Morris Brown College Settles Debt to Education Dept. With $500,000 Payment

Morris Brown College, a financially strapped institution in Atlanta, has settled a debt of nearly $10-million with the U.S. Education Department by paying $500,000 of the amount, the Associated Press reports. The payoff fulfills the terms of an agreement the college and the department struck last spring. The college ran up the $9.4-million debt through mismanagement of unused federal student-aid funds, which were supposed to be returned to the department. Financial problems were a prime reason the college lost its accreditation in 2003.