When financial hardships forced Birmingham-Southern College to close in May 2024, Diego Paz Abate faced going home to Honduras and abandoning two years’ worth of progress toward his psychology degree.
“It was a confusing period with a lot of uncertainty,” Abate recalled. “The fact that I was a foreigner here, I didn’t know if any options would open up for me.”
That’s when BSC’s crosstown neighbor, Samford University, began moving academic mountains to accommodate displaced students like Abate. With registrar’s officials and academic advisers tailoring individualized curricula and jumping through accreditation hoops, Samford stunned BSC transfers with an unprecedented offer package: All previously earned course credits would be accepted, application fees waived, and matching financial assistance guaranteed.
That offer became a saving grace for Abate, who celebrated his Samford graduation May 1. Some 31 Birmingham-Southern transfers went through Samford’s spring 2026 commencement, bringing the total to nearly 100 since their former college closed two years ago.
“Thankfully, Samford was there when we needed it the most,” Abate said.
History major Faith Glover was among the new graduates. When BSC shuttered, she considered transferring to Auburn University or the University of Alabama at Huntsville, where forfeiting credit hours would disrupt her timetable of earning a degree within four years. She also worried about the cost of attending a new school after earning a full scholarship at Birmingham-Southern.
Samford’s transfer deal resolved both issues.
“That was really awesome, and I was so relieved, especially getting the financial piece,” Glover said. “It was just a cherry on top that so many of my BSC friends were already coming here too.”
Glover and Abate were among 151 BSC transfers who enrolled at Samford for the 2024 fall semester. That represented almost a quarter of Birmingham-Southern’s final enrollment.
“I appreciated that Samford hosted a specific Birmingham-Southern transfer orientation, instead of making us do the traditional freshman and transfer orientation,” Glover said. “It was great, because they specifically addressed our questions about Samford and the cultural difference.”
Glover thanked academic advisers for providing “a tree of support.” She recalled her transfer adviser and departmental adviser collaborating to determine how components from her BSC syllabi might satisfy Samford curriculum requirements.
“I really appreciated how much the BSC students were listened to,” said Glover, who’s bound for law school in the fall.
“I appreciated that Samford hosted a specific Birmingham-Southern transfer orientation. I really appreciated how much the BSC students were listened to." — Faith Glover '26
Glover praised the deep student-professor connections at Samford, something she might have sacrificed at a larger state school. During each of her final four semesters, she enjoyed discussion-based classes taught by professor Jason Wallace, the Richard Stockham Jr. Chair of Western Intellectual History..
“We discussed these big, weighty philosophical ideas with a historical focus,” Glover said. “I've had such a great time in Dr. Wallace’s classes, and they've really prepared me to think abstractly, like I'll have to do in law school.”
Abate credited professors with putting him at ease as a transfer student. He wound up tutoring Spanish and working with Samford student-athletes, which plays into his future as a sports psychologist.
“With my passion for sports—I'm a big soccer guy—I realized that if I’m not on the field, I can be involved on the sidelines, trying to help people have the confidence,” he said.
“So many people pretend to be listening when they’re actually just waiting to continue talking. I want to be the type of person who truly listens to what people say so I can provide helpful feedback.”
GIVE: Support the Birmingham-Southern Legacy Scholarship
