SREB is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization focused on improving education at all levels in its 16 member states throughout the South.
“I believe deeply in the value of collaboration, particularly among small, largely under-resourced institutions,” said Dr. Roslyn Clark Artis, president of Benedict College, a private HBCU in South Carolina and one of the consortium’s inaugural members. “We may have a course with only three students enrolled, which is not cost-efficient. But a course-sharing agreement allows that student to take a class at another institution to stay on track to graduation. We see this as a student support and retention tool.”
SREB consortium courses will count fully toward students’ GPAs, financial aid packages, and graduation requirements at their home institutions. Taking shared online courses will also not affect students' cost of attendance.
“Students could take advantage of this to create new specializations in their degree programs,” said Dr. Stevie L. Lawrence II, vice president for postsecondary education at SREB. “Institutions could add majors that align with regional and industry needs, but that traditionally would not be offered. From SREB’s standpoint, we’re most excited about our ability to bring institutions together around this idea.”
The consortium grew out of the SREB HBCU-MSI Collaborative, a network of HBCUs and other MSIs in the South seeking to improve student success. Inspiration for the course-sharing idea came from a similar partnership piloted in winter 2021 between Benedict College and Dillard University, both HBCUs.
Through that trial program, Benedict and Dillard seniors who needed up to six credit hours to graduate in spring 2022 could take an accelerated online course. More than 90% of students who took part in the Dillard-Benedict partnership ended up on track to graduate this spring.
