Cheyney University, the nation's oldest historically Black college or university, is getting a new athletic complex worth between $25 million and $29 million, paid for by the state of Pennsylvania in one of the largest capital investments on the Chester County campus in a generation.
The project comes after a brutal decade for the university. Founded in 1837 in what is now Thornbury Township, about 25 miles west of Philadelphia, Cheyney nearly collapsed: enrollment fell from roughly 1,500 students in the mid-2000s to under 500 by 2018, debt piled up, and the school twice came close to losing its accreditation from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. A turnaround plan launched around 2019 stabilized the institution, and full accreditation was restored. The new athletic facility, with its price tag and state backing, signals that Pennsylvania is treating Cheyney as a campus worth investing in rather than winding down.
The Pennsylvania Department of General Services is overseeing construction, which means the project is funded through state capital appropriations rather than university debt. The work is divided across four contracts: general construction accounts for $16 million to $17 million of the total, with plumbing at $4 million to $5 million, electrical at $3 million to $4 million, and HVAC at $2 million to $3 million. The solicitation is posted on the state's eMarketplace procurement portal.
The investment fits into a broader shift in how Pennsylvania and the federal government treat HBCUs. A 2023 Biden administration finding concluded that Pennsylvania and 15 other states had underfunded their public HBCUs by billions of dollars over decades. Governor Josh Shapiro has highlighted increased Cheyney funding in recent budget addresses, and nationwide, HBCUs have received a surge of public and philanthropic money since 2020.
For Cheyney's athletics program specifically, the stakes are concrete. The university's facilities have long been considered inadequate, a problem that contributed to the school dropping from NCAA Division II competition before returning. A modern complex would give Cheyney a recruiting tool it has lacked and bring its campus infrastructure closer to peer institutions.
The state has set diversity participation requirements for contractors: small diverse businesses must make up 16 percent of the general construction contract and 22 percent of the electrical work, with veteran-owned businesses accounting for 3 percent across those trades. Bids are due Aug. 19, 2026.
