July 21, 2024
The school lost its accreditation 20 years ago.
Barber-Scotia, a Historically Black College in North Carolina, is working to regain its accreditation 20 years after losing it. The Concord-based HBCU plans to apply for re-accreditation through the Transnational Association of Christian Schools, Colleges, and Universities, HBCU Gameday reports.
According to HBCU President Chris Rey, although the school is still able to confer degrees, without an official accreditation, the students enrolled cannot apply for federal financial aid. With tuition currently $2,500 per semester, Barber-Scotia seeks to make its school more accessible for those needing financial assistance by regaining its accreditation.
Rey said, “I always want to make sure that people know that Barber-Scotia is authorized by the state of North Carolina to confer degrees to individuals.”
“As we reposition ourselves to be in a position to receive federal financial aid, I will tell you that Barber-Scotia is on track for reaccreditation. Our plan, if everything goes right, is to submit our application for re-accreditation in October of this year.”
The school, originally founded to educate Black women in education and social work careers in 1867, has been working hard to stay open after losing its accreditation. As one of 11 HBCUs in North Carolina, it has suffered the loss of its once-successful football program and six of their 15 campus buildings. Under Rey’s guidance, Barber-Scotia persevered and launched an online learning program with the help of eLearning platform Skilldora.
Rey explained, “We have been working very hard over the last year with the team that I have assembled to address the 17 standards by the TRACS organization that we are going to be working with to get reaccredited so that our future students will get access to federal financial aid.”
Rey added, “When I took over, we had no potential students that were interested in Barber-Scotia. As of today, we had over 60 applications for potential students for the college for this fall that we’re working through right now.”
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