IMPORTANT NOTICE—PLEASE READ CAREFULLY.
 
This special announcement covers the following items. Details follow below:

1. ChristianCourses.com is now offering validated certificate study programs, including a certification charge of $20 per Continuing Education Unit ($40 per course for most courses). The courses remain tuition free for students who do not require course completion credits or a formal, printed certificate. Details...
    
   
2. We have added a series of graduate level courses from the Institute of Theological Studies (ITS), now available for purchase through our Web site. Details...
    
   
3. There is now a 180 day time limit for the completion of all courses (certificate and non-certificate). Details...
   
   
4. ChristianCourses.com has phased out the comprehensive certificate program. Details...

1. As our student base increases, we have become aware of the need to enhance our service offerings for those enrolled in our certificate programs. Our students fall into one of two categories.

1. Students taking courses for their own education and enjoyment (no certification required).
    
2. Students taking courses for certification purposes (those seeking continuing education or academic credits and a certificate of completion).

For those students taking courses for CE or academic credit, we have realized an increasing need to monitor student activities and student records in order to give a higher, verifiable value to the certificates earned at ChristianCourses.com. This activity significantly increases our administrative time to more closely follow the progress and activities of our certificate students. The same holds true for any additional documentation of student activities and performance requested by various accrediting associations.

ChristianCourses.com has instituted two solutions to help offset the cost of this additional administrative responsibility.

1. On February 1, 2009, ChristianCourses.com began charging a fee for all certificate programs of $20.00 per CEU credit ($40 total charge for most courses). This charge ONLY applies if the student is taking the course for certificate credit. The payments are processed through Paypal. If you do not have a Paypal account, no problem. You are able to also pay by credit card or debit card using the Paypal system.

2. In January of 2009, the RBC Ministries acquired the Institute of Theological Studies (ITS). Launched in 1970 in collaboration with leading evangelical seminaries, the ITS was founded to address the need for reliable, flexible, and accessible distance theological education resources for pastoral and ministry training. ITS offers distance learning courses specializing in graduate theological studies and includes recorded audio lectures and written study guides. ITS courses feature some of the brightest Christian minds, allowing people of all walks of life to benefit from an education once only available to a select few.
 
The high quality of the ITS professors as well as the acceptance of the content by many seminaries supplements the introductory and undergraduate content already available at ChristianCourses.com. Our vision of offering a full menu of study levels for interested students has now become a reality, with an expanded course catalog of over 130 distance learning courses. For more information on how you can use the ITS courses in your study program, see our Certificate Programs.

3. We have added a 180 day time limit for course completion for all courses. At the end of 180 days, the records for a course will be taken offline and stored. If you re-enroll in a course after it auto-expires after 180 days, the records will be brought back online and you can continue from where you previously left off.

4. ChristianCourses.com has phased out the comprehensive certificate program.

If you already took the individual final exams and received the certificate for those courses, then you've completed those courses and nothing more needs to be done. If you were waiting to take the comprehensive exam, please take the individual course final exams instead. You will earn exactly the same amount of credit, but you'll receive the credit one course at a time instead of waiting until you've completed all the courses to get any credit.

When we first began ChristianCourses.com, we offered the option of getting a certificate for each course, or a certificate for groups of courses (the comprehensive certificates). There was no difference in the credit involved. If you took the OT Bible Survey courses one at a time, you would end up with 24 CEUs (12 courses, 2 credits per course). If you took the comprehensive certificate final exam, you received the same 24 CEUs. But you had to wait until you finished all 12 courses and had to take one massive final exam. We feel taking the individual course finals work better for most students and allow students to received credit for each course as you work through the entire program.

We believe this approach is better for students in the long run and protects the work you have already completed.

Your involvement in studying God’s Word is a constant encouragement to us. As our course offerings continue to expand, our hope is that learning with us will be an ongoing means of spiritual growth for you.

More information about the 3 Course Categories in our course index on the home page.

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