Eight students received Certificates in Biblical Studies, and two received Certificates in Biblical and General Studies. Seventeen students are in a continuing program to receiving their degrees.
Hamilton says he is excited that four of the students chose to receive Christ and eight recently chose to be baptized.
Most of the students at the school in Soldotna come from small and even remote Alaskan villages. The college helps students transition from village life to their first year of college. ACC operates part of its program in cooperation with nearby Kenai Peninsula College, a community campus of the University of Alaska-Anchorage. Two students are going to North Park University, and others selected other four-year schools, Hamilton says.
More than half of the students receiving their one-year certificate will return to continue studies, says Hamilton. That is the most since the school started in 2001.
The second-year program is able to expand because the school received the “candidate for accreditation” status it had been seeking from the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE) over the past five years. The status will make it easier for students to receive state and federal financial aid, Native corporation scholarships, as well as transfer credits to other accredited institutions, Hamilton says.
