Update on the Status of Historically Black Barber-Scotia College

In 1867 Barber-Scotia College was founded in Concord, North Carolina, by the Presbyterian Church to educate newly freed black slaves. Its most famous graduate is Mary McLeod Bethune, who went on to found Bethune-Cookman College in Daytona Beach, Florida.

In 2004 this small historically black college was stripped of its accreditation because it had built up more than $1 million in debt. With its students no longer eligible for federal financial aid, enrollments dropped to zero. This past semester the college reopened with 15 students in a business administration program with a concentration in hospitality management. There are nine faculty members, most of whom volunteer their services. Tuition is only $500 a semester. Students can receive room and board for an additional $1,175.

Carl Flamer, an alumnus who is serving on a volunteer basis as president of the college, says, “The old Barber-Scotia is gone. It’s like a brand-new college.”