HBCU ready to pursue accreditation 20 years after loss

By Stephen J. Gaither

Twenty years after losing its accreditation, North Carolina HBCU Barber-Scotia is looking to apply to get back in the game.

The Concord, NC – based HBCU plans to apply for accreditation with the Transnational Association of Christian Schools, Colleges and Universities, according to President Chris Rey as reported in the Charlotte Post.

The school is able to confer degrees, however, the lack of accreditation prevents its students from applying for federal financial aid. Its tuition is currently $2,500 per semester.

“I always want to make sure that people know that Barber-Scotia is authorized by the state of North Carolina to confer degrees to individuals,” Rey said. “As we reposition ourselves to be in a position to receive federal financial aid, I will tell you that Barber-Scotia is on track for reaccreditation. Our plan, if everything goes right, is to submit our application for re-accreditation in October of this year.”

The school was founded to educate Black women for careers in education and social work in 1867 as Scotia Seminary. Its name was later change to Scotia Women’s College and became known as Barber-Scotia after a merger Barber Memorial College of Anniston, Alabama.

The college is one of 11 HBCUs in the state of North Carolina, but it has been fighting for survival since the loss of accreditation. Its football program, which once called future NFL players home, was cut shortly thereafter. Six of the campus’ 15 buildings were previously deemed uninhabitable. But under Rey’s leadership, the HBCU launched an online learning program through a partnership with Skilldora that focuses on artificial intelligence instruction.

“We have been working very hard over the last year with the team that I have assembled to address the 17 standards by the TRACS organization that we are going to be working with to get reaccredited so that our future students will get access to federal financial aid,” Rey said. “When I took over, we had no potential students that were interested in Barber-Scotia. As of today, we had over 60 applications for potential students for the college for this fall that we’re working through right now.”