Alaska Bible College

Date: May 11 2012
Major: Religion/Religious (This Major's Salary over time)
This college, I feel, provided me with the best undergraduate education available for my field. The faculty I have nothing but praises for. The area is a small town and there is not a lot of variety of things to do but there is a lot of freedom for outdoor activities, as well as a gym and lounge with games.

Most of the staff are quite nice and very helpful. The recruiter, business officer, registrar and IT professional are excellent. Unfortunately, the Dean of Students is a BIG black mark on this college. He has very little self awareness, is highly manipulative, very obviously plays favorites and will blame students for his mistakes. Luckily the student body is generally independent and does not rely on the Dean for activities, and there are RAs and Student Government that help organize other events. There are also individual mentor relationships developed (one of the BIG benefits of a minuscule college) so for counseling and conflict resolution it is best to go to your mentor.

The food service changes rather frequently, as there were three different food service directors while I was at the school. The dining is definitely intimate, with meals served at noon and 5 and hot breakfast two to three times a week. The cooks do take into account what students like to eat, but only one type of meal is cooked at every meal time (1 entree, 2-3 sides, occasional dessert at supper). Overall food service is good.

Dorms are small and gendered, only 8 rooms for guys and 8 rooms for girls, putting maximum capacity at 30 dorm students. Because of the small size of the college things never got too tight in there. There is also a pretty decent size married student housing area of 8(?) trailer size houses, and when there are extra houses available I believe they open them up for multiple dorm students to rent, or open them up as "extended dorms." Dorm room size is average, very spacious for 1 occupant and comfortable for 2 occupants. Rooms are paired into "suites" with one bathroom shared between the two rooms.

There are four major buildings on campus. Joy Hall contains the dorms, the administrative offices, the chapel, a tiny computer lab (4), a student lounge and the two main classrooms (16 and 16). Perks: 1) When it is cold out, you don't have to go outside to go to class 2) Most of your everyday functions are available in one building. Ball Memorial Library is located across from Joy Hall by tree covered boardwalk. The walk is maybe 80 feet. It is the largest theological library in Alaska, still uses card catalog, has 8 computers for research and contains the largest classroom on campus (25) and two small study rooms that are sometimes used as classrooms for very small classes. It does have multiple study cubbies as any library should have. The Cache is the kitchen/cafeteria building and is small. We've had as many as 70 people in there, but for usual mealplan students (<25) is is spacious. The college emphasizes service, and one of the ways students exercise service is by taking care of the dishes one day a week on a team of 4 or 5 others. It actually is a lot of fun and your dishcrew actually is a great source to develop friendships. The last main building is the Murdock Campus Center (MCC) which I always say is the building that doesn't make sense for the campus. All the other buildings are relatively small in that they are a perfect fit for the size of the student body, but the MCC has a gym with a full-size basketball court that also has volleyball lines (lots of v-ball played at ABC currently), a climbing wall (only open a few times a week, but still) and a workout room with standard dumbbell free weights, a few kettlebells, weight lifting machines and cardio equipment. There is a shower in each of the bathrooms. Community members can actually get a membership to the MCC and use the gym and weight room facilities. There is an attached lounge, however, that is only for the ABC family. It has a big screen TV, billiards table, ping pong table, bumper pool, air hockey table, fussball table and dartboards. Perks: There is A LOT of space in this lounge and is a good place to get away from the tight lounge space in Joy Hall, plus all the games.

There is laundromat on campus, as well as wireless internet in Joy Hall, Ball Memorial Library and the MCC. There are multiple hiking/cross country ski trails within walking distance from the campus, as well as a disc golf course and ATV/snowmachining trails.

Professors care for each student individually and each has a desire to see everyone succeed. That being said, the program at ABC is rigorous. It is because of this that I feel as though I have gotten the best BA in Bible and Ministry that is offered.

Other Random things:

1) Gun friendly campus

2) Various church selections in the area from <20 members to <150

3) Small community atmosphere

4) Local grocery store for employment and snack action

5) Local hotel/restaurant for employment

6) 24 hour gas station/minimart for late night snack action and employment

7) Local medical center with some employment available (Christian medical center for what ails you)

8) Local Chiropractic center (important commodity for those who need it) with limited (but GOOD) employment available

9) Local general store with surprisingly good prices for pretty much anything and limited employment

10) Three different auto shops for maintenance, parts, and employment if you have mechanical experience

11) Local K-12 school with employment opportunity from substitute teaching, teacher's aide, cafeteria help, IT, etc., and of course if you have kids they can go there

12) ABC has acquired KCAM Radio which is a great practical ministry opportunity (if you have the speaking skills you can actually go ON AIR) and the station manager is actually beginning to teach electives on Radio Ministry.

13) Glennallen is a hub community that has good access to Fairbanks, Valdez, Anchorage/Palmer/Wasilla and plenty of hiking, fishing, rafting, hunting and sight seeing opportunities

14) LOTS of high dollar summer employment available in the area from parks service, hotel service, BLM, construction, childcare and food service.