Campus community members at Southern Catholic College in Georgia gathered for an announcement April 12, from which they learned they would be starting summer a full month early due to budget issues. Final exams and papers would be cut, but the students were told they would still receive credit.

“There were a lot of emotional ups and downs during the week,” said Denise Walters, the director of annual funds at the college.

The college of about 200 students, located in Dawsonville, Ga., outside of Atlanta, was closed Thursday because of budgeting problems. The college has traditionally received funds through corporate gifting and matching gifts, both of which have been lower than normal in the past year, Walters said.

Father Shawn Aaron, the president of Southern Catholic College, sent out an e-mail to students, faculty and personnel April 7 that announced the closing of the college for the semester. The decision to tell students was decided in March, but it was put off until after students returned from spring break. The college stood to save $1.5 million by closing early, Walters said.

“We went long enough so that they have enough credit hours,” she said Thursday of the decision to end classes.

Aaron’s announcement by e-mail did not say whether the college would be closed temporarily or permanently.

“Words cannot express how profoundly sorrowful I am at this situation,” Aaron said in the e-mail. “Yet I also know that Our Lord has proven himself stronger than death and therefore stronger than our pain, weaknesses and circumstances. We must continually turn to him for strength.”

To remain open, the college needs a foundational gift, Walters said. Most of the current funding for the college comes from small donors. One of the funding problems is there is not a large, well-established base of alumni to donate to the college, Walters said.

The college’s Board of Trustees, some of whom founded the college in 2000, made the decision to cut the semester short. The college first opened to students in 2005, and the first class, made up of 42 students, graduated in 2009.

Students were not involved in the decision. Most heard of the early semester leave from Aaron’s e-mail, Walters said.

“They didn’t get an input because they don’t have the money to fund us,” Walters said.

At the April 12 meeting to address concerns, some students might have felt relief for not having to take a final exam, but the general mood was somber, Walters said. There was “not an outburst of anger,” she said.

To deal with the uncertainties of whether Southern Catholic College will open in the fall, a college fair that represented 10 colleges was held. Students would be allowed to transfer their credit to any of these 10 colleges to avoid having their degree interrupted if Southern Catholic College closed permanently. The college offers majors in history, English, business, integrated sciences, philosophy, psychology and theology.

Walters called the college fair “Plan B” for students who were uncertain if they would return in the fall.

Faculty and personnel also met with the other colleges in the hopes of getting a job at one of those schools if Southern Catholic College didn’t reopen in the fall.

“It was a very sad day,” Walters said, “a very sad week.”

Published on April 19, 2010 at 12:00 pm