On Thursday afternoon, Talladega College revealed its recovery strategy at a news conference. This announcement follows recent financial troubles that have raised concerns about the college’s stability.
Talladega College, Alabama’s oldest private historically Black institution, has struggled with “significant debt” in recent years. Founded in 1867, the college has seen a rise in payroll expenses while student enrollment has dropped. With 748 students currently enrolled, the financial strain is evident.
Earlier this summer, the college faced delays in payroll. Some faculty members got their paychecks late, but the college eventually issued the payments. Gregory Vincent, the school’s former president, resigned in June and interim president Walter Kimbrough took over. Kimbrough, now leading the recovery efforts, announced his focus on “restructuring to live more within our means.” He reported reducing the payroll from $1.4 million to $1 million by cutting positions, though he did not specify how many.
At the press conference, Board of Directors Chairwoman Rica Lewis-Payton presented a four-step recovery plan: Financial Integrity and Stability, Academic Excellence and Accreditation, Recruitment and Retention, and Institutional Advancement and Fundraising. She assured that the college has met payroll payments despite earlier delays and emphasized its efforts to settle outstanding debts with vendors. The exact amount of debt remains undisclosed.
“Now as we start digging, we know more information, we know who we owe, know how much we owe, when we last paid them but more importantly made and took action to start addressing those,” said Lewis-Payton.
Interim President Dr. Walter Kimbrough acknowledged the broader challenges facing private higher education. He pointed out that Talladega’s financial issues arose from a 24% drop in enrollment over the past three years, coupled with increasing payroll costs.
Kimbrough highlighted the recent closure of Birmingham-Southern College, which shut down in May after 170 years of operation. He noted, “There are challenges with private higher education. Higher education had a dip in enrollment for a decade straight until last year, that was the first increase we had in over ten years. That’s been a challenge for all of higher education and Talladega wasn’t immune to that challenge.”
Birmingham-Southern, a private Methodist college, faced a nearly $40 million deficit before closing. Its endowment dwindled from $48 million in 2012 to between $20 million and $25 million in 2024. “Birmingham-Southern College had issues since 2010,” Kimbrough explained. “It was a slow decline over 14 years, leading to the institution’s closure. They tried to make course corrections, but some tough decisions weren’t made, and a constant turnover in leadership likely contributed to their struggles.”
Recently, Talladega has missed payments to employees and vendors, failed to provide federal refund checks to students, and cut the gymnastics team. When asked about potential further cuts, Lewis-Payton said, “Everything is on the table…there will be more hard decisions.”
Looking ahead, the college plans to build a strong endowment to support operations during the summer months when funding is lower. “In rebuilding, we discover some past mistakes and commit to correcting them,” Lewis-Payton added.
