Alabama A&M University leadership wants to buy soon-to-close Birmingham-Southern College, a move leadership says would help the growing college expand into one of its primary student markets and be a boon for the surrounding community.
Based in Huntsville, Alabama A&M is the state’s largest historically Black college. It currently has its largest enrollment, 6,600 students, and freshman class, 2,000. Ten percent of its students come from Birmingham.
“Birmingham is our market,” Shannon Frank Reeves Sr., Alabama A&M’s vice president of government affairs and external relations, told Alabama Daily News on Tuesday.
“We believe that we are the best fit for the campus and that community.”
The public university plans to soon make an offer to buy the private college that will close at the end of the month.
“We are prepared to resolve all of their debt,” Reeves said. “And we also know that there is a lot of deferred maintenance (on the BSC campus).”
Alabama A&M isn’t the only interested party and while Reeves didn’t disclose yet specifics of the purchase proposal, he said if the private liberal arts college chooses it, AAMU could have classes there by the fall. As a public university, Reeves said it could be a “lightning rod” for federal dollars and private investment for west Birmingham.
Birmingham-Southern announced in March that it will close late this month after years of financial struggles and inability to get a $30 million loan from the state. The 168-year-old college sits on 192 acres.
Miles College, a private HBCU in nearby Fairfield, in March expressed interest in the BSC campus, BirminghamWatch reported.
Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, was one of the advocates for a state loan program created last year in a legislative effort to help BCS. The effort failed when Alabama State Treasurer Young Boozer said the school wasn’t credit worthy.
On Tuesday, Givan said there will be lots of possibilities for the historic campus.
“There are going to be multiple entities that are going to bid, I’m excited about the opportunities,” Givan told Alabama Daily News.
She said she’s especially happy to see HBCUs express interest in the property.
“That certainly will be a history maker, if for instance there is an HBCU that buys it,” Givan said.
She said she’ll be supportive of “whoever the winner is.”
“I’m excited, the people in the area are excited, they’re anxious,” Givan said. “I get calls every day about it. So these are just exciting times and we’ll see who makes it to the finish line.”
A new campus for Alabama A&M would require some approval in Montgomery.
Trustees of the state’s colleges and universities have the authority to purchase real property, but the establishment of academic units or instructional programs at the site does require approval by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education, ACHE Executive Director Jim Purcell told ADN on Tuesday.
“It could not immediately be considered a branch campus, but would need to be in successful operation as an ‘off-campus site’ for five years before A&M could seek approval for the site to be designated as a branch campus,” Purcell said.
“… In addition, A&M’s proposal for a new off-campus site would need to include written consent from public institutions within a 25-mile radius of the site,” Purcell said. “This would include (the University of Alabama at Birmingham), Lawson State (Community College) and Jefferson State (Community College), depending on the courses that AAMU plans to offer at the site. Miles College in nearby Fairfield may also want to share an opinion on A&M’s course offerings in Birmingham.”
Alabama A&M already has an off-site campus at Lawson State in Birmingham, so that’s not a new process, Reeves said.
He said Alabama A&M was looking at expansion options before the announcement that BSC was in financial distress.
The university has a housing shortage and this year had to lease about 1,000 apartments for its growing student body. Meanwhile, some students are priced out of the Huntsville housing market, Reeves said. About 70% of students qualify for need-based financial aid.
“How can they afford to pay $1,800 a month in Huntsville?” Reeves said.