Contact: Crystal Drake, Office of Strategic Communications
The life Ron Prince made for himself has been a full and successful one. He entered Tuskegee University at 17 in 1966 and, just a few credits short, decided to seek different adventures on the other side of the country, in Los Angeles, California where he became successful in insurance sales, real estate and as a business owner.
“But an inner feeling, from the day I left, kept pulling me back,” said Prince, from his Birmingham, Alabama real estate office.
Now, 60 years later, Prince has done it. He will soon join hundreds of proud graduating students at commencement on May 9, as a member of the Class of 2026, having earned his degree through the university’s online degree program. In six months, Prince completed three eight-week semesters and will receive a Bachelor of Science, in Liberal Arts when he marches in May.
Tuskegee’s College of Arts and Sciences offers two fully online degree programs designed to accommodate non-traditional and returning students: the Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies and Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies.
“It was Tuskegee Institute when I first came, but my diploma will read Tuskegee University now,” he said smiling noting that both he and the university have evolved, and yet remained true to important core beliefs, over time.
“In our Renaissance Era, the Tuskegee University Global Campus continues to expand Tuskegee's reach and brand worldwide, always centered in a rich human connection that makes Tuskegee one of one,” said Dr. Mark A. Brown, president and CEO. “Just as Booker T. Washington expanded Tuskegee's educational philosophy across the country and beyond bringing his ‘hand, head, and heart’ vision to life for countless people, our online degree program is bringing people to Tuskegee through digital access to make high-quality higher education possible for non-traditional learners.”
Prince’s journey to Tuskegee began in Birmingham where his mother, a dedicated educator and no-nonsense disciplinarian, raised him and his two sisters.
“School was year-round for us. During the summers, my sisters and I had the choice to enroll in summer school or to have school at home with our mother, and we always chose summer school,” Prince recalled with laughter, noting he later learned to treasure the rigor of his mother’s child-rearing methods and credits her devotion and insistence on structure for his future success.
Her hard work afforded her children a comfortable lifestyle on the west side of Birmingham where Black families were pushing the boundaries on segregation – by literally crossing the color line that Center Street represented -- fulfilling dreams of homeownership and upward mobility. Sadly, the area became known as Dynamite Hill when members of the Ku Klux Klan bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church in 1963, killing four young girls, and injuring more than 20 others. Prince remembers that day with painful clarity - he felt the reverberations of the blast from where he was sitting on his porch.
“When I got to Tuskegee, I had never had so much freedom,” said Prince and his work as a Biology major suffered.
Dr. Brett Coppenger, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Liberal Studies Program, says he hears that a lot from returning students.
“There is a lot of 'lived experience' that shows up in the classroom,” he said. “Students have a wealth of knowledge and perspective that they can bring to share with their classmates.”
He explained that the capstone course for the program is a Senior Thesis and Internship course. In that class students are required to apply what they have learned from the program to a central issue in their lives or vocation.
“It is always amazing to me how much I learn from each of the end of term presentations,” he said.
He also acknowledged that the experience can seem like a mountain to climb but that part of the Tuskegee University fabric is to meet students where they are.
“Even though the idea of completing a degree online may seem daunting my team works closely with the Registrar's Office, the Bursar's Office, the Office of Information Technology and the Office of Distance Education and Learning to smooth out as many wrinkles as we can,” he said. “The faculty who teach our online courses are committed to making every effort to accommodate the busy schedules and needs of those students.”
Prince says that even back when he first enrolled he knew faculty and staff were there for him but “life just got in the way.” He opted out of school at one point and considered joining the U.S. Army with thoughts of becoming a helicopter pilot. He changed his mind and as fate would have it, he received his student deferral papers on the same day in 1970 he was due to enlist at Fort Rucker, just up the road in the Wiregrass area of Alabama, where would have likely deployed from to fight in the Vietnam War. Prince returned to Tuskegee but later, when friends from California needed a ride home, Prince volunteered to take them – and he didn’t come back to Alabama for 48 years.
During that time, Prince made a successful life for himself using many of the same qualities his mother had nurtured in him. He worked hard, was self-assured and cared about helping people. He became an insurance agent, real estate agent and then broker, and operated a successful limousine service. As part of Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company, once the largest Black-owned insurance company in the western United States, Prince was named agent of the year in 1982.
“But that feeling of wanting to complete my Tuskegee degree never left, especially because I wanted to honor all that my mother had done to provide me the wonderful life I had,” said Prince. “I did this for her.”
But he isn’t stopping there. He’s already enrolled in LSAT prep courses and has his eye on a law degree.
When asked what he might be thinking when he crosses the stage at Chappie James, Prince says that he hopes seeing him will inspire others.
“It is very likely that I am graduating with the grandchildren of people who were in my original class,” he said. “I want them and others to know that it is possible, Tuskegee will make it seamless, and that they can do it, too.”
To learn more about Tuskegee University’s online degree programs, visit this site.
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