Starting Your United Education Closer to Home

In partnership with other educational programs in Wisconsin, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, and Nebraska, United has agreed to grant advanced standing or transfer credit toward its Master’s degrees for work completed to a certain standard of quality in those programs for students who have otherwise been admitted to degree programs at the seminary.

Lakeland College Master of Arts in Theology

Students enrolled in the Lakeland College Master of Arts in Theology program who are admitted to the Master of Divinity degree at United may apply all 33 credits earned at Lakeland College toward the requirements of the United M.Div., providing that:

• the credits meet the United requirements for quality and currency for transfer credit;
• the student transfers from Lakeland to United before receiving the Lakeland M.A. degree, and;
• the credits have not also been applied toward another Lakeland program.

In accord with the applicable ATS standards, students who receive the M.A. degree from Lakeland may apply 18 credits from their Lakeland work to the requirements of the United M.Div.

The following equivalencies between Lakeland courses and United courses define which United degree requirements are regarded as automatically satisfied by Lakeland courses:

Additional Lakeland College courses may be considered as having met requirements for specific courses in the United M.Div., on a case-by-case basis according to the seminary’s transfer credit policy, after a student has transferred into the United M.Div.

Students may wish to be assured in advance of transferring to United that a particular course at Lakeland will meet a particular requirement in the United M.Div. Such a student should consult with his or her advisor at Lakeland and then submit a written petition to the United registrar in advance of enrolling in the Lakeland course. The petition should be accompanied by a copy of the most recent course syllabus.

Lay and Licensed Ministry Programs of the United Church of Christ in South and North Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, and Wisconsin

Graduates of the Yankton College Licensed Ministry Program, the Iowa LEARN (Lay Education for Adults in Religion for Now and the Future) Program, and the Nebraska ELM (Education for Lay Ministry) Program who are admitted into Master’s degree programs at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities will be granted 12 credits of advanced standing toward their degree based on their work in the licensed ministry programs.

These credits will be applied against degree program requirements as elective courses, distributed by subject area as follows: Old Testament-1 credit, New Testament-1 credit, Theology-1 credit, History and Polity-1 credit, Worship-2 credits, Preaching-1 credit, Christian Education-2 credits, Pastoral Care-1 credit, and Leadership and Administration-2 credits.

Graduates of the Wisconsin Conference UCC Lay Academy who are admitted to Master’s degree programs at United will be granted advanced standing toward their degree based on their Lay Academy work as follows: graduates of Lay Academy 1 and 2 will be granted 6 elective credits in general theological studies; graduates of Lay Academy 1-3 will be granted 8 elective credits in general theological studies; graduates of Lay Academy 1-4 will be granted 10 elective credits in general theological studies.