For practically 160 years, Saint Augustine College sat on 105 acres in downtown Raleigh and have become the cornerstone of black greater training within the South. This week, the varsity filed for Chapter 11 chapter, deserted a years-long authorized battle to retain its accreditation and introduced a brand new change in management.
For college students nonetheless enrolled, this implies one factor above all: discovering one other faculty.
The case landed within the U.S. Chapter Courtroom for the Japanese District of North Carolina on Monday. The college estimates it owes between $50 million and $100 million to an extended checklist of collectors, together with federal and state companies, personal lenders and a pension fund tied to its personal staff, though it claims property that might be valued at $500 million. It intends to proceed working whereas a reorganization plan is being labored out in court docket.
“This structured, court-supervised course of will allow SAU to prepare its monetary affairs in an orderly and clear method,” the college stated Tuesday. “The choice, made by the College’s Board of Trustees, displays a deliberate and strategic step to advance the long-term viability of the College whereas bearing in mind present monetary realities.
SAU can also be dropping its lawsuit in opposition to SACSCOC, the accrediting physique on the heart of the varsity’s issues since 2023. After shedding accreditation, quickly regaining it, after which shedding it once more in July 2025, SAU sued and gained a brief injunction to remain open till the autumn. That window ends on Could 15, and the board says it has no plans to proceed preventing. Seems the chapter wasn’t even the most important factor the college introduced this week.
College students who full their research at the beginning of the varsity yr on Could 9 will graduate from an accredited establishment, however sadly, everybody else must switch.
For these college students, the sensible penalties transcend merely discovering a brand new faculty. As soon as accreditation expires, SAU loses its eligibility for federal monetary assist packages, that means any college-related assist disappears with it. The varsity says it units up instructing agreements, which exist particularly to assist college students from closed or unaccredited colleges land in a spot that can settle for their credit and permit them to complete what they began. The SAU has not but publicly named particular accomplice establishments.
Additionally this week, interim president Dr. Jennie Ward-Robinson resigned after about 4 months on the job. Dr. Verjanis A. Peoples, former interim principal of the varsity, now takes over. The revolving door of management at SAU has been one of many faculty’s most seen issues in years. As not too long ago as 2022, the varsity had roughly 1,100 college students enrolled. By fall 2024, that quantity had dropped to about 175. Alumni say none of this was a shock.
“It was the steal of the college,” stated alumnus Steve Williams. “You may have former college students who have been screaming for assist.”
The varsity says it plans to proceed providing certifications in nursing and expertise whereas exploring an extended path again to reaccreditation. Its predominant lender, the nonprofit Self-Assist Ventures Fund, says it nonetheless believes in SAU’s future.
Morris Brown School misplaced its accreditation in 2002 underneath comparable circumstances, filed for chapter a decade later, and spent twenty years rebuilding earlier than regaining its accreditation in 2022. Nobody is saying it could take that lengthy for SAU, however nobody is saying it would not both.