Former HBCU president talks about the fight Saint Augustine's faces in trying to stay accredited
The financial and accreditation crisis at Saint Augustine's University has happened before at Bennett College, where Phyllis Worthy Dawkins was president at the time.
Posted — UpdatedIn 2019, Bennett College in Greensboro was in the same situation as Saint Augustine's. It was fighting to stay accredited and raise money to pay down debt.
Bennett survived. Could the same happen for Saint Augustine's?
"It’s hard when you possibly could lose an institution," Dawkins said. "We had to raise $5 million in 60 days. Oh, that was a wild 60 days, but we did it."
Right now, Saint Augustine's is going through a new 90-day arbitration with SACS, which allows it to stay accredited through that process.
"Trying to manage your finances," Dawkins said. "Trying to make sure your students don’t shift so quickly, because you don’t want to lose that many students."
"Institutions like St. Aug's and Bennett and other small institutions, they don’t have large endowments," Dawkins said. "It’s not like a Harvard that has billions of dollars."
Four years later, Bennett College earned accreditation from the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS).
Saint Augustine's is now looking to make that same switch.
"It depends on the money they bring in," Dawkins said.
The interim president of Saint Augustine's told WRAL News in March that the university is $20 million in debt. Bennett owed $1.5 million by comparison. Saint Augustine's has launched a fundraising campaign to try to raise $5 million.
On Monday, WRAL News asked SAU for an update on how much it's raised so far, but did not get a response.
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