What’s New
Saint Augustine’s University successfully argued for the restoration of its membership in the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, buying the small historically Black university in Raleigh, N.C., additional time to prove its fiscal health.
The university has a history of shoddy record-keeping practices, according to SACSCOC, and was stripped of its membership in December 2023. Losing its membership is the first move toward losing its accreditation, which would block the university from access to federal financial aid for students.
But after months of appeals, hearings, and a review by the SACSCOC arbitration committee, the accreditation organization decided to grant the university more time to prove its fiscal health.
“This reinstatement acknowledges SAU’s relentless dedication to upholding academic standards and ensuring a thriving educational environment for our students,” said Marcus H. Burgess, Saint Augustine’s interim president, in a statement Monday. “We are resolute in our mission to overcome challenges and emerge stronger than ever.”
Background
The university has been in a fiscal crisis since the first time it was placed on probation by SACSCOC, in 2016, for “financial instability.” Its enrollment dropped from 1,500 students in 2010 to fewer than 1,000 by 2016. Since then, the university has struggled to maintain enrollment above 1,000 students.
The university had been cited for poor accounting practices by SACSCOC, a finding confirmed by an audit called for by Saint Augustine’s Board of Trustees in 2020. The audit found that the university didn’t keep accurate and up-to-date accounting records, failed to submit Pell Grant and direct student-loan data on time, and neglected to properly account for hours worked and wages earned in the federal work-study program.
These failures have led to a constant churn of leadership at Saint Augustine’s. In 2020, the university brought in Irving Pressley McPhail to shore up its finances and build back enrollment. But McPhail died suddenly in October, due to complications of Covid-19. His wife, Christine Johnson McPhail, was appointed president in February 2021 and was given the task of guiding the university through financial turmoil. But her term was cut short in 2023 when Saint Augustine’s found itself back on probation and in danger of losing accreditation altogether.
The financial crisis grew so dire that this past spring the university didn’t pay its employees, prompting an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor.
The university also became part of another dispute as a group of alumni, joined by former trustees John Larkins and Henry Debnam, filed a lawsuit in May to unseat the current board over fiscal mismanagement. Saint Augustine’s University did not respond to requests for comment.
What’s Next
Saint Augustine’s University has until December to prove itself fiscally sound enough to rejoin the SACSCOC, a move that will insure its accreditation going forward. The university has to navigate a meticulous gauntlet of oversight checks by the accrediting agency in the coming months. It will first submit a monitoring report to SACSCOC, showing the agency that it has improved its record keeping and has shored up its finances since December 2023.
SACSCOC will conduct a site visit to review the university’s financial operations. And finally in December, the SACSCOC board will decide whether to end the probation period and restore Saint Augustine’s to full membership in the accrediting agency.
