Morehouse College changes cost students, stirs critics

Morehouse College changed housing regulations, requiring more students to live on campus and pay the $13,000 yearly room and board fee, stirring some criticism. Here, the statue of Martin Luther King Jr. stands in front of King’s Chapel on Morehouse College campus. HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM

Morehouse College changed housing regulations, requiring more students to live on campus and pay the $13,000 yearly room and board fee, stirring some criticism. Here, the statue of Martin Luther King Jr. stands in front of King’s Chapel on Morehouse College campus. HYOSUB SHIN / HSHIN@AJC.COM

Changes in housing policy at Atlanta’s historically black Morehouse College means students must live on campus until they are seniors and pay more than $13,000 a year in room and board.

Morehouse is requiring all freshmen, sophomores and juniors to live on campus. Previously, a student could move off campus after his freshman year.

Morehouse says the policy guarantees that Morehouse men are active on campus and gain that “Morehouse mystique.” But some critics says it guarantees Morehouse, which is rebounding from several years of enrollment and cash flow declines, will get more than $13,000 in mandatory room and board fees from each sophomore and junior, over and above tuition and student fees running about $26,700 per year per student.

The change helped spark a petition calling into question President John Wilson's leadership. Read the full story at myajc.com.