Some of you may know about the new GreatMartyr Euphemia Orthodox Theological Academy which opens in the Fall of 2018. What you may not know is what separates us from other schools, and why it is worth it for you to have a closer look.
If you’re wanting more thorough and practical apologetics information, want to help your local parish with catechism or adult ed courses, are a busy dad, a homeschooling mom, Sunday School teacher, aspiring to service as a deacon or priest, or want to deepen your experience of the faith. the GreatMartyr Euphemia Academy is for you.
How so?
First, it’s not another masters level theological institute. The undergrad level courses are challenging and practical, making it easier to pass that knowledge onto others. And you don’t need to have an advanced degree to benefit.
Second, the entire curriculum and texts are delivered to you online. There is no extra fee for books, no technology fee. All course packs, textbooks, and necessary articles are delivered electronically, so you save time and money in large amounts. This means our courses can be taken anywhere by anyone who has occasional internet access.
Third, in an attempt to encourage many who want to study, we have not only exceptionally low tuition, (see our Tuition and Fees page) we have several discounts in our tuition schedule. For example,
SPOUSE STUDY DISCOUNT – GreatMartyr Euphemia Orthodox Theological Academy offers a special discount for student spouses. If spouses enroll in the same program, the application fee for the 2nd spouse is reduced to only $20. If a spouse wishes to enroll in the Diploma program, the 2nd spouse may take the same courses for $359/semester, for full credit. If a spouse wishes to enroll in the Non-Diploma Program, she/he may take the same individual courses for $150/course, for full credit. This discount applies only to spouses enrolled in the same program. If a spouse wishes to take a single course, while their spouse is enrolled in the Diploma program, they may do so for $399/course. Normal admissions requirements apply. No other theological school offers a program for spouses with such a significant reduction in cost for studying.
MILITARY/VETERANS DISCOUNT – GreatMartyr Euphemia Orthodox Theological Academy offers a special discount for Active duty and Reserve Military service men and women, and for Veterans. If a veteran or non-deployed reservist wishes to enroll in the Diploma program for $900/semester. If an applicant is on active duty or is a deployed reservist, the application fee reduced to only $40, and for the ambitious, $800/semester for the Diploma program, for full credit. If an applicant is on active duty or is a deployed reservist, they will pay only $399/course (for the Non-Diploma program courses). Normal admissions requirements apply.
COHORT DESIGNATION DISCOUNT – If you have a gathering of 4 or more individuals from your area, city, town, village, or parish that can meet regularly, and wish to go through the program together for a richer and more beneficial experience, entering into the Cohort program will save all participants 10% on tuition. Additional requirements for Cohorts are mandated in order to take advantage of this discount, but it is a highly beneficial way to do the program.
Spouses or Military personnel enrolled in cohorts will get the 10% Cohort Discount off of their already discounted tuition. The Cohort model is an excellent way for diaconal candidates to go through the program as they will be interacting with each other throughout the course of study. Contact us for details.
Why all the discounts? Because we want to deliver high quality Orthodox theological courses to everyone who wants to take them. And a lot of people want good, solid Orthodox courses that they can study conveniently and without too much hassle, meaning they can pour their energy into studying, not getting ready to study. This also makes retention easier, thereby making it easier to teach what you have learned.
Finally, it doesn’t take a genius to see that we are perhaps in the greatest period of Christian persecution in history, and it is only getting worse. Ideological battles are already pressing upon the Church from many corners. Our Academy motto is taken from the words of St. Nikolai Velimirovich, who said,
“We must be super-conservative in preserving the Orthodox faith, and super-modern in propagating it.”
This is how we are going to do it. This is how you are going to help doing exactly that. These foundational courses will help prepare you to learn, keep, and teach the faith whenever and wherever you can. And you don’t need a master’s degree for that.
Interested in more information?
View and download the Academy Catalog HERE.
Start your application or get more information by visiting OrthodoxAcademy.org.
ACCREDITATION
“The GreatMartyr Euphemia Orthodox Theological Academy has decided not to seek academic accreditation by any accreditation agency. Oversight by the Diocesan authority, the Dean, the Academic Advisory Committee, and the governing board will maintain a high standard of academic quality and assure that the mission and vision of the Academy are being accomplished.”
Basically this makes this “academy” a diploma mill. There are a thousand of these in the Protestant world. I and many others ended up in them. The curriculum was rigorous, the education was great, but at the end of the day, a Masters degree carries no weight unfortunately in many circles for which one could be useful because it is not an accredited degree. Fortunately for me, my accredited Bachelors degree works in my career field, but I’d love to teach when I retire. This will require an accredited Masters degree, something I will still be required to pursue, despite all the work I put in for my unaccredited Master’s degree. In my final year, they were pursuing accreditation with the Distance Education Training Council (DETC) and passed on 6 of 7 points and were again delayed, so I just decided to graduate. To this day, 7 years later, they are still not accredited and have decided to not pursue it.
With the amount of money one needs to pay per credit hour, it is worth your time to just seek your credits from an accredited university, as you can use them later.
What nonsense. Accreditation requires years and years and thousands of dollars. Every new school starts just as we have. Incidentally, the ROCOR Midwest Pastoral school is in a similar situation, have also decided not to pursue accreditation, and is one of the finest programs in this country.
We just decided to put our money towards educating. We don’t even offer a degree! If you want to make money in the diploma mill game, you offer doctoral degrees of every variety.
Please, do a little homework and reasoning before posting.