University Of Metaphysical Sciences, Accreditation & Associations, AAMA, AADP

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Accreditation And Associations

UMS Accreditors

The AADP and the AAMA are the most prominent and related organizations at this time in the United States for accrediting a metaphysical institution. These are the only agencies in existence at this time that are "a grouping of our peers." UMS is accredited by the AADP, American Association of Drugless Practitioners (www.aadp.net) and the AAMA, American Alternative Medical Association (www.joinaama.com). Please feel free to visit their sites and check our school listing with them. Students and graduates of UMS are eligible to apply for membership within these and other organizations upon attainment of the degree that makes them eligible for acceptance by the respective agency.

AADP, American Association Of Drugless Practitioners
http://www.aadp.net

AAMA, American Alternative Medical Association
http://www.joinaama.com

The AADP and AAMA were established to meet the need of association and comparison to each other on the part of those who practice and teach metaphysics. It consists of many practitioners and schools. The University Of Metaphysical Sciences has met all criteria of the AADP and the AAMA. Upon evaluation, University Of Metaphysical Sciences was granted accreditation by both agencies. The two agencies are related. The AADP accredits the undergraduate degrees at UMS, and the AAMA accredits the doctoral level degrees at UMS.

The quality of a university truly depends on the content of curriculum material, reputation and the quality of its graduates. Accreditation is optional for all colleges and universities.

NOTE: Education at UMS is not a substitute for education at traditional or secular colleges. UMS does not teach math, English, or other required courses for credit at other colleges. Your degree at UMS is not transferable for credit at secular universities and is strictly religious in nature. If you desire to pursue a secular degree such as engineering, law or medical professions, for instance, you cannot use a Bachelor's degree from UMS to substitute for your lower level classes in that degree field with another college. You cannot attend UMS for the purpose of transferring credits among traditional secular colleges or for the purpose of getting federal grants or loans because the AADP and the AAMA are not recognized by the US Department of Education for that purpose. Those accrediting agencies are only for schools and practitioners UMS is a religious degree granting institution, and the degrees can only be applicable to such a field. UMS is a religious exempt school and does not attain these types of accreditations because it is not preparing students for careers in secular fields.

What Is Accreditation?

The goal of accreditation is to ensure that courses are transferable between similar colleges. Accrediting agencies make sure that Math 101 at one college is of the same caliber and quality that Math 101 at another accredited college is. The same with English, Science, and other secular courses. That is the reason many people take a course at an accredited college, so that one can transfer that course later to another college if he or she decides to continue studies elsewhere.

Accredited colleges have the option to accept courses from another accredited school or not to. Even accreditation by an agency recognized by the United States Department of Education will not insure that a course from a metaphysical school is transferable to another college, especially a secular (non-religious) college. What a metaphysical school teaches is not normally taught in regular colleges. There are no courses at a secular college that a metaphysical course can be used as a substitute for.

As you can see, secular accreditation cannot be applied to religious schools. Spirituality is a subjective field of study and cannot be exactly the same from one school to the next. Spiritual courses, even if they are accredited, will rarely be transferable to another college.

The only other reason to take a course at an accredited college is so that one can attain employment in the secular (non-religious) market. That is the only place that an accredited degree is necessary, like engineering, law, and the medical field. In the spiritual markets you would be working in, accreditation is a moot point. Most people in spiritual markets don't even know what accreditation is, let alone require it in someone who they are taking a spiritual class from or getting spiritual counseling from. Even a spiritually focused job at a retreat center or church is not goign to require that your degree be accredited. Accreditation is completely unnecessary if you plan on working in the spiritual field.

A Metaphysical School Claiming They'll Get Accredited

We have spoken with professional accreditation consultants about this situation, and they all say it is very doubtful that any metaphysical school will attain secular accreditation in this century.

Beware of very expensive metaphysics or spiritual degrees with a "we are going to apply for accreditation, but we don't have it yet" type of marketing approach. This is the angle they are using to get you to part with your hard earned money. Metaphysics is considered a "new and emerging field of study" by the secular accrediting agencies and they are not likely to think outside the box anytime soon.

There is one spiritual school we know of that is attempting to sell expensive metaphysics degrees based on the idea that they "might" get accreditation. In the meantime, they are calling all other metaphysical schools diploma mills. This lacks integrity. They know as well as anyone that accreditation in the metaphysical field is unnecessary. However, in order to charge high prices, they are promising to apply for accreditation.

Even if they don't get the accreditation, they can claim for years that they are going to apply for it, making themselves look more important than other metaphysical schools while selling extremely high priced degrees that will amount to nothing more than what other metaphysical schools have to offer.

They have to charge approximately $23,000 to $25,000 for their Ph.D. program, which will not likely get accredited anyway because even in the secular field that rarely happens. We can guarantee you that a metaphysics Ph.D. is not going to be the first Ph.D. degree accredited by a secular accrediting agency in the United States if they decide to accredit spiritual degrees.

Again, we just caution you to beware of expensive degrees from a metaphysical school that says they are going to apply for secular accreditation. They can apply for it and continue to sell expensive degrees for years while in the application process, but they are not going to get the accreditation in the end. In the meantime they have sold you a very expensive metaphysics degree. It isn't possible with present structures of accrediting agencies recognized by the United States Department of Education to get a secular accreditation for a metaphysics degree. Many accreditation consultants have let us know about the fallacy that particular metaphysical school is marketing by claiming they are going to get secular accreditation. They will not. What they are trying to do is trick the public for a few years by pretending that they will get accredited by applying for it even though they know they won't get it. They can sell expensive metaphysics degrees for years this way before the fallacy is obvious to the public.

Metaphysics & Accreditation

UMS has chosen not to pursue United States Department of Education recognized accreditation because spiritual careers simply don't require it. It would add untold extra costs to what we would have to charge for our degrees to even apply for it. There is no sense in making everything 10 times more expensive than it has to be. If we raise our prices to adjust for applying for accreditation, which means nothing in the metaphysical field, it would mean students would have to take 8 years minimum to go through our school in order to attain a Ph.D. and pay a lot of money for our educational service during that 8 years. It would be rediculous to take that long to earn a spiritual degree. This is not a secular field and you're not trying to become a NASA scientist or a medical surgeon.

We feel that charging high prices for a metaphysical education would defeat our purpose of assisting those who have important spiritual work to do in the world. We do not want to see our students saddled with large student loans they will have a hard time paying back later. We want to see you get on with your work, not have more obstacles. Accreditation is an old paradigm system that you won't be working with anyway, so why make things harder financially for our students with unnecessary accreditation?

Religious degrees are used differently. Our graduates aren't trying to fit into secular jobs anyway with these degrees. Most of our students are looking for credentials for their independent work like writing books, spiritual classes, spiritual counseling, and other endeavors. A religious degree is legal for this kind of work and accreditation is unnecessary. People in this field create their own market in the spiritual community and spiritual marketplace. They are working outside the box.

The only thing accreditation is really useful for is if you want a job in the secular market with your degree, want to use a student loan, or want to transfer your courses to another college. Other than that, spending the extra money to go to a US Department of Education recognized accredited school is a waste of financial resources in the field of metaphysics. Accreditation by an agency that has other metaphysical and alternative types of institutions listed is useful, but trying to fit in with secular accrediting agencies is expensive and unnecessary.

UMS will not apply for accreditation from a US Department of Education recognized agency even though we can get it if we change a few things and make our program more expensive and much, much longer. Doing that would not exhibit financial integrity on our part to put UMS students in a difficult situation with loans they cannot pay back, and attaining accreditation that is not needed in this field of study.

To Be Accredited Or Not To Be? Which Is Better?

Do we really need accreditation? Do you really need accreditation for a career in metaphysics and spirituality? Are you aiming to work in an old paradigm system or in a new paradigm system? Are you going to seek a job in a secular career field or a spiritual career field? You have to ask yourself these questions.

If you do plan to get a job with the government, or plan to work in a secular field, then yes, you need a degree from a college that is accredited by an agency recognized by the US Department of Education. How many jobs do you think there are in the secular field requiring an accredited metaphysics degree?

If you don’t plan to work in a secular field using this degree, then accreditation is useless. Accreditation is only necessary for secular market types of jobs. It is a literal waste of your money to go for a metaphysics degree recognized by the US Department of Education.

The accreditation we already have is appropriate and legal for a religious degree. If you plan on teaching classes, writing books, or other types of independent work in the field of metaphysics, then a school with accreditation through the AADP and the AAMA is perfectly applicable.

You are not going to be working within an old paradigm structure anyway, so why pay a lot of money to fit into a system you don’t really have to fit into? Accreditation by a US Department of Education recognized agency will not provide any real or useable assets to a metaphysics degree. We don’t see that US Department of Education recognized accreditation would be worth it for either UMS or its students.

Is A Student Loan Right For You?

The other issue is that we do not want to see people from our school saddled with large student loans for many years to come that they cannot pay back. Student loans accrue interest at alarming rates. The trouble with taking out a large loan is that you will be paying for it for many years, long after you have finished your education. You will regret taking out such a large loan because you will have paid twice or even three times the original amount after you finish paying all the interest on the loan.

If you're going to be a doctor, engineer, lawyer or other professional, then yes, those types of large loans and expensive paybacks are appropriate. However, we don't believe that a metaphysical education should cost that much. Accredited or not, a metaphysical degree is not going to get you some high paying job in the secular career field, so we don't want to make it cost as much as a secular market degree would cost.

It could take you decades to pay back a large student loan that is accruing interest. You will never feel fully free as long as a loan is hanging over your head. There is something out of balance with the student loan system and you don’t find out about that until after the fact.

We want to see people succeed in their spiritual work in the world, not be saddled with a loan they cannot pay back, which hinders spiritual work in the world. Our foremost concern is making this education affordable for everyone, rich or poor, and we will stick to that prime directive. University of Metaphysical Science is about assisting humanity in its awakening, and assisting those who are the teachers, leaders and healers in this quickening process happening in the mass consciousness. You are the future teachers, leaders, and healers.

UMS offers an affordable payment plan for every budget. Even if people have to take a break for a while from their payment plan, we work with everyone and have a systematic way of processing it. We have seen it all, heard it all, worked with it all, and we get everyone through who wants to finish without putting them in a situation where they are saddled with interest accruing debts they cannot afford. We believe that operating our school with integrity at every level of business is of utmost importance.

Metaphysical schools charging exorbitant prices, we don't see why. We know what a great education in metaphysics can be offered for and we offer it. Many who have been to more expensive schools than UMS are shocked at how much more we offer. We know what it costs to offer an incredible education in metaphysics and that is why we keep our non-profit status intact and continue to offer this for a price that everyone can afford. It is not about making money for us. It is about assisting humanity, and those who are its future teachers, healers and leaders.

Is UMS A Diploma Mill?

Many people abuse this term without really knowing what they are talking about. Religious schools are called that by those who don’t understand how religious degrees work. Some people like to say any school not accredited by an agency recognized by the United States Department of Education is a diploma mill. That is not correct.

There are thousands and thousands of schools that do not need accreditation nor do they seek it even though they would qualify for it. Religious degrees are not subject to governmental oversight. Spiritual courses are rarely transferable even among religious schools because religious teachings are so different from one school to another, so accreditation is an unnecessary expense both to the school and to its students. Spiritual work happens outside of the secular market and career field, so accreditation is not applicable, especially for spiritually focused degrees.

Most spiritual schools would not accept courses as substitutes for their own teachings from another spiritual school anyway, so accreditation would be inappropriate. It is not possible to determine that the spiritual course of one school is equal to another school's spiritual courses. Spirituality is a very individual path.

A diploma mill offers degrees based on life experience or very little coursework, and has an extremely low price for the degree. If there are courses at all they will probably be written by one person or two. There is not an unbiased presentation of the material with various points of view. Yes, there are some diploma mills that cost very little in the field of metaphysics and you will probably come across them in your searches. Some of these metaphysical schools have even been around for decades.

UMS is not in that category. UMS students have to work hard to get through our curriculum. This is not an easy "write a 5-page paper and you get your degree" kind of school. There are 80 courses, 80 exams, and 70 meditations (which serve as lab work and direct experience of what you are learning). Students have a vast amount of dialogue and interaction with the faculty at UMS if the student chooses to take advantage of that, so this is no diploma mill.

UMS does not offer any credit for life experience, which is a common diploma mill practice. We have students from all levels of spiritual knowledge, from beginners to people who have been running their own retreat centers for 40 years. No matter how much life experience people have, we have to be sure that everyone who graduates from UMS has the same knowledge all other students have who graduate from UMS have. There must be consistency among our graduates. Even those who have been in metaphysics for 40 years have gaps in their knowledge. An education at UMS fills in those gaps. UMS is setting a new standard for an education in metaphysics.

Our courses were heavily researched and organized by over 50 writers and instructors who specialize in the field that course is about. The viewpoints of thousands of famous teachers are presented in our courses without having to pay famous people for those viewpoints, or making you pay for it by order of a high priced education.

UMS keeps its price low for a specific reason, even though the course work is very involved and very integrated. UMS is a non-profit organization, unlike most metaphysical schools, and refuses to put a solid metaphysics education out of the reach of ordinary people. We have been told multitudes of times that we should charge the $15,000 to $20,000 that our education is worth, that our education blows away the curriculum of even the most expensive metaphysical school out there, but we won’t.

Why Are UMS Prices So Low?

We have a very specific reason why we keep the prices low. This is not an era focused on amassing great wealth for a few at the top of a business. This is an era of change and awakening by the masses. We are here to assist in that process. When you get to the other side, they don't care how much money you made. They ask you how you affected the world you were in. We consider our karmic bank account far more important than any earthly bank account.

It is not about money for UMS, it is about assisting humanity. We want you to feel thrilled and fulfilled to have received a high quality education at a low cost, affordable tuition. All our students feel that way.

Not once have we ever received a complaint about our price. Quite the opposite. They always ask us why we didn’t charge them more because they are amazed by how much they get. They end up with bookshelves worth of material, literally a reference library, they have a CD collection of meditations, and they have more than they could have bought if they collected all this information on their own.

To UMS, wealth is something different than money. We get emails everyday from people thanking us for making this affordable for them, that their lives have completely changed after going through our courses, that even their families and friends have seen the changes in them. That is what we consider our wealth to be.

This is why we bring you the $15,000-$20,000 education for only $2000-$3000. We know we can charge far more, but we don't because we want to help you get your work into the world for a price you can afford without regrets or debts. For us, it is about you and your work in helping others.

Each of our students have important spiritual work in the world to carry out, books to write, classes to teach, people to counsel and heal, and we are there for those who are ready to play their role in the shift that is happening for humanity. The time is now, not 8 years from now, and getting your degree in less than 8 years is going to serve you better.

By assisting the future teachers, healers and leaders, we assist many by the ripples that reach out from thousands of our students to others in the world who we may never meet. People who are only in our school in order to attain personal enrichment, even they change the world around them by the people who benefit from knowing them. The world is changed by each of us touching the part of the universe we can each reach. If everyone reaches the part of the world they can reach, then the whole world is changed.

We have been approached by many investors who have said, “I can make this a huge enterprise! You can make millions! I can get this school accredited, top of the game, and get famous people on board! Just make me your partner!” We have turned them all down. They simply don’t understand what UMS is about. They don’t have the purity in the heart that is necessary for truly being Christlike and working in the world for something other than material gain.

Do You Need Famous People On Faculty To Make Your Education Legitimate?

Some metaphysical schools have secured a few famous people on their faculty or to endorse them in order to charge huge prices. Some even brag about famous graduates. We have famous students as well, but we will not use their names to endorse our school.

Fame is not an appropriate marketing tool for a metaphysical school, in our opinion. Famous people are not working for free, they are being paid high sums of money, and you are going to have to pay a lot in order to attend that school if you are enrolling in order to work with a famous person.

If famous teachers is your thing, you can meet those famous people in a workshop for far less money, if that is your motive is for being attracted to a school with famous people in it. You can still attain personal connections with famous people if you want to, but you don’t have to go to an expensive school to do that. In fact, you will get more interaction with them at their workshops than you will at a school they work with.

UMS does not believe fame is what qualifies an instructor to teach. Being famous is not true credibility. We all know what a good marketing budget can do. Even very non-talented or egotistical people can be famous with a big marketing budget.

We have found humble and amazing teachers who specialize in their field and have given of themselves freely for the pay that a non-profit organization can pay. They are just as good, and even superior in some cases, to highly paid famous people. Famous people are not the only ones qualified to teach in given subjects. Our teachers have been teaching their own classes for many years on their subject matter, without the glory of fame, but having the skills just as much as their famous counterparts if not possibly even more skills.

UMS has some famous students who are attending, and famous graduates, but we refuse to use fame as a marketing tool. We do not feel your decision to choose a metaphysical school should be based on whether a famous person attends it or instructs at it. We feel that a person should choose a school because they feel right about it, are attracted to the courses, and because that school practices full integrity in what they do.

In Closing

Well, there you have it. You don’t have to be in an accredited school by an agency recognized by the US Department of Education if you aren’t planning on working in a secular field with this degree. You don't have to study with famous people charging exorbitant prices in order for your education to be legitimate. You also don’t have to pay the price this education is really worth because we have the heart for keeping it low.

We operate within our non-profit status fully so everyone can go through our program who wants to. We continue to offer this education for a low price, even though we deliver a better curriculum than even the most expensive metaphysical school.

You also will be associated with thousands of other UMS students all over the world who have been through our program and changed their lives. This is more than just a place to gather knowledge. This is a transformative experience that costs far below its worth, and the company of other people who are in the same work that you are, that is very useful to have those connections. Our graduates have a purity of heart that no other school produces. An education at UMS is priceless.

University Of Metaphysical Sciences is an online metaphysics university offering college degree study. A degree from University Of Metaphysical Sciences is a religious degree, not a secular degree, and cannot replace a secular education.

Visit the Christine Breese website to read articles on consciousness and awakening, visit University of Metaphysical Sciences Video Satsangs to see talks on spiritual subjects. Read articles on Wisdom of the Heart Church. Visit Starlight Journal for blogs, newsletter, and forums on spiritual subjects. Visit Christine Breese's Metaphysical Sciences youtube channel to view free video satsangs.