The Department of Education stated in an April 7 letter that it will settle most of Morris Brown College’s debt for pennies on the dollar.
The pending agreement was reported by the Associated Press.
Morris Brown will be forgiven more that $9.4 million of the debt, provided it pays the remaining $500,000. The settlement could be approved as soon as May 1 with the payment due within 90 days of that date. The Department of Justice must also approve the deal.
The move is expected to be help the historically black institution’s efforts to regain accreditation.
The debt was discovered after the U.S. Department of Education conducted an audit of fiscal years 1994 through 2004. Representing years of unused student aid, the school was obligated to return the funds to the government at the end of each year allocated. Leftover funds result when fewer students need assistance than anticipated. In 2006, Morris Brown’s then-president pled guilty to financial mismanagement.
The school’s total debt nears $30 million with vendors and other creditors being owed on some debts that are 10 years old. Morris Brown lost its accreditation and its eligibility to offer federal financial aid. The campus has been mostly shuttered: offering three majors instead of 48, and 85 students — down from 3,000. Two years ago, the city of Atlanta nearly shut the campus down in a protracted fight over an unpaid $400,000 water bill.
“We have been working on getting this debt addressed for a year,” said the school’s president, Stanley Pritchett. “… there are other financial challenges, but this will help to open the door … to resolving our other issues.”
Founded in 1881 by former slaves, Morris Brown College has a long history of involvement with the African Methodist Episcopal Church.
