Bethune-Cookman University President Brent Chrite writes to alumni accrediting body requires Daytona Beach school to close $8 million budget deficit by March.





DAYTONA BEACH — In a letter to alumni last week, Bethune-Cookman University President Brent Chrite put in stark terms the existential threat looming over the school.

The school must raise or cut some combination of $8 million to balance its operating budget by March.

"2020 will be a pivotal year in history of B-CU," Chrite wrote in the letter dated Jan. 27. "It will be the year our beloved university prepared to close its doors or it will be the year we turned a corner and began moving toward an exciting future."

Bethune-Cookman is in its second year of academic probation. The university’s administration has "made tremendous progress on all of our standards (governance, financial controls, resources, etc.)," Chrite said in a followup message on the B-CU Facebook page.

For B-CU to hang on to its accreditation, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges is requiring the school to close its operating deficit of $8 million by the time officials submit their re-accreditation application in March.

Without accreditation, B-CU will lose access to most of its federal funding. The university gets more than $7 million in federal grants, while being allocated another $7.5 million in financial aid.

"We cannot survive as a university without it," Chrite writes.

[READ ALSO: Lawsuit: B-CU defaulting on $306M dorm deal]

Chrite said B-CU has reduced that operating deficit from $20 million since he started as president in July. The university has done so in the face of dwindling enrollment.

Fewer students

Last April, B-CU had reported receiving 40% fewer applications for the fall semester than it had at the same time in 2018. However, officials at the time expected to enroll about 3,800 students last fall.

The actual numbers in February 2020: a headcount of 2,702, with full-time equivalent of 2,652.

The 2020 enrollment is down about 20% from the same time last year.

"It has been difficult and at times painful," Chrite wrote, suggesting that "selected B-CU athletic programs" could be part of the effort to reduce costs.

"We have not determined which programs, if any, will be considered for elimination," Sara Brady, a spokeswoman for the university, followed up with an emailed statement to questions. "Any reduction would need to be made with the MEAC conference leadership to ensure our good standing on Title IX and related matters."

Title IX is the federal civil rights law requiring equal access for females to participate in educational programs including athletics.

Brady said there is no plan to eliminate any academic programs. "In fact, we recently added a new (master’s degree) in athletics training. We will continue to invest in the academic enterprise," she wrote.

"We are also reviewing a new, more agile and student-centered academic structure that the faculty are defining, which will enable us to more effectively meet the needs of our students," Brady said.

Appeal to alumni

In his letter, Chrite is asking its 15,000 alumni to help close the rest of the gap by pledging a recurring monthly $100 (or more) contribution.

Robert Delancy, president of the B-CU National Alumni Association, said Chrite is doing a "fantastic job" and deserves credit for being honest and working around the clock to fix problems.

"We are extremely thankful for him, for what he brings to the table," Delancy said. "He has this quiet confidence. It rubs off on everyone."

Delancy has been among the alumni critical of past administrations’ spending decisions, including a dormitory deal that’s spurred lawsuits and accusations.

"We support him 1,000%. We’re all digging deep and digging often to close that deficit."

Delancy said historically black colleges and universities such as Bethune-Cookman serve an importance today, decades after their founding during a time when many blacks were denied the opportunity to attend other colleges.

"We have thousands of young children coming from dysfunctional backgrounds struggling to make it, some the first in their families to go beyond high school," Delancy said. "One of the things HBCUs do, we get those kids. ... If they go to Florida State or Florida, they’re not going to get that support, that nurturing they would get at an HBCU."

In his letter, Chrite attempted to sound the alarm while striking an optimistic tone.

"This is the darkest period before what I expect to be a glorious dawn at B-CU," Chrite said.

The B-CU Facebook post adds: "While this is obviously serious, I have no doubt that we will prevail. I have full faith in our alumni community and I am excited about this institution’s future."