St. Aug’s will delay the start of school year by two weeks. What’s behind the holdup?
St. Augustine’s University has delayed for two weeks the start of the fall semester at the Raleigh school, citing ongoing funding and maintenance issues and some damage the president says was caused by Tropical Storm Debby.
Students will now move in on Aug. 27 and 28, and classes will begin Sept. 3.
The historically Black university made the announcement Wednesday on its website, accompanied by a video by Dr. Marcus H. Burgess, who has been serving as interim president since December.
Burgess acknowledged the chaotic finances and run-down campus he took over eight months ago after St. Aug’s lost its accreditation and fired its former president.
“Bills had not been paid in years,” Burgess said he found when he assumed the job. “Facilities had not been taken the best care of,” with the heat, air conditioning and elevators failing in multiple buildings. Staff had not been paid and students were owed refunds.
“The good news is that since you left campus in March, we have been working,” Burgess said in the video.
The work includes:
▪ Financial experts sorting through student accounts and faculty debts;
▪ Closing some buildings that were not up to standards;
▪ Repairing and upgrading some buildings and amenities, including student laundry facilities;
▪ Graduating the largest cohort St. Aug’s has had in a decade in May;
▪ Regaining accreditation in July;
▪ Securing corporate and private donations to help with the school’s backlog of expenses.
Despite that progress, Burgess told the campus community, “Due to the devastating impact on our campus from Tropical Storm Debby and other issues that are beyond our control, we need just a little more time to prepare the campus for your arrival.”
Burgess said some buildings on campus had lost power and water as a result of the tropical storm that dropped nearly 6 inches of rain in some parts of Raleigh.
The delay will give the school time to work on dorms and classrooms and to finalize major funding that will help pay student refunds and upgrade the campus library and student center.
While all that’s going on, Burgess asked students to do their part to get ready by filling out their federal student aid applications and student housing applications, paying their housing deposits and registering for classes.
St. Augustine’s is a private, not-for-profit university that is affilated with the Episcopal Church. It had an an enrollment of 1,048 students in 2022, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
