<p>I applaud your interest in going to college. It's good that you have the emotional support of your family and friends as you make this change in your life.</p>
<p>I am a black educator and have worked with a variety of HBCUs including Clark Atlanta. I believe that HBCUs serve a very important role in soclety. With this in mind, please read my thoughts.</p>
<p>You are unlikely to get any more money from Clark Atlanta because it is attempting to dig its way out of a major financial crisis that still could cause it to close or lose its accreditation. Loss of accreditation basically woud mean that students' degrees would be virtually worthless. Employers would not take the students seriously nor would graduate programs.</p>
<p>If you are not aware of the financial problems, I have posted some links below that will give you background.</p>
<p>I do not suggest that any student take out $60,000 in loans even if they will go to a financially stable college. The average amount of loans that most US students take out to cover a total of 4-years of college is $20,000. What makes those loans worth it is that students' earning potential greatly increases for each year of college, and a $20,000 loan is usually fairly easily paid back by students.</p>
<p>Taking out more, though, is risky unless one definitely knows that one is going into a high paid field such as chemical engineering. In addition, if one is taking out such large loans, it helps to also come from a family that one knows that one can rely on help after college such as getting help with setting up a household, buying a car, periods of unemployment and even assistance paying back such a large loan.</p>
<p>In general, it is difficult to raise $60,000 in scholarship money from outside sources. Usually the best way to get scholarship money is by getting accepted to a college that offers lots of scholarship money.</p>
<p>This late in the school year, it is difficult to find even small outside scholarships. Most outside scholarships are small, and most such scholarships are either for graduating high school seniors or for students who are ending their junior years in college.</p>
<pre><code>My advice is that instead of going to Clark, which is financially on shaky ground, you'd be better off going to an HBCU or mainstream college that is more financially stable or continuing at your community college and then transferring. You can probably get into a community college in time to go next fall.
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<p>There are some four-year colleges that offer nice scholarships to transfer students with excellent records from community colleges. This particularly is true of some four-year public universities. There are some private universities -- particularly women's colleges -- that offer scholarships to students who are returning to school after being in the work force for a while.</p>
<p>If you wish to try pursuing these options, the Parents Forum here on College Confidential usually is good at offering helpful information to students facing major problems with their education.</p>
<p>I know that Clark Atlanta officials are publicly saying that everything is all right, but the kind of problems that are described below are not ended over night. Such major financial problems, staff layoffs, the closure of academic departments are very demoralizing for faculty and staff, too, which also probably means that students are not getting the nurturing attention that HBCUs are generally noted for.</p>
<p>Here's a snippet from a Jan. 1, 2004 article in Black Issues in Higher Ed. I could not get the whole article because it's by paid subscription only. You can, however, use a search engine to find plenty of info on Clark's situation.</p>
<p>"Clark Atlanta University, for example, has already gone the way of many corporations during these tight economic times. In October, the university announced its plan to strengthen the 5,000-student campus. Cost-reduction measures included the elimination of staff and faculty positions as well as the phase-out of five academic programs. More specifically:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Since June, 91 staff positions have been eliminated, 27 others have been left untilled;</p></li>
<li><p>21 faculty members have taken advantage of an early retirement program...." <a href="http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0DXK/is_23_20/ai_112409403%5B/url%5D">http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0DXK/is_23_20/ai_112409403</a></p></li>
</ul>
<p>It is wonderful that you want to go to college. However, Clark Atlanta is not the one to go to now. Any college that has such serious financial difficulty is not in a position to give you an optimal education. Professors and staff will be demoralized. Programs will be losing accreditation. Employers will be suspect of the quality of students.</p>
<p>Here's an article from a 2003 edition of Howard University's paper about the situation:
"Clark-Atlanta University recently announced that it would cut five academic programs from its curriculum to offset the $7.5 million shortfall they are experiencing as a result of overspending their $100 million budget. </p>
<p>The Board of Trustees decided to cut Library and Information Systems Studies, International Affairs and Development, Allied Health Professions, the Department of Engineering, and the Systems Science Ph.D. program." <a href="http://www.thehilltoponline.com/media/paper590/news/2003/10/28/Campus/ClarkAtlanta.Cuts.Five.Programs-540847.shtml%5B/url%5D">http://www.thehilltoponline.com/media/paper590/news/2003/10/28/Campus/ClarkAtlanta.Cuts.Five.Programs-540847.shtml</a></p>