By Cash Michaels –
A month after losing its academic accreditation, the drama at St. Augustine’s University (SAU) continues.
The small private HBCU in Raleigh is now being sued by two tech companies for over $18 million for reportedly failing to pay for contracted services. That’s $18 million in addition to at least $7 million owed the federal government in back taxes, millions more in fees owed to assorted vendors, and probably millions more in pending lawsuits from former employees if the school loses in litigation.
SAU officials previously had indicated that the school had secured a $70 million land-lease loan with a Florida developer, but that deal ran into trouble with the state attorney general’s office, which was required to approve the terms because SAU is a nonprofit institution. Not much has been revealed since about the status of that deal.
To add to the SAU drama, the embattled school is preparing to graduate the Class of 2025 next month, thanks to a temporary appeals accreditation period it has while fighting the March decision by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).
But after its upcoming May commencement, not much is known about just how long SAU can or will remain open for another school year. Last August, SAU had an enrollment of only 200 students, down considerably from a normal enrollment in prior years of at least 1,600 students per semester.
Filed a week apart, both recent lawsuits accuse SAU of failure to pay for services rendered. One company, SBA Connect, claims that SAU went into default on its agreement to provide wireless service in September 2024. One of SBA Connect’s options to settle its outstanding debt is for SAU to pay $16,860,597.50 plus interest.
The second company to file litigation against SAU, Avaria, maintains that the school has paid some of the debt it owes the…
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