Sojourner-Douglass College has lost its appeal to reclaim accreditation, and state officials said Thursday they would assist the troubled Baltimore-based school in helping students transfer to other institutions.
The Middle States Commission on Higher Education said a review panel unanimously upheld last week the commission's November decision to strip the school of its certification. The decision is effective June 30, allowing current students to complete the academic year.
The commission cited inadequate financial resources in revoking the accreditation. Sojourner-Douglass has grappled with dwindling enrollments, and this month closed its satellite campus in Edgewater.
Jennie Hunter-Cevera, acting secretary of the Maryland Higher Education Commission, said the agency is meeting with Sojourner-Douglas President Charles Simmons "to discuss next steps."
Administrators at Sojourner-Douglass could not be reached for comment, but Simmons said previously that the school would consider legal options if the appeal were denied.
Founded in 1972 as the Homestead-Montebello Center of Antioch College, Sojourner-Douglass receives most of its funding via federal Pell Grants, and the decision to revoke its accreditation will make it ineligible for federal funding.
The loss of such funding will be a crushing blow to the already struggling school, which closed its Anne Arundel campus amid a lawsuit by the landlord over the school's failure to pay rent. Also this month, the Baltimore public school system moved students from a charter school facility run by Sojourner-Douglas, citing unpaid utility bills. The students were relocated to another site.
Officials acknowledge that the college has struggled to pay its employees since December, and all but a few of the Anne Arundel employees were let go when that campus shut down.
Sojourner-Douglass primarily serves an adult population; the average age of its students is 38. The school has 750 students, down from about 1,300 before details of its financial problems became public.
After the initial decision to revoke the school's accreditation, the U.S. Department of Education placed the college on a list for increased monitoring — a move Simmons said delayed the school's funding requests.
Department of Education officials did not respond Thursday to requests for comment on Sojourner-Douglas' financial circumstances or the status of Pell Grants.
Officials from the Federal Student Aid program also declined to comment on Sojourner-Douglass' status. Officials did say that schools participating in financial aid programs such as Pell Grants must be accredited by a nationally recognized agency or meet alternative requirements. Schools that lose accreditation immediately lose eligibility to participate in the Title IV programs for federal financial aid, officials said.
Sojourner-Douglass is the second school in Baltimore to lose its accreditation in four years. In 2011, Baltimore International College, the downtown culinary and hospitality school, lost its accreditation and was ultimately taken over by Stratford University.
Baltimore City Community College was placed on probation by the Middle States Commission in 2011, but its accreditation was reaffirmed a year later.