The first step is to visit the ESR Admissions web page and become familiar with the admissions process. This is the link for the application forms. You will be given the option of paying the $35 application fee on-line with your credit card.

The other necessary items discussed on the admissions page are the recommendation(s) and transcript(s). Your application will not be processed until all the required items have been received.

The Director of Admissions will notify you of the admissions committee's response to your application. If you are accepted, you will be mailed a confirmation request. If you decide to enroll as a student at Earlham School of Religion in the ESR Access program, return the confirmation card with the $80 registration fee.

Please be aware that there are admissions & registration deadlines. The intensive courses will require course work prior to the two-week class period and following it. Therefore, get your application materials submitted in advance of the registration deadline for the course and be prepared to begin work weeks before the intensive.

Full-time ESR Access students are eligible for federal student aid loans. Students who maintain a full-time load of 6 credits per semester are eligible for a 25% tuition scholarship.

Tuition and Fees

For tuition and fees, see the Financial Information web pages.

Tim Seid, Associate Dean, is available to answer any questions about ESR Access and to guide you along the way. He will continue to serve the ESR Access student as the primary liaison and front line technical support. E-mail: esraccess@earlham.edu.

Getting Registered

The next step after you have been admitted as a student at ESR is to pre-register for your course(s). You will be assigned an advisor who will contact you by phone or email to discuss course options. She/He will fill out a pre-registration form and submit it. The next time you register you will do it on-line through Earlham's WebDB program.

You will receive information through the mail about your Earlham ID and password. This ID will provide you with an email account and access to WebDB, WebMail, and to Earlham Library on-line services through its proxy server. The first time you come to campus for an orientation you will be able to get an Earlham picture ID card for use on campus.

Academic Services provides information about course schedules, advisors, and the academic calendar through the Academic Services web page (a partner site with Bethany Theological Seminary). You will receive a packet of information from Academic Services which provides information about registering.

Moodle

ESR online courses are delivered through the Moodle course management software.

Textbooks

A course syllabus will list the required textbooks for a course. You also should be able to see them listed in the Earlham online bookstore where they can be purchased and shipped to you.

Library Resources

Library Information from Lilly Library

ESR Access students are able to do a great deal of online research through the Earlham library. Almost all of the online databases available to students on campus are also available to ESR Access students off campus through a proxy server. At the prompt, you are able to enter your Earlham ID and password and then use the online databases as if you were on campus.

Earlham's Lilly Library provides almost all of what a student needs to do research from a distance. The current Document Delivery service will send books to you, you just pay the return shipping. You are able to request photocopied articles through interlibrary loan of journals not available online. Through WorldCat, you can search the OCLC listing of books in U.S. libraries. Most likely you can then make an interlibrary loan request through your public library. Several databases (ATLA, Academic Elite, JSTOR) give you access to numerous journals in the fields related to the study of religion and theology, many of which journals are available in full-text. You will also have access to other databases like reference works (OED, Oxford References Online, Encycopedia Britannica) and digital libraries (NetLibrary, Early English Books Online).

The Digital Quaker Collection is a freely-accessible site from Earlham School of Religion. It was created primarily to serve the needs of ESR Access students who are not on campus to take advantage of the excellent Friends Collection in Lilly Library.