Simmons College, Spalding University partnering to give students housing options

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A partnership between two local colleges is addressing major issues at both schools.

Simmons College of Kentucky and Spalding University are collaborating to eliminate a housing issue at one school and generate revenue for the other.

Last year, Spalding University President Tori Murden McClure and Simmons College of Kentucky President Rev. Dr. Kevin Cosby, signed a memorandum, aimed at improving the lives of faculty and staff at both schools. The three major components of the partnership included student life and engagement, academic and teacher education programs and campus and fiscal affairs.

Mars Mason is a student at Simmons College.

"I am currently staying on the floor of my friend's house because of a lack of housing that is able to provided," Mason said.

Mason recently had a chance encounter with the school's president and shared her dilemma.

"I rolled my window down and said, 'hello, how are you doing?'" Dr. Kevin Cosby said. "And she shook her head and said 'not too good.'"

Mason admitted she had to stop herself from crying.

"Then he said 'is everything okay?' And I just lost it again," Mason said. "I just said 'no.' And I literally just start bawling."

"She says 'I want an education, I want to go to school, but I'm homeless, I haven't had anything to eat, and I'm sleeping on someone's floor,'" Cosby said recalling the conversation.

"He literally opened his wallet and gave me the money out of his wallet so that I could get some food that day because I had not eaten that day," said Mason.

Cosby also gave Mason a commitment.

"He told me that he was going to figure it out, and he was going to work on something for me," Mason said.

Cosby reached out to a neighbor down the street at Spalding University.

Dr. Tori Murden McClure, president of Spalding, said the university's board voted to sell Morrison Hall to Simmons College for $6 million.

"It would be a game changer for Simmons to have their own hall, and it helps both institutions," McClure said.

Mason said it would mean the world to her to have a place to live.

If Simmons is able to raise the money, the only HBCU in Louisville could provide housing to more than 350 students at Morrison Hall and a little peace of mind for students like Mason.

"It's very hard to focus on school when you have to focus on where you're going to sleep tonight and if you're going to be able to feed yourself," Mason said.

Related Story: