Morehouse College creates online program to help students with some credits finish degree

The HBCU wants to help students whose education has been interrupted complete their degrees

Feb 11, 2021

Morehouse College is helping Black men finish college without having to return to campus.

The all-male historically Black school is collaborating with an online program manager to help those who don’t have enough credits to graduate finish school. Morehouse announced Tuesday that the new initiative will launch this summer.

“They had a desire to finish their degree but didn’t have the ability to stop what they were doing in the world and go back to school,” Morehouse College president David A. Thomas, who came up with the idea, told The Washington Post.

He said young men who attended the Atlanta-based college but did not have the chance to finish would often express they wanted to finish their degree but couldn’t do so due to a variety of factors.

The men Thomas referred to are far from alone. There are 3 million Black men who have college credits but no degree, the Post reported, citing the Census Bureau.

“We owe it to the world to amplify our impact and that means … impacting the world without the world having to come to us. This is us going to the world,” said Thomas.

Morehouse College Commencement — Members of the Morehouse College 2002 graduating class sing their school song during commencement ceremonies May 19, 2002 in Atlanta. (Photo by Erik S. Lesser/Getty Images)

The online school will launch offering bachelor’s degrees in several concentrations, including business administration. The classes are designed for men who have earned credits from Morehouse and other colleges.

The online school will charge $600 per credit compared to the $1,115 per credit undergraduate students pay.

The students will also have access to advisors and to professional networking events the school is known for.

Morehouse Online, as it will be called, will work with 2U, an online program manager to administer the classes.

“Morehouse has the moral authority to provide the Good Housekeeping seal of Black male excellence,” said Thomas.

“What we will demand of our online students will be comparable to what we expect of our on-campus students. We have the advantage of working with people who have life experience, so they will use this opportunity with much more intentionality than a 17-year-old does when they show up on campus.”

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