By Cash Michaels –
As of July 1st, 45 of the small, private, Baptist-affiliated historically Black university’s students were in danger of not being allowed to register to return for classes next academic school year because their university accounts were not cleared, meaning they could not attend classes, live in residence halls, travel, or take part in any of the other normal experiences of campus life.
With classes scheduled to begin August 14th, many of those students still owe between $2,500-$5,000 each. And some of those students are seniors preparing to graduate next year.
Given that challenge, Dr. Paulette Dillard, president of Shaw University, launched CESA (the Campaign for Emergency Student Aid) on July 1st, in an attempt to raise $175,000 to erase the balances of the 45 students for the fall semester.
“The students associated with those accounts are bright, they have promise, curiosity, ability and perseverance,” said Dr. Dillard in her outreach letter to the Shaw Bear Nation.
“Yet they come from low-income households and have no family contributions toward their education,” she continued. “The idea of students having to drop out of college because of an unpaid balance is something we cannot let happen.”
“They don’t want to drop out of school,” Dr. Dillard maintained.
Ms. Marilyn Baldwin Richards, vice president for Institutional Advancement and chief development officer at Shaw University, is in charge of the CESA effort. She says the HBCU has never conducted this kind of fundraising campaign before, but knew it had to once the need became apparent.
“We’ve had good response, but we need more,” Ms. Richards said. Some donors have specified certain students on the spreadsheet to contribute to, Richards added—like four seniors, or a political science student—all of whom who had outstanding back…
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