Barber-Scotia College chief: School aims for accreditation

BARBER-SCOTIA COLLEGE

Barber-Scotia College President Chris Rey says the historically Black school is on track to seek accreditation in October, 20 years after losing its credential to financial issues.

Barber-Scotia College is moving closer to applying for accreditation it lost two decades ago.

School President Chris Rey confirmed Tuesday in an interview with The Post that the historically Black college in Concord plans to apply with Forest, Virginia-based Transnational Association of Christian Schools, Colleges and Universities.  Nearly 90 campuses are accredited through TRACS.

BCS students have been denied access to federal financial aid since 2004, leaving them to pay out of pocket for classes.

“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,” said Rey, who was hired in July 2023. “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.”

In 2004, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools revoked BSC’s accreditation due to inaccurate reporting information on the school’s finances and academics during a period of churn in leadership.
The school has struggled since with enrollment due to the lack of student financial aid, which is often used to pay tuition costs. The Associated Press reported in 2004 that up to 90% of BSC students relied on financial aid or grants to pay for tuition. Without that revenue, enrollment and facilities declined.

In 2009, five years after losing accreditation, Barber-Scotia enrolled 120 students. In 2017, the Barber-Scotia Community Task Force was founded to restore the campus. According to WCNC-TV, six of the campus’ 15 buildings were deemed uninhabitable.

“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.”

Since Rey’s arrival, BSC launched an online learning program through a partnership with Skilldora that focuses on artificial intelligence instruction. More than 200 people signed up for the free certification program, according to Rey. Tuition is now $2,500 a semester, and if the school is granted accreditation, financial aid will once again be available to students.

“We are slowly but surely engaging individuals,” Rey said, “putting out information and encouraging folks to know that we are open number one, and that we are focused on bringing in students and making sure that their access to education is at an affordable cost.”

BSC was founded in 1867 as Scotia Seminary by the Rev. Luke Dorland and commissioned by the Presbyterian Church (USA) to educate Black women for careers in education and social work. In 1916, the school’s name was changed to Scotia Women’s College and in 1930, merged with Barber Memorial College of Anniston, Alabama, resulting in a name change in 1932.

In 1942, the school launched a four-year degree program and in 1945 the first bachelor’s degrees were conferred.

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