Shaw University is the first historically black university in the Southern United States. Shaw is a private liberal arts institution affiliated with the Baptist Church and among the nation's oldest HBCUs. Founded in 1865, our University has a rich history steeped in tradition, activism, and service. We were the first college in North Carolina to offer a four-year medical school, the first institution of higher learning established for freedmen after the Civil War, and the first historically Black college in the nation to open its doors to women.
Shaw University exists to advance knowledge, facilitate student learning and achievement, enhance its students' spiritual and ethical values, and transform a diverse community of learners into future global leaders.
Shaw University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). With more than 30 academic programs and a 15 to 1 student to faculty ratio, students are sure to find a major that is a perfect fit and a professor that knows them by name. Shaw's learning experience is based on relationships where the student's voice will be heard, and learning becomes personal.
Shaw University was founded in 1865 by the American Baptist Home Mission Society of the Baptist Church to provide theological education to freedmen after the Civil War. It is a private, coeducational, liberal arts institution of higher learning with the main campus located in Raleigh, North Carolina, and eight satellite campuses dispersed throughout the state. Shaw University is committed to providing educational opportunities to all segments of society without regard to race, creed, or ethnic origin. However, as the oldest historically African-American University in the south, it has maintained a particular interest in the education of minorities from diverse backgrounds, with academic potential for success. Consistent with its motto, Pro Christo et Humanitate (For Christ and Humanity--that religion and learning may go hand in hand, and character grows with knowledge), Shaw University seeks to empower students with a sense of moral purpose Christian principles that guide intellectual and personal growth.
Shaw University is committed to the transformative educational process of preparing graduates for citizenship in the twenty-first-century workplace and graduate or professional school. It seeks to instill in its students a philosophy that values lifelong learning, leadership, and service. To meet the challenges of a global society, Shaw University endeavors to develop graduates who are broadly educated in the liberal arts and sciences, possessing the knowledge and skills required of all disciplines, and the competencies associated with their chosen fields of study.
Students who complete undergraduate degree programs at Shaw University will demonstrate proficiency in critical and creative thinking, and ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, proficiency in mathematical reasoning skills, scientific inquiry, technological and information literacy, an awareness of and commitment to ethical judgment, awareness of global issues, knowledge of diverse human cultures, and a commitment to personal and social responsibility. Students enrolled in graduate degree programs will, upon graduation, be able to demonstrate advanced knowledge in their chosen discipline.
The mission of Shaw University is to advance knowledge, facilitate student learning and achievement, to enhance the spiritual and ethical values of its students, and to transform a diverse community of learners into future global leaders by providing quality educational programs and services to students that prepare graduates to lead productive lives and successful professional careers as citizens in a globally competitive society.
Central to this mission's accomplishment is recruiting and retaining qualified faculty and staff, who possess the qualifications and expertise to support students in the learning process actively. The University demonstrates its commitment to teaching and learning by providing quality educational programs and services in a safe and supportive learning environment, which meets students' needs, promotes personal growth and development, and fosters academic achievement and student success. In addition to teaching and learning, Shaw University strives to create and maintain an academic climate that promotes research and the pursuit of new knowledge through active research programs. The University also recognizes its responsibility to instill in students the importance of making a difference in their own lives and others' lives by partnering with local communities to provide services that improve the human condition and contribute to society's betterment.
The primary purpose of the Student Financial Aid Office is to provide financial assistance to students and parents whose family resources are insufficient to meet educational expenses. Financial aid at Shaw University consists of scholarships, grants, loans, and jobs awarded singly or in the form of a "package" to meet a student's financial need. The factor of need is considered for all forms of financial assistance unless otherwise stipulated. Financial aid is awarded for one year only, upon re-application and demonstrated continued eligibility. The priority deadline for applying for Shaw University administered financial aid is March 1st for the ensuing academic year.
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