Tennessee State University (TSU) could run out of money as soon as April or May of this year, the university’s interim president revealed on Tuesday.
TSU Interim President Dwayne Tucker made the revelation during a “Stand Up 4 TSU Action Meeting” organized by the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators at the Pleasant Green Baptist Church, which was held for the general public to hear directly from university leaders on the institution’s financial challenges and plans moving forward.
During the meeting, which lasted just over an hour, Tucker said university officials will be presenting a five-year plan to the Tennessee General Assembly regarding “financial sustainability, student enrollment, and recruitment” by the end of the month
Noting how there are opportunities across TSU to “continue to reduce the costs,” Tucker said the financial plan that will be introduced before the General Assembly will not ask the state to “bail out” the institution, but rather provide a “bridge” to the university’s “long-term sustainability over the next five years.”
One consideration on the table for TSU to save money Tucker confirmed during Tuesday’s meeting is to sell the university’s Avon Williams campus in Nashville.
Tucker said that the idea of selling the property is not something the institution is “planning on doing at the moment” but remains a possibility.
In March 2024, Governor Bill Lee signed legislation to vacate and reconstitute the entire TSU board of trustees after the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office released a forensic audit of the university that revealed “continued management shortcomings” among the institution, including how the university handled budget monitoring, collecting tuition, awarding scholarships, and more.
In November, as reported by Fox 13 Memphis, the Tennessee Senate Finance Commission advanced TSU $43 million in funds from 2025 money in order for the institution to meet payroll and run operations for the 2024-2025 school year.
In Fall 2023, a total of 8,198 students were enrolled at TSU – a decrease in enrollment from Fall 2022’s total of 9,218 enrolled students.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Image “TSU Interim President Dwayne Tucker” by Pleasant Green Baptist Church.
Truly an institute of LOWER learning as shown by the mismanagement of same. Any private school run like this would have disappeared decades ago. Maybe Oprah can bail it out.
Maybe they have a DEI problem.
I’ve never known a time when they weren’t begging for more tax dollars, so they can hire more DEI’s that can’t do math
Simple math seems to be a real problem with some folks. If the state is giving you X dollars in your budget and you can’t seem to spend within that amount, you have a problem figuring out a spending budget using time tested methods. Has nothing to do with what ‘may’ have been owed from the past. It is what you had when you got the money in your account. Not a black or white issue either . MTSU has black president and they don’t have that kind of problem. Live within your means TSU.
If the DOGE were to review TSU’s books, they would tell you the money ran out 20 years ago.
University Presidents simply cannot cut cost. They just can’t do it.💸