Morehouse College, Spelman College, Morgan State University and Howard University among the 100 colleges and universities to sign the new White House initiative issued by President Barack and Michelle Obama to help increase the opportunity for low-income families and college education. At Howard University, a new program in its new Center for Academic Excellence will launch this fall focusing on the success of low-income students in the STEM fields both pre-college and after college. At Morehouse College, there are plans introduce a new pre-college assessment, testing both communication and academic skills, to help identify future college candidates while they are still in high school via White House.

Over at Hampton University, President William and Norma Harvey donated $108K to help increase the hourly wages of 121 full-time employees at the university to $9 per hour via Hampton.

Former NFL wide receiver Harold Jackson to take over Jackson State University’s football team as the new head coach. For 10 years, the JSU alum coached wide receivers for three different NFL teams.  “I’m going to put the excitement and product on the field,” Jackson said. “Our players will have discipline in the classroom and on the competition level. Our football players will be developed as good citizens.” via Jackson State University.

Students at West Virginia State University will finally start spring semester on Tuesday, January 21, after the waterlines were flushed, making it safe for students and staff to safely use the water after the chemical spill which left over 300,000 West Virginia residents without water via WVSU.

In financial and academic performance news, Kentucky State University dropped the classes of 200 students for failing to make a minimum payment on their accounts. This is a part of the KSU new Student Balance Required Payment Schedule which requires students to pay off a portion of their accumulated balance from previous semesters to continue to be enrolled at the university via Kentucky.com. Fort Valley State University is in trouble. The university recently received a bad rating from Moody’s Investors Services, a credit rating agency. According to the report, there is a decline in enrollment and limited available liquidity, leaving the university with a $2 million shortfall via Saporta Report. Florida A&M University could be one of the Florida universities to lose state funding under the new performance model, a 50 points system based on graduation rates and improvements in STEM fields.  If a university or college does not reach 26 points, they will lose 1 percent of state funding and be ineligible to receive additional money via Miami Herald. Albany State University was recently denied a full-funding request of $24 million for the building of a new Fine Arts Center, but Georgia Governor Nathan Deal’s did include $1.4 million in the 2015 FY budget to continue working on designs and projects for the center via Albany Herald.

In other news, two men were found guilty for the murder and robbery of Howard University student Alonzo Guyton in October 2011. Alabama State University public safety director Henry Davis revealed that there are five suspects involved in the alleged gang rape of a former student in the Card Hall dorm, according to WSFA.

PLUS:

UNC Board Approves North Carolina A&T’s Enrollment Plan 

Alabama State University Students to Travel to Peru for Research 

Southern University Alum Donates $50K 

The Black Colleges Leading Climate Change Advocacy

Howard University Turns to Crowdfunding to Pay Tuition