In addition to these points, Shaw and St Aug are both small private schools, which means they get essentially zero state support. In all honesty, the economics for very small colleges, both PWI and HBCU are very challenging. Obviously a small PWI is more likely to have a hefty endowment, but many PWI are in danger of closing or have closed/been acquired because of challenges associated with a small student body.
From an economic perspective it would make a lot of sense for Shaw and St Augs to merge and reorganize. 1,000 students (or thereabouts) is very small. The combined institution would still be very small (about 2,500 students) but they could fire half the senior leadership and save some cash immediately. They could also reduce the need for many redundant facilities (and indeed they already share a football stadium).
I’ve always wondered what St Augs is doing with all the land behind their stadium bordering Glascock St. They could probably sell that off and make a pretty penny for it.
St. Aug is in the worst financial shape of the 2, but neither do well. I struggle with how a degree from SA has any value. The HBBCU model is dying a slow death in general.
I keep hoping SA will just fold and sell of the land. William Peace is finically viable. They could buy it and keep the education charter but SA’s campus is a dump for the most part and does little to enhance the neighborhood. Almost anything is better than what is there today.
Agree SA and Shaw should merge. SA has the most land I believe so selling it could help them significantly. But even this scenario is just prolonging the inevitable. The minute the FED cuts back on their funding model for higher education, HBBCUs and small liberal arts schools (including the Strayers of the world) are toast.
This is verifiable crisis for private liberal arts and traditionally black campuses. As a university professor I follow this pretty closely. Small liberal arts colleges in the Northeast and Midwest are getting hammered, with more they half their students on a discounted tuition rate just to keep their numbers up, and many of them teetering on the verge of closing. For HBCU’s, the situation can be worse. Indeed, St Paul’s in Virginia closed its doors last year. The commonwealth considered closing Norfolk State, one of the state supported institutions, last year. I believe it is Bennett College that was saved by the intervention of some well-funded well-wishers that raised enough money to pull them out of a financial crisis. Bennett faces a double whammy of being a historical black and an all-woman’s institution. You can see the struggles of women’s institutions and changes forced just in Raleigh with Meredith (opening to graduate men) St Mary’s (dropping college and going all high school) and Peace (going 4 year).
The market is going to force Shaw & St Aug’s to do something. They are both proud schools with strong traditions, merging probably makes sense, but will be easier said then done.
Why would you just hope they would fold and just shutdown smh ? Maybe not to you but they still have value to alot of people and I know plenty of people doing just fine with degrees from Shaw and St. Augustine’s.
A private college is a business and if you are losing money then you need to change your business model. Doing the same failing thing year after year is obviously not ideal. As mentioned above, some of the local colleges have changed their business models in order to become viable. It seems as if they need to do something…
I’ve always thought that a school of the arts offering MFA degrees in painting, dance, theater, music, etc would do well at Shaw given the location near all of the arts facilities. It would also bring more artsy people into the downtown area so might be a good investment for the city to support. Probably no way to get that going without a huge donation though.
A lot of the discourse on this thread is really, really bad. Shaw and St. Augustine’s are assets to the community, and a lot of people deeply care about their future and success, the same way that probably all of us care about our alma maters, and we should all be rooting for their success. It’s a really, really terrible look for people on this forum to be actively rooting for either school to shut down because they’d like to ogle the redevelopment potential of the real estate the universities control.
A couple of people have already mentioned this, but one more time for the people in the back: HBCUs are open to anyone, and in fact they generally invest great effort in trying to diversify their student bodies. Unfortunately, this effort is made very difficult by the fact that many white students are intensely hostile to the idea of going to a predominantly black campus, but it’s not for lack of trying on the schools’ part.
Also, it’s certainly possible that Shaw might someday absorb St. Aug’s, but a lot of the “merger” speculation is lazy and shallow and reduces both schools to a single characteristic that is treated like it’s the only and defining characteristic of the two schools. But Shaw is Baptist whereas St. Aug’s is Episcopal, so it’s not like you could really “merge” the two schools, notwithstanding the fact that both are historically black. One school, almost certainly Shaw, would have to be the senior partner. Notably, St. Aug’s is actually physically closer to WPU (which is Presbyterian), which has also had to undergo some pretty rapid change in order to stay solvent, than it is to Shaw, but absolutely nobody is speculating about a possible SAU-WPU merger.
Don’t judge my comment as anything negative about Shaw. I think it’s vital to downtown Raleigh. I was thinking of an arts program as a way to help Shaw expand its offerings in a way that helps the university and the city both. Many universities offer advanced art degrees but I think it could help Shaw differentiate itself given its location near the arts scene in Raleigh.
I went back and reread @TedF post, and want to clarify that I think he makes a good point. Institutions must be flexible and find that majors and programs that attract students. What follows is the my original post, which is not really a counter point to TedF.
Pvt Colleges are businesses . . . yes and no. Sure, you need to bring in enough revenue to keep the doors open, physical plant in good shape, and some to build a cushion or the endowment. In those ways yes, they must balance the books - or come close.
That can be done by in part by alumni giving & fund raising. In general, no one just gives money to a pvt business. The biggest difference is neither private nor public colleges seek to maximize profit off our students. One the problems I see in higher education is educrats who believe colleges should be run a businesses.
IMHO colleges should be run as close to breakeven as possible. The goal is to offer the finest education and experience you can for the minimal price. That is so important for insitutions like Shaw & St Aug’s but also for places like UNC Pembroke or Elizabeth City State. They all need to keep the price (tuition, room & board, fees) as cheap as possible to maximize the benefit to their targets:often 1st time college students, often minorities, from lower/lower middle class households.
Shaw & St Aug’s also suffer from the fantastic deal the UNC system is for in-state residents. Its hard to go to Shaw when you could go to maybe State or NCCU for cheaper.
Because they’re hanging on by a thread. Their campus is a dump because they can’t afford to do anything. There are a few cool buildings but most could be torn down…and because this is a website @ the growth of downtown. I don’t think St. Augustine college adds much positive to that growth. Their land is too valuable to be left in the condition it is currently in today. You may not think it’s politically correct to be as blunt but sugarcoating the situation is just denying reality.
My speculation about a merger is definitely shallow and lazy. I was really only thinking about the underlying economic challenges and assuming a merger between two HBCUs would be preferable for current students and alumni to a merger with a PWI. Obviously, I could definitely be wrong. To be fair, there has been speculation about a possible merger for almost a decade, I think. I personally would like to see both campuses and both institutions survive in some form or another and I’m legitimately concerned that St Augs in particular is in danger of folding.
As a new resident who lives in college park, less than 30 seconds from st aug I can say that the campus looks much better than it used to. I’ve seen actual landscapers. I welcome folks to actually drive by and visit before making outdated statements about how the campus looks. Are the buildings old, yes, but they are doing a solid job of making lemonade out of lemons.