ACCREDITATION & Affiliation

Forge Theological Seminary is not accredited by any accreditation agency recognized by the United States Department of Education or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. As an institution whose sole purpose is religious and theological training, Forge Theological Seminary is exempt from state oversight as per the South Carolina Code of Laws, Nonpublic Postsecondary Institution License Act, § 59-58-30(4). Click here for more information on South Carolina's Religious Exemption policy.

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FTS Statement on USDE Recognized Accreditation

Since its inception in 2015, FTS has intentionally rejected any involvement, whether directly or indirectly, with the federal government. Our reasons are two-fold: First, theological education belongs to the church and not the state. Second, our mission is to provide robust theological education that is as affordable as possible. We believe that theological education should not involve students becoming indebted to the federal government or anyone else. Indeed, "the borrower is the slave of the lender" (Prov. 22:7). Institutions endure the expense and toil of achieving United States Department of Education (USDE)-recognized accreditation primarily in order to gain access to federal money via student grants and loans. FTS has no interest in Title IV compliance or federal student loan dollars. Further, we do not equate USDE-recognized accreditation with either legitimacy or faithfulness to Christ. Therefore, there remains little reason to pursue USDE-recognized accreditation. Moreover, while USDE-recognized accreditation may provide some benefit to students (i.e., credit transferability), we have found that despite our rejection of recognized accreditation, our students have gained admission and have had their course credits transferred to traditionally accredited institutions. ​FTS is, however, committed to ensuring the quality of its courses and programs through critical third-party review and we will continue to pursue strategic partnerships that benefit our students and faculty through continuous improvement.