SAN ANTONIO, Texas (AP) -- Morris Brown College was stripped of its accreditation Tuesday, a blow that will cost the historically black school the federal financial aid most students depend on to help pay their tuition.
Another historically black institution, Grambling State University in Louisiana, will continue on probation for another year, according to the decision by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.
Grambling was placed on probation last year over concerns about its confusing financial records.
Morris Brown is more than $23 million in debt and went on probation last year for shoddy bookkeeping and not having enough professors with advanced degrees. The staffing problem was solved, but the school's financial crisis has grown worse in the last year.
Eighty percent of the school's 2,500 students receive financial aid from the federal government, which gives Morris Brown $8 million a year.
The 117-year-old school has been dealing with mounting financial debt and federal scrutiny for more than a year and had hopes that it was finally on the right track.
College president Charles Taylor announced the bad news at a campuswide meeting with students and faculty and said the college will appeal the decision. He also said the college will remain open, though he could not give specifics about how it will make up for the lost financial aid if the decision stands.
"It doesn't take rocket science to figure out if you have debt, you have to do something about that debt," Taylor said.
Morris Brown was founded in 1885 by the African Methodist Episcopal Church -- the only Georgia college founded by blacks.
One of six schools in the Atlanta University Center, Morris Brown's mission has been in part, to educate students who might not have had the opportunity to go to college otherwise.
Notable alumni include the late civil rights activist Hosea Williams and Pulitzer Prize-winning author James McPherson.

Hmmm
[This message was edited Wed Dec 11 15:28:43 PST 2002 by rdhull]