Choose your direction.
Explore the degree that fits the work you want to do. Look at the skills, projects, and concentrations you will develop.
Explore Degree Programs →The Ministry Partner Network
Grow where
you serve.
Go further together.
Connect your degree to the people, projects, and purpose of real ministry. For students and the organizations developing them, ACU brings academic learning into the places where growth happens.
For Students
Build your future where you make a difference.
You may already serve in a church, camp, nonprofit, or missions setting—or be looking for your next opportunity. Start with your goals, then explore how a relevant role and an ACU degree can fit together.
Connect your learning to a role.
Bring your current setting or ask for help exploring a ministry connection. A relevant volunteer role can work, too; the setting should support the learning your program requires.
Explore the Ministry Partner Network →Make a plan that fits.
Review transfer credit, Prior Learning Assessment (PLA), your study pace, and the support available through your ministry partner.
Upload Transcripts for Evaluation →Your Investment
Start with the partner rate. Then explore additional support.
Eligible ministry partner students pay $250 per credit for 2026–27. At 30 credits per year, that is $7,500 in tuition before any additional ministry subsidy.
Explore Tuition & Financial Aid →Additional Ministry Support
Ministry subsidies are in addition to the discounted partner rate. Most ACU ministry partners subsidize tuition at $100 per credit or more. Confirm eligibility, the amount, and any conditions with your partner before planning your budget.
Tuition only. Books, fees, housing, and any ministry program charges are separate. Your total depends on your program, credits, and pace.
Choose a degree to calculate your costs →What if I am not connected to a ministry partner yet?
Start a conversation with Admissions about your interests, location, and current responsibilities. We can discuss possible next steps and whether your existing setting may fit. A conversation does not guarantee a placement or partner-rate eligibility.
Does my role have to be paid?
No. A relevant volunteer role can provide a place to put learning into practice. Discuss the responsibilities, supervision, and program fit with ACU.
Do I apply to ACU or to the ministry organization?
Academic admission to ACU and participation in a ministry organization are separate processes. Confirm any organization-specific application or placement requirements, then complete your ACU application.
Stories from the ACU Community
Find purpose through the people you serve.
Student & Alumni · Full Story
Finding Her Calling Through Service
A summer job at Arrowhead Bible Camp gave Alex Abramo a place to put her Human Services studies to work—and a reason to stay.
Alex AbramoRead the Story →
Student & Alumni · Full Story
From WRTCA Chief to Educational Entrepreneur
Blake Willard spent six years at Cameron Boys Camp before moving into school leadership and work with homeschooling families. The responsibilities he carried at camp also shaped his graduate education.
Blake WillardRead the Story →
Faculty & Partners · Full Story
Building Leaders Where They Already Are
Cam Woolford’s years in Latin American church planting led him to focus on a persistent question: how can churches prepare leaders from within their own congregations?
Cam WoolfordRead the Story →For Organizations
Intentional development.
Meaningful academic connection.
Give learning a structure.
Explore how academic questions, projects, and reflection can connect to the responsibilities participants take on.
Clarify the pathway.
Help participants understand available courses, academic expectations, and potential degree options.
Keep your mission central.
Discuss an approach shaped around your program's purpose, people, and practical realities.
A shared effort, clear responsibilities
Your context.
Academic alignment.
A partnership begins by defining what each organization provides. The details belong in the agreed program plan.
The Ministry's Role
Describe the experience you operate: responsibilities, supervision, participant support, schedule, and any housing or program costs.
ACU's Academic Role
Review course alignment, admission and enrollment requirements, assessment, academic support, and degree applicability.
College credit is not automatic recognition of a ministry's existing training. Academic options require review and agreement.
From first conversation to a shared plan
Explore the fit before you build.
Start with your goals.
Discuss who you serve, how your program works, and the growth you want to support.
Review the academic options.
Explore suitable courses, requirements, responsibilities, and practical constraints.
Agree on the details.
Clarify roles, costs, participant enrollment, and a realistic timeline before launch.
Launch, learn, and review.
Use the agreed plan to guide implementation and ongoing evaluation.
Prepare for a useful conversation
What would you
bring to the table?
You don't need a finished proposal. These questions help clarify what to discuss.
Who are you developing?
Consider participant ages, educational backgrounds, current responsibilities, and their interest in college learning.
What do they do and learn?
Bring examples of projects, training, responsibilities, feedback, and the growth you hope to see.
Who supports their growth?
Describe supervision, mentoring, community, and the time your team can realistically commit.
What would an academic pathway need to fit?
Think about your calendar, participant workload, funding, location, and desired timeline.
Practical questions
Clarity before
commitment.
Is our program a fit?
That is what the initial conversation and program review help determine. Readiness questions are conversation prompts, not an eligibility decision.
Who admits participants and collects payments?
The program plan should identify each organization's application, enrollment, and payment responsibilities. Participants need to understand the distinction between joining a ministry experience and enrolling academically with ACU.
What are the costs and timeline?
These depend on the proposed arrangement. Discuss academic tuition, partner program costs, available subsidies, responsibilities, and timing before making commitments to participants.
Can we see the student experience?
Explore how curriculum, practical outcomes, and costs come together in a degree pathway.
Explore Christian Leadership →Explore the ministry network ↗
Stories from the ACU Community
See what intentional development can build.
Faculty & Partners · Full Story
Preparing Young People for What Comes Next
Receiving mission teams in Uganda changed the questions Andrea Kroeze asked about preparing students to serve. Her work at Touch the World grew from what she saw on the receiving end.
Andrea KroezeRead the Story →
Faculty & Partners · Full Story
Building More Than a Camp
Ben Myers came to Arrowhead Bible Camp for a summer while studying camping ministry. He stayed, and the camp became a place where he—and later generations of staff—learned the work by doing it.
Ben MyersRead the Story →Tell us about
the people you're developing.
Let's explore whether an academic partnership fits your mission.