Wake County Schools terminates early college program with Saint Augustine's University

CARY, N.C. (WTVD) -- Amid a financial crisis and a bleak future for Saint Augustine's University's (SAU) accreditation, the Wake County school board voted Tuesday night to terminate its partnership with the HBCU for its Leadership Academy (an early college program) after the current semester.

Current students will continue to attend through the end of the semester. Despite that Saint Augustine's told students on Tuesday that they'll move to remote learning starting early next month, WCPSS sent a letter to parents Tuesday telling them SAU indicated early college program students would still be able to attend classes in person at SAU through the end of the year.

"We are aware of the news that classes may be moving to remote learning in April. However, the university has indicated our students will continue to be able to take classes on campus. This will allow our students to continue to take their WCPSS classes face-to-face," the letter read.

After this semester, SAU students in the early college program will attend Wake Tech Community College, which is not a four-year school. Students and parents urged the Wake County school board to give those students a four-year option for next year, but the board declined.

"I am disappointed. I do feel like there's a gap that really is going to let some very valuable and hardworking students fall through the cracks. Still, no one is addressing why we're in this position," Wake County parent April Miller told ABC11. She has a junior and senior attending SAU through the early college program.

Miller is concerned about the lack of clear communication about the next steps for her students.

"We will work with them to make sure our students continue to earn college credit hours, free of charge, while also gaining valuable experience in a higher education setting. Students will be able to select Wake Tech courses that are transferable to any UNC-system school," the WCPSS letter to parents read Tuesday.

The Wake County school board will begin looking for a four-year university to partner with for the 2025-26 school year.

Miller did make clear that this situation is tough all around, and she understands that it's put many different groups of people in a challenging position.

"I do want people to know that the staff at our school, the administration and the teachers are amazing. Our grief is not with them. They are just as much in this turmoil. What we want is for this gap to be taken care of and for these kids to get to have what they were promised when they made the sacrifices to join this program, which is in-person classes at a four-year accredited university where they can pick up the credits that are actually in line with the degrees they want to pursue afterward," Miller told ABC11.

WCPSS is holding meetings with parents to address their concerns in the hopes of clearly communicating the next steps. It has also provided some answers to some frequently asked questions for families in this program, which can be found here.

The university responded to the partnership coming to an end.

"We are very thankful and appreciative of the twelve years of partnership with the Wake County Public School System. While we are disappointed because we will miss the Wake Young Men's Leadership Academy (WYMLA) and Wake Young Women's Leadership Academy (WYWLA) students on our campus, we also understand the gravity of the moment. We fully support the decision of WCPSS Superintendent Dr. Robert Taylor and the WCPSS Board of Education.

We look forward to the day we can invite the early college students back to SAU with open arms."