in return? Why not encourage them to enroll in Patriot Bible University? Shared interests and experiences deepen the bond between husband and wife. If your desire is to minister to others, begin by helping those closest to you to learn along with you. It is a great way to say, "I love you." It will encourage them to seek God's call on their life and it will allow both of you to support each other in your respective areas of ministry.
Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. - Ecclesiastes 4:9,10
School of Ministerial Studies by Student Services, 9 May 2007
Patriot Bible University has four undergraduate degrees in the School of Ministerial Studies:
Bachelor of Arts in Biblical Studies Bachelor of Arts in Pastoral Studies Bachelor of Arts in Evangelism & Missions Bachelor of Arts in Christian Counseling
Master of Arts and Doctor of Ministry degrees are also available in these majors.
The degrees in Biblical Studies are for anyone who primarily wants to deepen their knowledge of the Bible. This may include those teaching Bible studies, Sunday school classes and Christian seminars. Any Christian worker would benefit from a major in Biblical Studies.
Pastoral Ministries degrees are primarily for those who are preparing for or have responsibility for both preaching and pastoral duties in a local congregation, whether on a full-time, bivocational or interim basis.
A degree in Evangelism and Missions is especially useful for missionaries, evangelists, lay people with a heart for outreach, volunteers who plan to spend time in a missionary or evangelism context, and Christian workers who want to strengthen his or her effectiveness in these critical kingdom skills.
The Christian Counseling degrees are for anyone who provides pastoral or biblical counseling to others. This is distinct from both clinical counseling and licensed professional counseling. Biblical principles are used to help others find solutions to their relational and emotional problems through a right relationship to Jesus Christ and the application of God's Word to their lives. Often pastors use this major to deepen their shepherding skills, but the principles are just as applicable for those in women's ministries, jail ministries or family ministries.
Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. - 2 Timothy 4:2
School of Christian Education by Student Services, 9 May 2007
Patriot Bible University has four undergraduate degrees in the School of Christian Education:
Bachelor of Arts in Christian Education Bachelor of Arts in Christian Early Childhood Education Bachelor of Arts in Christian Elementary Education Bachelor of Arts in Christian Secondary Education
The purpose of a degree in Christian Education (CE) is to prepare people to teach in Christian schools or to administer such schools. The general CE degree is for those who want a broad education without specializing in any specific student age range. Administrators normally take this degree and use their six electives to take courses in their school's primary emphasis or student age range. This degree is also good for home school parents and those teaching multiple-age groups.
Teachers, present or future, choose the degree that best prepares them for the age range they are or will be teaching. Electives may be taken from the CE courses in other areas of interest or from any undergraduate courses currently available.
It is strongly recommended that Christian school administrators obtain a Masters or Doctors degree in Christian Education. The rule of thumb often used is that an administrator should have a higher degree than those they are leading and supervising. If you are hiring or encouraging your teachers to have Masters degrees, you should have a Doctors degree.
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. - 2 Timothy 2:15
Changing Your Major by Student Services, 9 May 2007
Occasionally students feel they need to change their originally declared major, i.e. they desire to change which degree they are working towards. We recommend the student begin with focused prayer to determine whether the Lord is truly leading them in a new direction or whether they are just attracted to "greener pastures."
To change your major, each course you have already completed must fit into the new degree requirements. This means some required courses in the original degree plan may become electives in the new degree plan. This reduces the student's elective choices. If a student waits too long to make a change, he or she may have courses that will not be used at all towards their degree. Stated another way, the student may end up taking more courses than the degree requires. However, the real goal is to get a great Christian education. Nothing you learn is wasted. Some students intentionally take more electives than required to broaden their knowledge and better prepare them for their future ministry in God's kingdom.
Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. - Ephesians 5:16
