CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte's only Historically Black College and University is launching a fundraiser to help close financial gaps for students. 

What You Need To Know

  •  JCSU is launching the Back to Beatties Ford Road emergency aid campaign

  •  The funding is to help students in need of financial clearance 

  •  JCSU president says it's important to support students so they can achieve their higher education goals 

On August 26, Johnson C. Smith University is kicking off the Back to Beatties Ford Road emergency aid campaign.

The fundraiser aims to raise at least $250,000 for 300 students who must be financially cleared by August 30. 

According to the JCSU website, financial clearance is the final step in the registration process for students. 

"Financial clearance is a term used to verify that a student will be attending classes for which he/she has registered in a given semester and that all financial obligations associated with the registration have been settled. Failure to complete the financial clearance process will result in the cancellation of the student’s class schedule and/or housing and meal plan assignments," JCSU website said. 

As part of the fundraiser, the university is also requesting donations to the JCSU General Scholarship Fund between now and August 30, to provide emergency aid to students in need for tuition, housing and other educational-related needs. 

JCSU President Dr. Valerie Kinloch said these actions are critical to ensuring students are able to continue their higher education goals and keep their spot in classes. 

"Making sure students that have said they want to be here at 100 Beatties Ford Road are able to register for classes, pay tuition down, have access to room and board and resources they rightfully deserve," Kinloch said. "We're pushing. We have a record amount of students who have applied, gotten accepted, and I want to ensure we can at least get them here, and they are taken of. The goal is to make sure we are doing everything we can do to ensure they are here at JCSU and stay with us." 

Spectrum News 1 asked Kinloch if the HBCU had previously done an emergency aid campaign of this nature for students.

"I'm sure we've done things, but to this capacity, to bring this kind of energy? Everyone is all hands on," Kinloch said. "If students want to be here, we better do everything, including have the president write a personal check to say I commit to JCSU. If I'm asking you to give then I better be giving as well. The other side of this — we're also encouraging our students and families to go on a payment plan. You may not be able to pay everything at once. That's why we have payment plans for students to afford the cost of a JCSU education."

Kinloch said this fundraiser reflects a good problem at the university: continued growth. 

"It is a great problem to have that we need to raise more money because if we're raising more money for student scholarships, we have more students who want to be here," Kinloch said. "Our first-year freshmen students, we are breaking numbers [with more than] 500 who have declared they're coming here. We need to get [some] cleared. In the last five years, we have not seen the numbers we are seeing today, and I'm excited about that."

Kinloch will hold a zoom call at 6 p.m. on August 26 to "lead the charge" for the fundraiser. 

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