Re: ouch.
Originally posted by Bartram
I look to Atlanta and Atlanta officials to take the lead on working with MB officials and restoring MoBrown's status, accredidation.
Don't count on that!!!
MoB's serious struggles have been well documented the past few months and Atlanta officials didnt take the lead then, and I don't see any difference now that it's past the 11th hour!
Morris Brown loses appeal, may close as aid evaporates
By KELLY SIMMONS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Morris Brown College has lost its fight to stay accredited, a devastating blow that could force the 122-year-old school to close.
The decision, announced Monday, cuts off most of the historically black college's funding and is likely to spur an exodus among students who can no longer get federal financial aid to help them pay tuition.
Officials at Morris Brown, which has a mission of serving all students -- including many who were not academically or financially prepared to attend other colleges -- vowed to keep their school open. They also said they would reapply for accreditation, a difficult and lengthy process.
"We are clearly disappointed by the ruling, but Morris Brown will survive," board of trustees chairman and Sixth District AME Bishop Frank C. Cummings said in a prepared statement.
The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools initially revoked Morris Brown's accreditation in December, citing the private school's ongoing problems with financial aid, record keeping and institutional effectiveness.
In response, the school doubled the pace of spring semester so it could graduate seniors in mid-March, well before the appeal hearing could threaten their financial aid. As the April 2 hearing date approached, churches, alumni and politicians voiced support for the college.
AME churches nationwide passed the offering plate for Morris Brown, which was founded in the basement of Big Bethel AME Church in downtown Atlanta. Alumni groups throughout the country held local fund-raisers for the school, which touted the appearance of its marching band in the recent hit movie "Drumline."
In mid-February, members of the Congressional Black Caucus met with U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige to discuss the plight of black colleges, and encouraged him to do what he could to help Morris Brown.
Last week, former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young accompanied school officials to their appeal hearing, where he made an impassioned plea to preserve the school.
Hope lies in reapplying
In announcing the Morris Brown decision, the Southern Association said that the school failed to prove in the April 2 hearing that the commission had not followed its own procedures or had acted capriciously in revoking the school's accreditation. Those were the only two grounds for appeal.
The school, which has been raising money to pay down its debts and replaced many of its longtime board members with businesspeople, was not allowed to enter evidence about these recent efforts to fix its problems. The Southern Association also said Monday that it had upheld the December revocation of accreditation for Mary Holmes College, a private, historically black school in west Mississippi.
Morris Brown's federal financial aid will be cut off immediately, once the Department of Education receives official notice of the revocation from the Southern Association, said a department spokeswoman. About 90 percent of the school's students receive some type of financial aid to pay the school's tuition, which is more than $10,000 a year. The school also loses the financial support of the United Negro College Fund.
James Rogers, executive director of the Commission on Colleges at the Southern Association, said Morris Brown can reapply for accreditation at any time, as long as it has no operating debt.
"As long as they're operating in the black, paying their bills and paying faculty, we will certainly consider them," Rogers said. "They need to demonstrate they have financial stability."
He could recall only two schools that had succeeded in regaining accreditation since the mid-1990s.
Morris Brown President Charles Taylor indicated the school would reapply for accreditation as soon as possible. He has put the school's overall debt at $27 million -- and says that $10 million of that is short-term, or operating debt. The school has raised nearly $5 million to repay that debt, Taylor said.
"This decision will have a tremendous impact on Morris Brown, but the college has weathered very difficult times before," Taylor said in a prepared statement. "With the help of a lot of people, we have made great progress. We will continue to improve, we will continue to raise funds, we will continue to meet the needs of our students and all standards for accreditation as we engage in the process for re-accreditation."
The loss of accreditation also means that students will not be eligible for the $3,000-a-year HOPE scholarship provided to Georgia students who attend a private college and maintain a B average.
But students who transfer to other schools should have no trouble receiving the state and federal money as long as they qualify, said Ruth Vincent, chief administrator of the Guaranteed Loans Division of the Georgia Student Finance Commission.
Vincent said that losing Morris Brown, the only Georgia college founded by African-Americans for African-Americans, would be a blow to the community.
"The whole thing is just extremely sad," Vincent said. "The school has such a good, rich history and to have to go through this. There are schools that pull themselves out. I certainly hope that they can."
Ongoing problems
Problems at Morris Brown College came to the attention of the U.S. Department of Education in 2001, when a review of the financial aid department showed the school had received grants and loans for students who were not qualified, who never enrolled in the school or who dropped out.
Last summer, the department ordered Morris Brown to repay $5.4 million in financial aid funds it could not justify receiving.
Since the initial December ruling on Morris Brown's accreditation, the school lost about half of the 2,500 students enrolled for the fall semester.
Only 1,300 enrolled for the spring semester, which the school condensed into seven weeks instead of the typical 15 to allow graduating seniors to get their degrees before the appeal. Many graduate schools will not recognize undergraduate degrees from unaccredited institutions.
Many of the estimated 1,130 remaining students have said in recent weeks that they would leave Morris Brown if it lost the appeal.
Brian Warren, a junior from Albany, has applied to Georgia State University. He was disappointed to learn the news.
"It's disappointing and discouraging," said Warren, 20, who plays trombone for the Morris Brown band and is enrolled in the school's music industry management program. "It doesn't reflect on all black colleges, but to see this one fall down like that is real discouraging."
In addition to its accreditation woes, Morris Brown also is under federal investigation. The Department of Education's inspector general's office is looking at the school to see whether it fraudulently obtained and used federal student aid dollars.
The school also has been sued in U.S. District Court by a former employee, who claims she was unfairly terminated after reporting problems within the school's financial aid office.
Staff writer Add Seymour contributed to this article.
