Saint Augustine’s University, a historically Black university with Episcopal roots in Raleigh, North Carolina, is filing for bankruptcy to restructure its finances and will end its fight to keep its accreditation. Even so, the university says it isn’t closing and has not given up on long-term plans to rebound financially and academically.
“Chapter 11 [bankruptcy] provides a comprehensive path to address our financial challenges and move forward with a stronger foundation,” the board of trustees said in an April 28 news release, which also named a new interim president, Verjanis A. Peoples.
Saint Augustine’s had been fighting since 2023 to retain its accreditation with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, or SACSCOC. In 2025, it filed an injunction request in court, allowing its current students to continue earning degrees from an accredited university while the case was pending, but it now says that litigation will end effective May 15.
