Oldest U.S. black college on verge of financial collapse
BY DAVID DEKOK
HARRISBURG, Penn. Wed Dec 17, 2014 5:03pm EST


http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/17/us-usa-pennsylvania-college-idUSKBN0JV2S520141217


(Reuters) - The nation's oldest black college, Cheyney University, one of Pennsylvania's 14 state-run universities, is on the verge of a financial meltdown that threatens its ability to continue operating, a state official said on Wednesday.

Cheyney's student body has shrunk by two-thirds, to about 1,000, since its 1983 peak, and its four-year graduation rate is just 9 percent. A quarter of students never receive a degree, and student loan defaults are high.

"Cheyney is in dire, dire, dire straits," the state's auditor general, Eugene DePasquale, said. The university has had a deficit for four of the last five years, growing to a cumulative $12.3 million shortfall as of June 30, 2013.

Cheyney's fiscal problems - students who are unable to repay debt and increasing pension costs - were exacerbated by cutbacks in state higher education funding.

DePasquale called upon the State System of Higher Education - the governing body for the state-owned universities - and the legislature to help Cheyney find a way out of "a vicious, destructive cycle" in which declining enrollment and state funding leads to less money for investments that could attract much-needed students.

Cheyney, located in the Philadelphia suburb of the same name, was founded in 1837 after Quaker philanthropist Richard Humphreys bequeathed part of his estate to build a school to educate descendents of the African race, according to the university's website.

Its alumni include journalist Ed Bradley, state and U.S. elected officials, several National Football League players, a U.S. ambassador to South Africa, and Robert Bogle, chief executive of The Philadelphia Tribune.

Cheyney "has done many good things since 1837," interim university president Frank Pogue said in a statement. "We are doing many good things today, and we will do many good things in the coming years."

The university has begun to shrink its workforce by 23 percent and to cut offices' discretionary spending in half, DePasquale's audit said.

School officials are planning more aggressive recruitment and will try to improve student retention and graduation rates. They hope to present a new policy to be implemented in January.

Across the country, states have cut higher education spending, especially as they struggled to recover from the 2007-2009 recession.

From fiscal 2003 through 2012, state funding fell by 12 percent while median tuition rose 55 percent across all public colleges, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said in a report published Tuesday.

(Reporting by David DeKok in Harrisburg, Penn.; Editing by Hilary Russ and Leslie Adler)





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"America, stop turning our Court Houses of Justice into Dens for Justified Murderers."

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beyond whatever sentimental values people may have

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"America, stop turning our Court Houses of Justice into Dens for Justified Murderers."

yeah, they just might need to close up shop. That's an embarrassment to the HBCU legacy....

Used to be a tough Division 2 Basketball match-up for my hometown, Gannon University Golden Knights back in the mid-to-late 80s/early 90s. Those were fun games to watch.

"Dressed up like an evil villain dressed up like a soccer dad"

lol

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http://twitter.com/aehorton
http://instagram.com/aehorton

but even now, as a 30+ year old, when i visit pwi's i'm in shock

their facilities are just THAT much better

my homegirl started working at a pwi

their infrastructure. processes. etc. EVERYTHING is on point (according to what she says - and i believe her)

and electronic

submitting requisitions and things of the sort on paper? where they do that at? you fill this out, take it to so and so, so and so takes it to so and so and then...if it didn't get lost or stuck in a pile on someones desk...maybe it'll get processed.

i mean..

i am a staunch advocate for HBCUs but we have GOT to do better or else we'll see far more of this

Not sure why some of these small HBCU's are stuck in the stone age when it comes to paperwork.

I'm not sure if that's the real problem though....

My mom when to St. Johns College in Annapolis and that place looked like it was stuck in a time warp from the 1700's.

I would love to see the salaries of some of these HBCU presidents and board members. No way they should make this much cake while the school is graduating 9%.

i work for an hbcu and am preeeeetty easy to find.

theres no such thing as freedom of speech where i'm at. lol.

but it's not just "small" HBCUs; some schools just fly under the radar

of course the paperwork isn't THE problem but it is an issue, and i think it says a lot when we're still pushing paper instead of utilizing all of the technology available to us.

and there are PLENTY of issues at HBCUs

to name a few

hiring friends/family vs people who are qualified
extremely poor customer service
poor technology/resources
embarrassing pay for faculty/staff (thus making it hard to recruit and keep good people)
low admission standards
no oversight
folks in positions for decades; no professional development; unable to adapt to change

You can't upgrade systems without proper infrastructures and you can't attract good students or student athletes with poor facilities.

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"America, stop turning our Court Houses of Justice into Dens for Justified Murderers."

kids nowadays don't HAVE to go to an HBCU

they CHOOSE them

even when i was in school, i CHOSE an HBCU; my grandparents and parents went to an HBCU and i wanted a 'black experience.'

but i could have gone anywhere i wanted to and i had friends from diverse backgrounds growing up

HBCUs often depend on their legacy and at this point, that isn't enough

these kids don't care if booker t kicked it on the waterfront too

it's up to us, those who work at these institutions and those who are alum , to make these schools that much more appealing by supporting the schools through giving, etc. so that we can enhance programs/infrastructure/etc. in hopes of competing with pwi's and attracting/retaining good students.

These HBCU's seem to be living in another reality.


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"America, stop turning our Court Houses of Justice into Dens for Justified Murderers."

Aggie Pride!

bball camp there back in the day.

It was a nice campus then. well, one of my first experiences of being on any kind of campus so of course i was impressed.

lot of schools in this predicament.


peace & blessings,

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www.twitter.com/poetx

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I'm an advocate for working smarter, not harder. If you just
focus on working hard you end up making someone else rich and
not having much to show for it. (c) mad

About 5 years ago He Called me. Well he called a guy i was messing with on some bball shit and asked for me. Left his number and erything.. It was a Wednesday and he was leaving for China that Saturday for 2 weeks.

The guy didn't give me the message until Saturday. Tawnbout he forgot.

He even let me hear the message and i listened about 10 times to make sure i had the number right.

I called the number and his vmail was his voice saying he was gone for 2 weeks.

I called when i figured those two weeks were up, number outta service.

I have not forgiven dude for this shit at all.

@geahuwine

i still blame hip-hop.

He was like "OH YEAH, John Chaney left a message for you"...i was like stop lying and dude played me the message...you know how distinct his voice is so i went from surprise to anger like How can u not tell me this shit?! How do u just in passing mention this.

Chaney was doing some converse rep work and it was on his vmail that i called several times(I had to have called his number 20 times over 2 weeks)..so i'm thinking it had something to do with that...i was SO MAD for a long time over that shit.

i am still not over that shit.

@geahuwine

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>i am still not over that shit.
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"America, stop turning our Court Houses of Justice into Dens for Justified Murderers."

It did then and still does have a circular problem with not attracting top students because it's literally in the middle of nowhere. Like there is nothing at all around it. I want to say that in the late 90s there was some kind of exchange program between Temple and Cheyney, but I can't quite recall. They'd do well to take some lessons from Lincoln which I think was in a similar position in the last 15-20 years. Maybe positioning themselves as a JuCo/tech alternative for students in the PA/DE/NJ area. Hope they make it out.

Streets won't let me chill.

Seriously how doe s school even maintain it's accreditation with such nonsense.

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"America, stop turning our Court Houses of Justice into Dens for Justified Murderers."

...and jack-legging (day laboring).

Don't know about the ins-and-outs of the administration, but the school always seemed chaotic as hell to me. We used to ride out there for parties and just be wandering everywhere... in dorms, through buildings, etc. I always wondered how anyone got any real school work done in that environment.

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http://twitter.com/logicalhood
http://instagram.com/hoodlogic

> just be wandering everywhere...
>in dorms, through buildings, etc. I always wondered how anyone
>got any real school work done in that environment.


first time i ever went out there i walk by the library and there is a group of dudes just smoking weed on the library steps
like they were huddled in front of a chinese store or something
never saw anything like that happening on a schools property, especially on anything as visible as lit steps of a main building
ain't gon go in too much but i'll just say i was routinely spending nights in the girl dorms, waking up walking into the girls shower to pee and everything

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>ain't gon go in too much but i'll just say i was routinely
>spending nights in the girl dorms, waking up walking into the
>girls shower to pee and everything

It seems like everytime I went to take a leak in the dorms a girl would come in the bathroom and just walk into a stall like it was normal for a big-ass dude to be in there. Don't remember any security either, except for the FOI that would work the parties.

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http://twitter.com/logicalhood
http://instagram.com/hoodlogic

access into the building
at night i would hear other dudes though in the hall
and once some dude she was talking to even knocked on the door while i was in bed, lol
so apparently dudes could get in with ease
but yea i could barely sleep with all the noise in the hallways at like 3am (freestyles,ratchet convos loud as hell)
so good luck studying for finals i guess

i wonder what the feeder schools for them are (that specific girl was from harlem)
nobody from philly wanted to go there
they most trick black kids from the NE/mid atlantic who don't know any better to go there
ie.philly kids going to bowie state

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"America, stop turning our Court Houses of Justice into Dens for Justified Murderers."

I remember her sneaking me in the girls dorms and staying with her overnight in her room with her roommate sleeping in the bed across the room. Awkward as shit.

Environment always appeared laxed around there.

She would even sneak me into the cafeteria sometimes i be sitting up there eating just like i went there.

Not shocked theyre in this situation.

Surprised it took this long.

It's one thing when private HBCUs are mismanaged, but the state should have put an end to this level of mismanagement years ago.

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"America, stop turning our Court Houses of Justice into Dens for Justified Murderers."

And although both schools are just a short drive away from Penn and Temple, the latter universities are light years ahead.

cheyney is hurting but its not like the lock havens, shippensburgs, etc out here as beacons of light killin it with 84% grad rates


an almost 200 yr old institution possibly closing over 12M debt is a joke. pathetic. thats like an SEC practice field or the money spent putting up fracking billboards across the state

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bunda
<-.-> ^_^ \^0^/
get busy living, or get busy dying.

we'll see what the dem's do though
can't be much worst but you never know
the dems in philly shut down schools and public services but had millions to construct prisons so i'm skeptical

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