ATLANTA — A new excitement is bubbling over the future of an Atlanta HBCU. Morris Brown College regained its accreditation this week after initially losing it 20 years ago.
The school struggled financially for decades, but now it seems to be back on track. School officials expect enrollment and engagement to soar as a result.
Shernethia Brooks was on a college tour at Morris Brown Wednesday. She attended Clark Atlanta University 20 years ago, but she never graduated. Now, she plans to study psychology and earn her degree just down the road at Morris Brown. Brooks said the school having its accreditation restored played a big factor in her deciding to attend.
"School is an investment," Brooks said. "If you're going to spend the money to go to school, you want to make sure the credits are going to be able to stand so you can get your degree and start your career."
Accreditation is what makes a school reputable as an institution that upholds a certain level of educational standards. Morris Brown had financial mismanagement around the time it lost its accreditation. The school went into bankruptcy in 2015. Many of the alumni reportedly became volunteer faculty and staff to support the college over the last 20 years with no accreditation.
The Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) approved Morris Brown's application to restore its accreditation this week.
“The alumni never gave up on this school, and the president didn’t give up on this school. But most of all, the community didn’t give up on this school," DeKalb County Sheriff Melody Maddox, a Morris Brown alum, said. “It’s more than just history. It’s the fact that someone paid a price for us to be able to get this education.”
Alumnus Chuck Barlow credited alumni support as one of the key factors in Morris Brown surviving for 20 years without accreditation and finally achieving full accreditation after a long road to recovery. Barlow said the alumni network backed the school to make it financially stable, one of the criteria for reapplying for accreditation. The money raised went to repairs, backpay for faculty and staff and recruitment.
RELATED: Morris Brown College financial aid victory to 'open up the floodgates' for prospective students
The Morris Brown National Alumni Association president, Dr. Shirley Barlow, also helped to get the American Methodist Episcopal Church to release Morris Brown from a $1.5 million debt so that MBC could apply for TRACS accreditation.
Morris Brown also lacked federal financial assistance because it lost accreditation, however now that it has been restored, students who attend are once again eligible for federal financial aid and the school may be helped with federal funds.
Nedra Nuckles, who first attended Morris Brown in 1987, came back to graduate in 2017. She now serves as vice president of a healthcare company. In finishing what she started, she said she draws a lot of parallels to Morris Brown's journey to regain accreditation.
“Having the opportunity to be fully accredited again fills a need in the community again," Nuckles said. "I could have gone to school a lot of other places, but my heart has always been at Morris Brown. They would give you an opportunity, and if you had the drive and the heart and put in the work to do it, you can finish.”
Brooks sees her return to school as an opportunity to be part of a rebirth at the Atlanta University Center and at Morris Brown, a school that's created plenty of history since its founding in 1881.
“The whole reset and the resurrection of this school, I just wanted to be part of history," Brooks said.