That is a difficult question to answer because it will depend on your current status and the degree you seek. We do not charge on a semester hour basis for courses taken through South Atlantic; those courses are billed on a per course basis at $100.00 per course. Courses transferred in or credits received from Life Experience are billed at the rate of $10.00 per semester hour. It is a rare student who comes to us with no credits, but should that be the case, our fee schedule breaks down as follows:

Application Fee (non-refundable) - $50

Associate Degrees (full payment) - $2,000

Bachelor Degrees (full payment) - $4,000

Master Degrees (full payment) - $1,500

Doctorates (full payment) - $1,200

Most of our students pay substancially less than these figures because they bring credits with them. We have a special program for students who have already earned all the credits they need toward a particular degree, but do not hold that degree. These students are allowed to write a thesis, and pay a one time fee of $750 to receive their Bachelors degree. The fee is $400.00 for the Masters and Doctorate programs.

Allow us to give you an example of a recent student. John Doe came to us with a BS degree from another school. He had completed 20 semester hours toward his M.Div. degree. That left him in need of 25 semester hours to complete his degree. The 20 hours he transferred in were billed at $10.00 per hour for a fee of $200.00. He then took his remaining hours, which tranlated to nine courses, at $100.00 per course. That fee was $900.00. So this student because of the hours he transferred in paid only $1,100.00 total for his Master of Divinity degree, a savings of $400.00.

We recently had a student who had graduated from a Bible Institute with a Diploma. We awarded him 60 semester hours for his diploma. He had 20 years of full time ministry experience, so we granted him 60 hours LEC (Life Experience Credits). That gave him 120 semester hours, the number we require for a Bachelors degree. We transcripted all his hours and granted him a B.Div. degree, and all he paid was a one time fee of $750.00. Through his years in the ministry he had detailed typed notes of sermon series he had preached through 13 books of the Bible. We awarded him 39 hours toward his Master of Divinity degree for those notes, charging him $10.00 per hour, or $390.00. He then took the two remaining courses needed at $100.00 per course. The cost of his Masters degree program turned out to be $590.00, not $1,500.00. Thus this student graduated with a Bachelors and Masters degree with only $1,340.00 spent out of pocket versus our full costs which would have been $5,500.00.

As you can see we work with our students any way we can to lower the cost of their education.