Fate of St Augustine's accreditation expected today

[Finchwidget]

Can't force them, but they need a merger for survival. Universities are doing this all over the country. It just makes sense for the long-term. Sometimes you just have to swallow your pride and do the right thing for students and employees.

St. Aug's needs a merger to survive. Shaw is doing fine on their own. If they want to help their crosstown rival out in their time of need, more power to them, but it should be something THEY choose to do for their best interests, not something a third party throws at them to further their own ulterior motives

[LegalRam]

Force was a poor choice of words on my part; you're right in that neither Raleigh nor NC can force the two to merge. Maybe "strong-arm" is a little more appropriate, if Boulware is to be believed

O, I wasn't even taking your words. The article also refers to St Augs as being forced to merge.

Rereading the article, and the first page of the letter drafted by Boulware, it even seems like Shaw has toyed with the idea of merger. https://wwwcache.wral.com/asset/news...-63c88a2jc.pdf

At the end of the day St Augs is in a pure mess and Brain Boulware was around for part of this mess. If Shaw is actually interested in a merger then St Augs might want to hear them out. It's better to merge now than shutdown and have the campus sold off.

[Eagle74]

I have some friends in the Raleigh area, and I don't believe it's much of a secret that the city would like to make Shaw's main campus property available for high-end retail and housing development, and they may be eyeing their Rock Quarry land (35 acres) as a place to relocate Central Prison, way away from their cherished Dix Park. The $$$ could really help a unified Shaw / St Augs institution.

On a side note, the St Aug's University Athletic website is now gone.

[Bballfan]

St. Aug's needs a merger to survive. Shaw is doing fine on their own. If they want to help their crosstown rival out in their time of need, more power to them, but it should be something THEY choose to do for their best interests, not something a third party throws at them to further their own ulterior motives

I guess from Shaw's standpoint, take over St. Aug, sell their existing property, and get money from that. Then you boost your enrollment, get economies of scale, and a lot more.

Sure they can't be forced to do anything, but economics should be a factor. Shaw just needs to leverage their position. Politicians will make a lot of things happen to get what they want!

[Eagle74]

Unfortunately, St Augustine has multi million dollar liens against the property that has to be paid off by a potential buyer before anything can be done. Their football stadium has still not been paid for. I have little doubt that we will start seeing the campus fall into disarray very soon, so if Shaw wants to make a deal, it needs to be done ASAP.

[Eagle74]

The IRS just added an additional million dollar+ lien on the St Aug's property. The fines appear to be outpacing fund raising by quite a bit.

[Finchwidget]

https://www.wral.com/story/saint-aug...tion/21535692/

St. Aug's regains their accreditation in a unanimous ruling by their accrediting body to reverse their initial decision. Still a long way to go for them of course, but things are at least slightly less bleak for them now

[LegalRam]

https://www.wral.com/story/saint-aug...tion/21535692/

St. Aug's regains their accreditation in a unanimous ruling by their accrediting body to reverse their initial decision. Still a long way to go for them of course, but things are at least slightly less bleak for them now

It's a start as they try to battle back. I wonder what fall enrollment will look like for them. I'd guess that a lot of students would have already transferred to new schools this late into the summer.

[Eagle74]

They are reporting that they are expecting around 200 students to be enrolled for this Fall. They're still at least $12 million in debt.

[Bballfan]

Yea good luck putting the genie back in the bottle. 200 students and $12 million in debt.

[LegalRam]

They are reporting that they are expecting around 200 students to be enrolled for this Fall. They're still at least $12 million in debt.

Add another million to that number.

https://www.wral.com/story/more-lega...ills/21566194/

[Bballfan]

How does a business not get paid for 10 or so months and then finally file a lawsuit? I would say after 90 - 120 days that's it.

[LegalRam]

St Augs is grasping at straws and is about to go into more debt with this new creditor. I guess if they don't pay Gothic back then we know who will be foreclosing and taking over the property. I'm hopeful for St Augs, but this reminds me of someone in a massive amount of debt taking out a new credit card to transfer their balances from other cards.

https://abc11.com/post/saint-augusti...ster/15194004/

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Saint Augustine's University (SAU) said Friday that it has entered into a credit agreement with a Durham-based capital provider.

The financially-strapped HBCU called it a "big win" that will allow the university to "successfully commence the fall 2024 academic semester."

The agreement with Gothic Ventures will enable the university to receive up to $30 million. The initial allocation is a $7 million term loan.

[Finchwidget]

https://www.cbs17.com/news/local-new...ion-not-final/

St. Augs has their accreditation revoked... Again. The accrediting body noted that SAU has resolved all of its issues except for their financials, which was the sticking point for them here. They have until February to gather evidence to the contrary on that for their appeal

[Eagle74]

It's looking more and more like it will not be long before we will be referring to St Augs the same way we refer to 'the former' Saint Paul's College in VA.