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Officials from Northpoint Bible College in Haverhill will attempt to win back the school’s formal accreditation in a hearing Friday before the Association for Biblical Higher Education.
The school, on the former campus of the former Bradford College, currently enrolls fewer than 100 students in four-year bachelor of arts and two-year associate degree programs. In February 2024, the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education notified the school it could not confirm it had sufficient resources to sustain operations.
That prompted the Association for Biblical Higher Education to pulls its accreditation effective Feb. 11, 2026. The board subsequently agreed to extend accreditation for currently enrolled students through May 10. The college can operate without accreditation, but could become ineligible for federal financial aid and degrees may not be accepted by employers or graduate programs.
According to a letter to the community published on the school’s website, the school’s Board of Trustees voted last month that if its appeal of the loss of accreditation is unsuccessful, it will change its name to Northpoint School of the Bible and transition from an accredited four-year degree-granting college to a three-year certificate school “to honor the mission to teach and train students for excellent Pentecostal ministry.”
WHAV contacted college President Tiff Shuttlesworth, but he did not respond in time for this story. However, Shuttlesworth outlined the college’s financial challenges in a live interview which aired on WHAV last September. WHAV first reported the potential accreditation loss last December.
As part of its contingency closure plans required by the state, the school executed memorandums of understanding with four other colleges to provide a pathway for current students to complete their degrees. Among them is Gordon College in Wenham.
Northpoint was founded in 1924 as Zion Bible College in East Providence, R.I. It moved to the 18-acre Bradford campus in 2008. The school currently offers a bachelor’s degree in Biblical studies and associate degrees in Bible and theology and specialized ministry as well as a one-year certificate in Biblical studies to both residential and virtual students. It also offers college credit classes to high school students.