Historically black colleges and universities have struggled with finances -- well, historically.

Moreover, Paine College had already placed a moratorium on unnecessary spending this spring.

So how is it that Paine administrators were ambushed by a lack of cash on the eve of the golf team's trip to the national championship?

The team, which is only three years old, had won the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and was preparing for the PGA Minority Collegiate Golf Championship in Port St. Lucie, Fla., last week.

Just hours before their midnight departure May 8, the young men were devastated to hear that there was no money for the trip, and that they would have no opportunity to play for the national championship -- which they very well might have won.

Talk about making the worst of a bad situation. How could this happen?

The outrage poured through the community in recent days, with a similar refrain being echoed everywhere: If we'd only known the situation, the community would have gladly stepped up to help send the young men to the tournament.

This is a golf town, for one thing. Paine is a cherished part of this city. And no one wants to see youthful potential and enthusiasm wasted.

"They're on a high now you wouldn't believe," Paine golf coach Fred Summers said of his team before the trip's cancellation.

Imagine the hard landing those players must have had.

"All it would've taken is one phone call," said former Paine chief financial officer and current Augusta commissioner Joe Bowles, once a collegiate golfer himself. "That would've been one of the easiest things to go to the community to raise money for."

Bowles is responding anyway, pledging to stage an annual golf tournament to benefit Paine golfers' travel in the future.

In the meantime, outrage has spread beyond Augusta: Former Masters participant Lee Elder, first black player at the Masters, was in Port St. Lucie for the national championship and wondered where the team was that he helped create at Paine.

Elder and many others deserve answers. Why was this decision sprung on the players at the last minute? Why did no one at Paine think to seek help from the community? How could they have pulled the club out from under their players this way?

This debacle certainly won't help the finances, in the form of alumni giving, or aid in the recruitment of players. Indeed, a couple of current players are transferring out. And who can blame them?

There's a big need for accounting at Paine College.

And not just the financial kind.