Tuesday, May 8, 2018, 9:43 AM

Tuesday, May 8, 2018, 9:43 AM

A rash of students not paying their bills has led to Bacone College being in dire financial straits, outgoing Bacone President Frank Willis said this morning. Two million dollars in outstanding student debt has left the school in a position where it has laid off most of its staff, including all its coaches, and will start laying off teachers next week, he said.

Students have been told they must vacate the dorms by noon on Friday, though seniors are being allowed to stay until after graduation on Saturday, Willis, who loaned the school $125,000 last year, but didn’t loan it this year because he is leaving, said.

“Bacone is going to go into hibernation mode,” he said of the next several weeks. “The new president has been hired specifically in hopes and expectations that he will be able to arrange some financial help from Native American tribes, since Bacone College is historically a Native American college.”

The American Baptist Association loaned the school a million dollars last year, provided the school could find another million elsewhere to match it. Last year, the school was able to do it, but this year, without the loan from Willis and other missed opportunities, the school hasn’t been able to find the second million, he said. The hopes are that the new president will be able to get Native tribes interested in pitching in.

“If he is successful — and he’s been going all over the country to do that — the school will be fine,” Willis said. “If the funding doesn’t come in, I regret to say this institution cannot go forward as it is presently.”

Some options are to consider merging with other schools, and Willis has already reached out to Oklahoma Baptist University and Northeastern State University to get a feel for the possibilities, but his hope is that Bacone continues as a self-sustaining private institution. The school is still hosting online classes over the summer, with about 40 students currently enrolled, and it plans to have classes in the fall as usual.