UNC-system President Erskine Bowles said Thursday that N.C. Central University will have to repay federal loans granted to students who were enrolled in an unauthorized satellite campus.
We will have a significant liability"" he said, adding that details were still up in the air and the UNC system still needed to talk with the U.S. Department of Education.
The campus, founded in 2004 and based in an Atlanta-area church, was unknown to the UNC system until August. It was never approved by NCCU, UNC-system General Administration, the Board of Governors or the agency responsible for accrediting schools in the region. The campus was dissolved in June.
Why" I still do not know" Bowles said of not being informed about the campus. I can think of no justifiable reason whatsoever why the former leadership at NCCU would completely fail to abide by the appropriate approval process.""
Bowles said that they had examined more than 400 schools and found nothing comparable to the situation with NCCU.
He also said they would have to do right by the 125 students involved with the program" including the 25 who graduated and 39 who were still enrolled when the campus was dissolved.
Bowles thanked NCCU Chancellor Charlie Nelms for his handling of the situation" which was the doing of the prior administration.
""I want to say" up front thank God for Charlie Nelms" he said. He inherited a mess.""
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