Clinton College Misses Payroll

Clinton College has been struggling to pay its employees for months.

The small historically Black college in South Carolina missed its latest payroll and delayed previous paychecks over a “serious cash flow problem,” The Rock Hill Herald reported. Employee health coverage is also inactive due to failed payments, according to the newspaper.

College officials have said they are working to raise money to cover financial needs but did not provide a timeline for when paychecks would be disbursed and health insurance reactivated.

“Clinton College has been and continues to work with the funding partners related to approved grants and program expenditures that have already been incurred by the institution,” Chief Information and Strategy Officer Gregory Deas told the newspaper. “We remain actively engaged with those partners to ensure all outstanding reimbursements are received and disbursed.”

(Officials did not respond to a voicemail that Inside Higher Ed left with the president’s office.)

Emails obtained by The Rock Hill Herald show that Clinton College has struggled to pay staff since at least April, when officials informed employees that paychecks would be late.

One of the nation’s smallest HBCUs, Clinton enrolled just 126 students in fall 2024, according to federal data. Clinton has hovered between just over 100 and under 200 students over the last decade. Enrollment last cracked 200 in fall 2016.

Amid anemic enrollment, Clinton has struggled to generate revenue in recent years. Public financial documents show the college has posted operating losses in the last three fiscal years.