Frequently Asked Questions
Answers to your commonly asked questions
Administration
Mishkah is officially registered in the State of Florida and has the main mailing address in Houston, Texas. The main campus is still under construction in Houston. Once done, Mishkah will also be officially registered in the State of Texas.
Yes, Mishkah is compliant with Section 1005.06(1)(f), Florida Statutes to religious institutions which permits Mishkah to grant degrees in religious-based studies. Further, Mishkah has a no objection from Texas Higher Education Commission to be registered in the State of Texas as a University.
Mishkah was established in 2006 through the merge between Shariah Academy and the International University of Latin America to become the Islamic University of North America (DBA: Mishkah)
Mishkah is still not accredited by an independent accreditation agency. However, work is going on to fulfill all accreditation requirements so that the application for accreditation is almost guaranteed for acceptance. Moreover, many of Mishkah's courses have been successfully transferred to other higher educational institutes for its students. In addition, Mishkah's degrees and its courses are recognized by its affiliates (El Zitouna University in Tunisia and Al-Jinan University in Lebanon)
Mishkah's Fiqh courses focus on the opinions and evidences of the Hanbali Madhab. In addition, attention is also given to various opinions across the major Madhahib, particularly on major issues.
Courses
For the English Program: https://mishkahu.com/students/class-schedule/
For the Arabic Program: https://mishkahu.com/ar/
For High School (ISHSC) Program: https://mishkahu.com/high-school-certificate/class-schedule/
For Arabic to non-native speakers and Ejaza Online: The times are set according to the agreement between the student and the instructor because these two programs are on one-to-one meeting basis
Yes,all courses have weekly live sessions, and recordings of these sessions are also made available in the student portal.
The schedule is posted when registration for the semester opens. The times for live sessions are mostly set during weekends and after working hours during weekdays to fit the work schedules of most of Mishkah students.
Students with advanced proficiency in Arabic and Quran may test out of required courses for a fee. To request a test-out, please log into your student Orbund account and fill out the request form.
Depending on the class, you can expect to spend out-of-class twice the duration spent in the class. That is, if you are enrolled in a 3-credit hour class, you will spend 150 minutes in class and 300 minutes out-of-class each week within the semester.
There may be multiple reasons such as:
1. You entered wrong access credentials (username and/or password) - In this case, you need to use the latest setup credentials sent to you by IT.
2. You have past dues not paid which caused your access to be blocked - In this case, log into your SIS account to access your financial page and pay past dues for the access block to be removed.
3. You entered correct credentials and have no financial dues - In this case, contact [email protected] to reset your accessibility settings.
When you have at least one of the following conditions:
- Out-of-control emergency
- 3 or more final exams in the same day
- 2 or more final exams overlapping in time within the same day.
Only emergencies which the student has no control over and must be associated with a legitimate documentation proof. Examples include:
- Sudden death of an immediate family member.
- Unpredicted sickness/illness/injury that disables the student from functioning.
- Travel arranged prior to Mishkah setting due dates or enforced by employer without flexibility to change.
- Unpredicted assigned duties by work authorities.
Although such emergencies are considered acceptable for requested excuses, Mishkah cannot guarantee accommodating these excuses 100%. The accommodation may vary depending on time limitations and availability that Mishkah policies allow.
Tuition and Fees
The cost is calculated based on the credit hour rates and the program of interest. For more details, please visit https://mishkahu.com/admissions/tuition-and-fees/
Students are only eligible for a refund if they drop courses within the required deadline, which is listed on the academic calendar. No refunds will be issued after this time.
Mishkah currently does not offer any scholarships except for a few select sponsorships for working Imams, who can receive a 50% discount on tuition fees is if they meet specific eligibility conditions. . Other students can save on tuition through our referral discount and other discounts. Learn more at https://mishkahu.com/admissions/scholarships/
If the requested class to transfer is offered by Mishkah, the transfer has a charge. However, if it is not offered by Mishkah, it is transferred for free. For the most updated information on fees, please visit https://mishkahu.com/admissions/tuition-and-fees/ or read our Student Handbook
Technology fees are imposed once every semester as long as the status of the student is Active. The fee covers the cost of maintaining the IT systems that are made available to Mishkah's active students at all times, since when a student's status is Active, his/her account imposes such a cost on Mishkah. Therefore, students are high encouraged to enroll regularly to finish their degrees earlier and, in turn reduce the overall Technology Fees paid during their program studies.
Until accreditation is obtained, Mishkah cannot receive/accept FAFSA financial aid. However, any other forms of aid can be accepted only if the granting party recognizes Mishkah as an eligible institution to receive this aid.
Admissions
Each program has its own application and requirements. For more specific details on how to apply and what is required, visit https://mishkahu.com/apply-now/
Students can transfer relevant courses from other Universities, provided that they meet the academic equivalency of Mishkah's corresponding classes.. Please view our Transfer section in the Student Handbook for the procedure and requirements.
It depends on the program of interest and the student's studies' activity. In general, for a full time student who enrolls regularly, it takes:
- 2 years to complete the Associate degree
- 4 years to complete the Bachelor degree
- 1.5 to 2 years to complete the Masters degree
3 to 5 years to complete PhD degree
Yes you can attend as a part-time student.
Use your access credentials given to you at the time of admission to Mishkah to access your student account. Once logged in, you will find a field in which the available courses for enrollment in a semester are listed.
Yes, we do. Those students who seek degree programs must provide a certificate of equivalency of their degree earned abroad to the corresponding same degree in USA and/or Canada. Mishkah suggests obtaining this equivalency through Josef Silny & Associates, Inc (see details https://mishkahu.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Evaluation-of-Foreign-Educational-Credentials-_Jozef-Silny.pdf). However, an equivalency certificate from another reputable agency might be acceptable instead of Josef Silny's certificate.
If you fulfill all admission requirements, you will get the letter in one week. However, if there is missing/incomplete/inaccurate/expired information, your acceptance to Mishkah will be delayed until all these requirements are met. It is your responsibility, firsthand, to follow up on the status of your admission application. Mishkah cannot guarantee follow up on missing/incomplete/inaccurate/expired information within a short time frame, as priority is given to processing applications that have met all requirements.
Yes, you can. However, you need to fill the application for the English program and make an official request for the transfer. Only similar classes between the two programs can be transferred for free
Student Support
Yes. The orientation is held at the beginning of each semester. Newly admitted students will receive an email with information on how to attend the orientation session.
Your academic advisor might change from time to time. To know more about who your advisor is, please contact [email protected].
Yes Mishkah has certain books not all of them. For whichever books are not available in the store, students will be guided where to purchase them.
All needed books are listed in the class syllabi. The syllabi for the specific courses you enroll in are made available to view through your LMS account, one week before the beginning of a semester.
You need to inform us by e-mailing [email protected] that you want to inactivate your account. As a result, you will not be able to access your student's account and Technology fees will not be charged towards your account.
No. Mishkah allows the status for a non-enrolling student to stay active for a maximum of one academic year without being notified by the student. If the student still does not enroll after this one-year inactivity, the status will be switched to inactive as a default in order to stop accumulating Technology Fees.
You need to e-mail your re-activation request to [email protected]. Then, you will be charged a re-enrollment fee in addition to any outstanding dues. Then, your account and file will both be reviewed and verified that all your information is current. Finally, your account will be re-activated.
One account is with Orbund and one account is with Canvas.
- Orbund is a student information system (SIS) where students have their personal information, documents and financials. They use this account for enrollments and filling up academic forms.
- Canvas is a learning management system (LMS) where students have their classrooms, course materials and course works accessed. In this LMS, students will only access the classes they are enrolled in. That is, students must enroll in classes through their Orbund account so that the details of these classes are cloned to their Canvas accounts.