The per credit price for online courses cost the same as any other course at Portland Bible College because they offer the same lectures, assignments, instructor feedback and student interaction.  
•    Cost is $175 per credit
•    6-11 credits receive a 10% discount
•    12 -18 credits (Full time) - $2100
•    Technology Fee - $45 per semester

Online courses are offered in a Semester system. The Fall Semester begins after Labor Day in September and the Spring Semester begins the first week of February.  Currently, courses are only offered once a year, either in the Fall or Spring Semesters.

Online courses are structured in a very similar format to traditional classroom learning. Courses are organized into 14 week Lessons. Students are assigned a series of tasks to accomplish each week. All activities must be finished by Sunday night in order to get credit. Activities not completed will negatively impact the student’s grade. During the week, tasks could include assigned reading, watching video clips of lecture material, participating in discussion forums, submitting assignments to the online platform, offering and taking quizzes. All of these activities are done within the PBC Online Classroom.

Lectures are not live. Students do not need to log-in at a certain time in order to listen to the lecture. You can listen to them any time during the week that is convenient for you.  Students simply must complete the weekly assignments and lectures by Sunday night of each week, in order to avoid negative grade impacts.

This will depend on the course. Lectures typically range between 30-40 minutes in length.   And, with reading, lectures, and discussion participation, two credit courses will require between 3-5 hours of work each week and three credit courses require approximately, 4-6 hours of per week.  Often students think taking courses online, means less work and less time. This is simply not the case. Online classes require the same amount of work as a typical college class on a campus, the benefit of taking courses online is the flexibility it offers.

There are three primary technical requirements for PBC online education. First, you must have access to a high-speed internet connection to view streaming video segments.  Second, you must install the current version of Macromedia Flash. The PBC Online Classroom player will work on Windows and Mac on most browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc). Third, a student must have some version of Microsoft Word (version 2003 or higher) or Mac’s iWork Pages in order to submit assignments.

Don’t let this intimidate or scare you from the Bible education you desire. While, it may be weird to have assignments, due dates and grades again, you will be surprised by how rewarding it is to interact with people on new topics and to realize how much you have learned at the end of the process.  It truly is never too late to be a college learner.   All you need a deep desire to learn and the personal discipline to follow through on that desire.

If you have a laptop – or can get online… class can always be in session! That’s the flexibility of online education. However, what if you are away from your computer? Remember, online courses do not meet at a certain time in a given day, but course work must be completed by the Sunday of each week. Like any course, there are due dates for discussion forums and homework assignments. Hence, if someone knows they will be out of town when a particular assignment is due, the work must be completed early and posted accordingly. Special arrangements or emergencies are handled with the assigned instructor.

The first time a student take courses with Portland Bible online, they can only take up to 8 credits. This is so students can familiarize themselves with what it is like to take a course online. After the first semester, a student can take as many courses as they wish.  If you would like an exception made, feel free to contact the Director of Online Education directly.

Student’s must have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and demonstrate a connection to the local church. Students must have received a high school diploma or GED. PBC will allow Seniors in highschool to take a PBC online course by submitting proof of enrollment in a highschool and current transcripts to establish good grade standing.

There is a part-time application that you can fill out that requires less information. However, once a student has taken up to 12 credits, they must submit additional information including a pastoral reference.

Once a part-time student completes 12 credits with PBC, all students must have a Pastoral reference on file with the admissions office. The mission of PBC is building leaders that serve local churches around the world. A pastoral reference is the one piece of information that demonstrates a student’s connection to the local church. The pastor does not need to be Senior Pastor. It can be an Associate Pastor, Youth Pastor, Elder or the like; however they must be able to speak to your involvement in the local church.

PBC offers up to 4 credits of Practicum to student’s that are pursuing an Associate’s Degree (one credit per semester). Practicum credit requires at least 30 hours of service over a 14 week semester under the guidance of the leadership at a local church during. This should not be in an area that you are currently employed in, however exceptions will be considered.

Students completing CLTI courses prior to Fall 2010 Term, can transfer in all of CLTI credits to Portland Bible College.  However, once a course is offered online, it will not be made available to individuals through the CLTI program. If you want college credit, we highly recommend you participate in our online program, since it is a better representation of our on-campus curriculum.  If you are a church or intern group using CLTI curriculum, different guidelines apply. If you have questions or want to transfer your CLTI credits over to PBC, please contact the CLTI office at joannehubbard@clti.org.

All PBC courses offer comprehensive course notes, which included the points, scriptures and even charts and images that every student can download and keep when the course is done.  However, students are not able to download the actual course lectures to their iPods or computers. The student learns best when they set designated time aside in a quiet place where they can focus on the material being taught as they would in a classroom setting rather than in their car or on a run. Not downloading instructor’s lectures also protects the school from copyright infringement.

PBC offers several specialized tracks for students pursuing Bachelor degrees, including; a Mission Track, Youth Ministry Track, and Pastoral Leadership Track, to name a few. Currently, a student does not choose a specialized tracks for the two year Associates in Theology. The Associate degree does however give students several electives, in which they can take any course they wish, which would allow a student to take courses from many of these tracks. PBC also offers a highly flexible Church Leadership Degree to students who are currently employed in ministry and over the age of 25. See Degree Requirements for more details.

Portland Bible College currently offers two of it's degrees online. Associate of Theology and an Associate in Church Leadership. Both are two-year Associate Degrees that can be completed entirely online. PBC does not currently offer a Bachelors in Theology online, however previous students of PBC interested in completing their Associate or Bachelor degree online can contact school offices for a personalized degree audit of their current credits to see if completing a degree online is a viable option for them.

Portland Bible College offers an Audit option for our online courses. This option removes the homework, exams and discussion forum requirements from the students load and simply gives a student access to content for the duration of one year for a fee of $5 per lecture.   Students auditing courses do not need to be accepted to PBC and audit courses do not count toward degree requirements.

Each course is told for a different price based on the number of lectures available. Each lecture is $5. Students can choose to purchase the book if they want, but there are not additional course fees as their is in the for credit courses.

If you are auditing a course, you can start any day of the year! All you do is visit our online curriculum store and purchase with a card the course you want and you get immediate access to it. You don't need to contact the school, unless you have problems.

The lectures provided for audit students are exactly the same as provided for credit courses.  Audit students also receive a copy of the student notes that are provided in our for credit course. However the audit students do not gain access to an online classroom with other students. They do not engage with the teacher or other students on topics or turn in homework for feedback from teachers.

In order to get college credit, students need to enter a system of accountability and feedback for progress made and work completed. The audit system does not allow for that, therefore students desiring to get college credit, must apply and get accepted to PBC and take course within the PBC Online Classroom.

Within 30 days of your purchase, if you are unsatisfied in any way, PBC will be happy to provide a refund. Please submite your request to pbconline@portlandbiblecollege.org.   If an emergencey happened or life got busy and you would like more time to go through the content, we are happy to figure out a way to give you as much time as you need to receive the full benefits of your purchase.

All PBC courses offer comprehensive course notes, which included the points, scriptures and even charts and images that every student can download and keep when the course is done.  However, students are not able to download the actual course lectures to their iPods or computers. Not downloading instructor’s lectures also protects the school from copyright infringement.

There are two technical requirements for accessing the audit content. First, you must have access to a high-speed internet connection to view streaming video segments.  Second, you must install the current version of Macromedia Flash. The PBC Online Classroom player will work on Windows and Mac on most browsers (Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc).