WILBERFORCE, Ohio
Central State University officials saidfifty-three of its 1,026 students will be forced to withdraw becausethey failed to make full payment of their education expenses this year– which totals $3,300 a year for full-time undergraduates.
Trustee Vicki Pegg said that the move sends a signal to studentsthat they must be responsible for themselves when it comes to theircollege bills.
“No one likes to send young people home,” Pegg said. “But it’s a situation that has to be dealt with.”
Ohio’s only historically Black university is recovering from yearsof financial mismanagement that left it millions of dollars in debt.Last year, the legislature agreed to cover the debt and continuesupporting the Dr. Adam school, with conditions for tighter controls.Central State has been trying to increase enrollment, which fell fromnearly 2,000 in the fall of 1996. (See Black Issues, September 3)
Previously, university officials had in “special cases” allowedstudents to continue classes even if the students owed the school moneyfrom previous quarters.
According to a state audit conducted for fiscal 1995, about $5.2million, or 68 percent, of the money students owed the university forpast services had not been collected.
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