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| Birmingham-Southern athletics photo |
Having made multiple appeals to Alabama state officials for financial help, Birmingham-Southern College has announced that it will close at the end of the 2024 spring semester.
The school, in Birmingham, Alabama, enrolled just more than 1,000 full-time undergraduates as of its most recent filing with the U.S. Department of Education. B-SC, a private institution, was looking for assistance in the amount of $37.5 million. It felt it had received this help when the Alabama state legislature approved the concept of a loan program for private educational institutions, but the state treasurer declined to actually make the loan.
The school will cease operations, according to a statement, on May 31, 2024. The school's board of trustees voted unanimously to close the school after the loan program designed to help keep the school open failed to gain enough support in the Alabama legislature.
Birmingham-Southern announced in the spring of 2006 that it was moving from Division I to Division III. The school had moved from the NAIA to NCAA Division I just a few years earlier.
The Panthers have found success in Division III sports, including finishing as the 2019 national runner-up in baseball.
B-SC faced financial problems in the early 2010s after accounting errors were discovered in the awarding of financial aid, causing shortfalls of about $5 million per year for several years running. This eventually led to the resignation of college president David Pollick, who spearheaded the school's move from D-I to D-III. In addition, from 2007 to 2021, the school's endowment declined by an estimated amount of $57 million.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.