An Update -- Good News

For Immediate Release
Nov. 28, 2023

I am pleased to let you know that the Birmingham City Council approved an economic development package this morning for BSC that will help fund operations while we continue to secure funds for the long-term.

The Council approved a $2.5 million loan at 10 percent interest that will be forgiven when the College opens in fall 2024, and another $2.5 million loan to be repaid over 20 years at a 1 percent interest rate.

The City’s commitment initiates payment on an additional $2.5 million investment from the United Methodist Church’s North Alabama Conference Board of Pension and Health Benefits. That commitment was announced on Nov. 9 and was contingent upon the City’s participation of up to $5 million.

These funds provide us the time we need as we continue to work with elected officials to obtain the bridge funding that has already been set aside by the Alabama Legislature, and to continue to secure endowment funding from private sources.

We are deeply grateful to the Birmingham City Council for approving this investment, and to Mayor Randall Woodfin for putting together the economic development package that not only documents our current value to the city, but also the value BSC will continue to bring as we build out our masters’ programs in data science, computer science, cybersecurity, and information systems over the next four to five years.

For more than 100 years, BSC has educated leaders in business, health care, law, government, education, the arts, ministry, non-profits, and community life. That remains our core mission – preparing young people for lives of significance. The addition of these masters’ programs is the next step in expanding BSC’s ability to supply critically needed, high-skilled leaders to companies in Birmingham and Alabama that will fuel growth. We thank the Council and the mayor for sharing this vision.

And we thank you – our students, faculty, staff, parents, and alumni – for your words of encouragement, for your loyalty and generosity to the College, and for demonstrating every day what it means to be part of the BSC community. You are why we are waging this fight for the College’s future.

Forward, Ever!

Daniel B. Coleman
16^th President