Morris Brown College President Kevin James attended Mays High School graduation ceremomy in Atlanta and announced that all 272 seniors had been admitted to Morris Brown College, a Georgia HBCU and Atlanta University Center member. The only stipulation is that they graduate with above a 2.0 GPA.
Morris Brown College (MBC) is proud to announce it has received full accreditation from the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS), a Virginia-based accreditation agency. TRACS Board of Trustees voted to grant accreditation to MBC on April 26, 2022, at its annual meeting. This monumental achievement came after nearly 20 years of effort, marking a historical achievement for the 141-year-old college.
TRACS is recognized by the United States Department of Education (USDOE) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) as an institutional accrediting agency for Christian post-secondary institutions, colleges, universities, and seminaries. TRACS is also a member of the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE), a worldwide association of over 200 organizations active in the theory and practice of quality assurance in higher education. Moreover, the agency is a member of the American Council on Education (ACE), with over 1,700 organizations that collectively promote, protect, and advocate for students, faculty, and administrators in higher education.
Morris Brown College earning full accreditation is a significant achievement demonstrating that it holds quality standards and is engaged in continuous improvement. Furthermore, the college has been reinstated to participate in the Federal Financial Aid Program. Financial aid is any type of college funding that does not come from family, personal savings, or earnings. It can include grants, scholarships, work-study jobs, and federal or private loan programs. Financial aid can be used to cover educational expenses such as tuition/fees, room/board, books/supplies, and transportation. Morris Brown has one of the most affordable tuition rates in Georgia at $4,250 a semester.
Having served as chief executive for three years, President Kevin James said, “I am honored to lead this great institution. Many thought that this feat was impossible, but due to our strong faith in God, our hardworking and wonderful faculty and staff, the support of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, our dedicated alumni, and our resilient spirit, we were able to achieve full accreditation. Morris Brown offers a unique, affordable, and quality education that prepares students for success. This was truly The Hard Reset. This is just the beginning!”
Founded by formerly enslaved religious leaders at Big Bethel AME Church in 1881, MBC is the first college in Georgia to be owned and operated by African Americans. The iconic Fountain Hall and the current Morris Brown campus are where Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois wrote “The Souls of Black Folk” in 1903. Notable alumni include Alberta Williams King, mother of Martin Luther King, Jr., and James Alan McPherson, the first Black writer to win a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
The beleaguered Morris Brown College is in the process of emerging from three years of bankruptcy and $30 million of debt, according to Anne Aaronson, the Philadelphia-based lawyer with Dilworth Paxson LLP, who has represented the historically black Atlanta college in bankruptcy court.
"The court confirmed the college's plan of reorganization on Wednesday," Aaronson told Creative Loafing via email today. "We anticipate an order being entered shortly. Afterwards we will begin making distributions and file a notice of effective date, signaling the school's emergence from the chapter 11 process."
Once completed, this will bring an end an arduous process that involved proposed and rejected land deals before one was finally struck last year. Morris Brown sold 26 acres of property and buildings for approximately $14.7 million to the city's economic development arm, Invest Atlanta, and Friendship Baptist Church, one of two historic black churches sold to the city and demolished for the construction of the future Atlanta Falcons stadium.
Read more: Morris Brown College emerging from bankruptcy
