A pair of T-shirt-clad students stood at the front desk of Birmingham-Southern College’s welcome building Tuesday. They wanted copies of their transcripts.

Students at the small, private liberal arts school in Birmingham are meeting with faculty individually this month to plan their next steps. Everyone is assessing their options.

Daniel Coleman, the college’s president, said he hopes students won’t need paperwork to transfer schools. Coleman is in the midst of a last-ditch effort to save the school, which has been in financial distress for years. Officials are asking for $37.5 million from state and local funds to replenish their endowment, which they say will be enough to get the college back on track.

“We really just want our students to know we’ve got their back,” Coleman said in an interview with AL.com this week. “Whatever happens, we’re going to take care of them.”

Through January and February, students, staff and alumni have held legislative strategy meetings, launched a letter writing campaign and have written to the press in efforts to sway lawmakers, who will ultimately have to approve the request and put it in the legislative budget.

But with less than a month until the legislative session begins, the clock is running out.

Hiring cycles for faculty have begun, and officials are advising fall applicants to keep their options open.

“We have to know this semester,” Coleman said. “Our students need to start thinking about a plan to transfer in April, so we don’t have a lot of time.”

Does Alabama want to help?

Birmingham-Southern officials maintain that the private college’s requests for public funding – for $12.5 million from the pandemic recovery fund, $17.5 million from the Education Trust Fund and an additional $7.5 from local delegations – aren’t unprecedented, and would barely make a dent in the state’s historic surplus.

Some opponents, however, haven’t budged on the ask, calling the request for public funds a “slippery slope.”

“As we go through the process, we’re getting some more momentum,” Sen. Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham, told AL.com last week. “But at this point, there’s plenty more work to do. There’s plenty work to do.”

Experts say Birmingham-Southern isn’t in a unique situation. About 20 college campuses, mostly private, close a month, according to recent research.

Still, it’s rare for a state legislature to offer substantial public support.

“They’re all looking for a way out,” said Carlo Salerno, an education economist who has studied public funding models for private institutions. “For the state to step in here and offer that kind of support – that becomes a game changer to these thousands of small private colleges that are worried about their existence. And that’s what I think scares lawmakers.”

Coleman, meanwhile, said he’s exhausted all other funding options.

Recent transition in the U.S. Senate has made it difficult to ask for federal funds, he said, and the Methodist church, which provides some scholarships for BSC students to go into the ministry, isn’t in a position to provide substantial support. Other colleges aren’t interested in a merger, he added.

And Coleman feels up against a wall with Gov. Kay Ivey. He said Ivey has denied his previous requests for COVID relief funds.

But he’s hoping a meeting with her may change her mind.

“There’s lots of voices on the legislative side, but we need leadership from the Governor’s office to get things done,” he said.

Public support for private schools

In Alabama, there is some precedent for public support of private schools. But how officials make that determination isn’t always simple.

Some private colleges, like Marion Military Institute, Athens State and Walker College were taken over by the state in recent years or have merged with other colleges. Others, like Judson College and a for-profit college in Selma, did not receive state support and have since closed.

“I think Birmingham Southern has a great reputation,” said Jim Purcell of the Alabama Commission on Higher Education. “The question is whether the contribution to that institution should occur, or that money should be sent to other institutions or provided to other students so that they can attend other schools. And I think that is more of a political decision than a policy decision.”

Last year, $14.95 million of state funds directly went to four Alabama private colleges, supporting about 3.2% of their combined operating budgets, according to data provided by ACHE. But the bulk of that money went to Tuskegee University, which the state retains some control over.

The Alabama Legislature also created the HBCU Deferred Maintenance Grant Program in 2021, which supported $1.82 million in maintenance projects across six private Historically Black Colleges and Universities – much less than the $5.67 million originally requested by those institutions.

An additional $9.2 million in state financial aid went to a total of 6,206 students at all private colleges in 2021-2022, according to ACHE.

Salerno said in most other states, small amounts of public money may go toward private colleges for research or student support services – but they rarely finance the institutions themselves.

“It’s a tough row to hoe,” he said. “I sympathize, and I feel like they understand that this is the eleventh hour and this kind of feels like a Hail Mary, which it is. But I don’t know that any state would want to do something like this.”

Will students come?

Private colleges in Alabama enrolled about 23,000 students in fall 2021, according to ACHE. Birmingham-Southern has an average enrollment hovering just above 1,000 students.

During the pandemic, enrollment dipped to 975, according to data provided to AL.com by the college.

Officials say they have seen an increase in applications for enrollment this cycle; if applicants end up enrolling, the college could bring in about 1300 students next year – a five-year high.

But they’re having a harder time recruiting students from their own backyard.

“We have to show stability,” Coleman said. “The Birmingham area knows how unstable we are more than the kid from Kentucky.”

If the school sees another dip, Coleman said the college is prepared. He estimates that the funding, if they get it, would be enough to offset a tuition loss of up to 20%.

Coleman also has committed to using those funds to provide new academic programs in data science, cybersecurity and computer science, which will aim to bring in about 2,000 part-time students by the time they’re up and running.

“In a weird way, there’s some really great things going on here,” he said. “Despite the financial crisis, and wear and tear on the college over the last 10 years, there’s a lot of great stuff going on.

“If we can just stabilize, I think this college will take off.”

Read more:

• Lawmakers doubtful about Birmingham-Southern request for funding.
• Birmingham-Southern is in financial distress, wants millions in public funding.