St. Augustine’s loses final appeal to regain accreditation, but plans to file lawsuit
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- St. Augustine’s lost its final SACSCOC appeal and plans to file a lawsuit.
- The university expects to spend at least $1 million on litigation.
- St. Augustine’s could seek alternate accreditation.
St. Augustine’s University, the private, historically Black college in Raleigh that has been in major financial turmoil for nearly two years, lost its final appeal to regain accreditation, campus leaders announced Monday.
The decision by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) upholds the agency’s most recent decisions in December and March to strip St. Augustine’s of its accreditation and membership with the organization. With Monday’s decision being St. Augustine’s second unsuccessful appeal in a row, the university can no longer pursue appeals in the framework outlined in SACSCOC’s bylaws.
Instead, university leaders said Monday they planned to file a lawsuit and seek an injunction on SACSCOC’s ruling. If an injunction is granted, it would technically allow the university to remain accreditation while the legal battle plays out.
“We will stop at nothing to ensure that SAU maintains its accreditation and continues serving our students,” Brian Boulware, chair of the university’s Board of Trustees, said in a news release.
Legal endeavor likely to be expensive for SAU
The legal endeavor is likely to be an expensive one — especially given that SACSCOC has routinely cited financial issues at St. Augustine’s as a key reason for its decisions to pull the university’s accreditation. Per the news release, the university expects to spend at least $1 million on litigation, including a $350,000 retainer fee for attorneys. To support those costs, the university is asking for donations from “its network of supporters and the wider Raleigh community.”
Accreditation, which the U.S. Department of Education says is meant to “ensure that institutions of higher education meet acceptable levels of quality,” is crucial to several facets of university operations. Perhaps most notably, that includes federal student aid; in order for a student to receive such aid, they must attend an accredited school.
SACSCOC first voted to strip the university of accreditation in December 2023, citing a host of reasons tied to the university’s finances and governance.
In Monday’s news release, the university said classes for the fall semester will be held virtually.
“SAU is not closing — our doors remain open, and classes will continue,” St. Augustine’s President Marcus Burgess said in the release, adding that the university’s priority is ensuring “every student can complete their education at SAU with an accredited degree in hand.”
A tumultuous time for St. Augustine’s
The university’s battles with SACSCOC have brought significant turbulence and tumult to St. Augustine’s, which is located in the Oakwood area of Raleigh and was originally founded by Episcopal clergy in 1867 to educate freed enslaved people. Among its issues, the university on multiple occasions has been unable to pay its employees on time and has owed major, multi-million dollar debts, including unpaid taxes to the IRS.
The university has also attempted to pursue major financial deals to shore up its finances, though most of those plans have raised concerns from alumni and other onlookers for the potentially precarious situations they could put the already vulnerable university in.
For instance, the university at one point sought to lease its entire campus to a Florida-based developer. But that deal, as initially proposed, also could have seen the university lose access to all of its land for the full 99-year term of the lease if it defaulted on an additional sublease agreement, according to documents obtained and reported by The News & Observer.
The university decided to scale the deal back, including less than half of its land, after the state Attorney General’s Office expressed “serious concerns” about the proposal. Such a deal will not require approval from the state.
In pursuing legal action against SACSCOC, St. Augustine’s will now take a page from Greensboro’s Bennett College, which lost its accreditation with the agency in 2018 after being on probation for years over financial issues.
Seeking accreditation with another agency
Bennett, a private, historically Black college for women located in Greensboro sued the accreditor and received a temporary restraining order, allowing the college’s accreditation to remain intact while the court case proceeded.
But Bennett also took action outside of its legal battle, pursuing accreditation with another agency: the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, or TRACS. That effort was successful, with TRACS fully accrediting the school in 2023. TRACS, which is a recognized accreditor with the U.S. Department of Education, has been described as a “lifeline” for HBCUs that face a loss of accreditation with other agencies.
On Monday, St. Augustine’s news release indicated the university could seek accreditation with another agency “if necessary.”
This story was originally published July 14, 2025 at 11:48 AM.
