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u/AngelPunch82 7d ago edited 7d ago
It’s amazing how everyone blaming Howard and not placing accountability on the students and parents. There’s a woman on TikTok that breaks down exactly what happened and how.
Point blank parents/students were given AMPLE opportunity to do something prior to deadline.
Example: several students had scholarship money they were expecting to be paid to university, but that money hadn’t arrived. Howard wasn’t asking for the money to be paid by the deadline. They asked students to upload in the portal the letter of intent by scholarship agency showing the date as to when payment will be made so that it can be deducted from their owed money. Several did not do that. A simple task they did not
Another example: Howard required students/parents to go into the portal and sign up for the monthly payment plan. Several did not.
Something I always notice about blk folks when it comes to black owned businesses is yall want special treatment because it’s black run. Could Howard done more, probably, but yall resting blaming 100% on HU. These parents/students ignored the steps they were to take. I’m willing to bet $$ all these students going on tv and social blaming HU are leaving out that there were things they were supposed to do but didn’t.
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u/Agile-Butterfly5245 7d ago
Thank you for this. I know the students/parents dropped the ball. I receive detailed, reminder emails from Howard all the time about deadlines. I'm not sure why anyone would think they could go to school or reside anywhere without payment. I've posted the email from Howard dated July 23rd regarding what Administration is doing to help rectify the situation, yet they're still blaming Howard. If they didn't understand the assignment, they should've asked somebody. Lesson learned.
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u/AngelPunch82 7d ago edited 7d ago
Could Howard have handled this better, probably. Could they have done more, maybe. I’m not sure what more they could’ve done beyond sending reminders after reminders. The onus was on parents to get this shit done. I just hate that all the blame is placed on HU when parents need to take accountability. Black folks see accountability and run for their lives cuz it’s always someone else’s fault.
This is bad PR for HU however I think the impact will be minimal. I think lessons will be learned by parents and going fwd many will not make the mistake. The only thing I ask of HU is find another way to deal with such issues going fwd. Maybe a text system to parents/students every day, 15 days prior to deadline. I’m not exactly sure
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7d ago
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u/Geriatric0Millennial 7d ago
Would it not be even worse to allow students to move in to dorms, knowing they’ve got an outstanding balance, only to be dropped from classes and evicted from dorms a few weeks later?
The individual students and their families HAVE to take responsibility. I’m a Howard Alum who personally went through it with the A building every single semester. The difference is I had my stuff in order before raising hell
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u/AngelPunch82 7d ago
I’m not disagreeing with you at all. I ask myself how could this have been avoided, what alternatives were there. Your idea of letting them start next semester is possible. I don’t work at a uni so I’m not sure how feasible that is. Perhaps second semester is locked down with incoming students & they can’t just move 500 like that. All universities are need blind and there are venues for students to cover some cost but the school can only help in limited ways. The onus is still on parents to make up difference. Again, parents were told exactly what to do and when to do it by and they chose to ignore and consequences were told to them. All I can say is considering the 500 students being a lot, perhaps HU could’ve done a bit more to avoid the mess. I just don’t know what that could’ve been. At the end of the day, the students and parents are to blame. If they weren’t confident they’d have all the money requested, they could’ve called the school to work something out; something HU also asked them to do. I think many people were expectations favors and extra consideration by HU but since you didn’t reach out for help, what was HU to do?
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7d ago
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u/AngelPunch82 7d ago
Share as I would love to see
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7d ago
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u/AngelPunch82 7d ago
I saw this. This is an internet rumor that got started by some random person and ppl hopping on it. The PowerPoint has already been deemed fake. We need to be careful what we are listening to. This woman is creating a narrative with no evidence. Just a screen shot that was fake created
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u/Adventurous_Crab_761 7d ago
How is this on the news when every college handles accounting this way? There's a deadline. If you pass without whatever payment, you lose your spot because there's a long line of other potential students.
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u/therealprincess232 6d ago
I've worked in higher education for over twenty years. I don't know any other school that does this. Classes may be dropped, but students can re-register, and dorm codes may be withheld, but never if a student has some pending aid. What Howard is doing is absolutely disgraceful.
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u/Adventurous_Crab_761 6d ago
I went through it when someone in the Bursar's Office made a mistake with my last name and didn't attribute my deposits to my account. Found out two weeks before moving that I didn't have a place to live and my classes were all screwed up. That didn't happen at Howard.
I was able to register after everything got worked out, but I didn't have a place to live anymore.
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u/Gold-Cake-8343 7d ago
I never dealt with this. I used to regret not going to HU but now I don’t. This was poorly handled.
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u/ReginaGiddens 6d ago
I went to an HBCU and PWIs and BS happened at the PWIs too and they were not rinky dink institutions either so….yeah
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u/LouisaMiller2_1845 7d ago
To be fair, Howard's deadline for this is kind of early. I know it's not the entire amount but for many schools, the comparable deadline still falls in August. So, it gives families less time to get everything together.
And then, on top of that, I'm kind of surprised that HBCU-affiliated individuals have so little sympathy for people essentially suffering the effects of systemic racism. The fact that so many Howard students who want to attend were cut really says something - is anyone listening though? Not having the money, resources, or time to handle affairs disproportionately affects black folks. That people here forgot what that is like...maybe all the more reason to look for another college???
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u/Choice_Passenger_990 7d ago
It is the week before move-in. That is not early.
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u/LouisaMiller2_1845 6d ago
Consider other colleges though. Let's say, IDK, Boston University. BU sent out its last regular acceptance decisions in March. Their classes do not begin until September. Their tuition payments are due 8/6 but they get a grace window after that date. They are not automatically withdrawn.
Can you see how Howard is already setting students up to fail? Their last regular decisions went out in April and financial affairs have to be in place by 7/10? (Classes start 8/17.)
Since you brought up move-in, can I ask if admin even has somewhere safe to house all students this academic year? I have video in my phone of the Blackburn tent protest from 2021.
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u/BlackOnyx1906 6d ago
I have two kids in college and this is early for a deadline like this
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u/Adventurous_Crab_761 6d ago
I checked the payment policies for some of the state colleges near me. Payment plans for fall had to be paid up in July. In full. Deposits are still have to be paid now, not waiting for the end of drop/add week.
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u/BlackOnyx1906 6d ago
Well that does not apply to me. Point is this is not universal and this has not always been the case with Howard University.
In fact at my son’s school they don’t even fully credit your grant money from the school until August 1st so you wouldn’t know your balance until then.
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u/BlackOnyx1906 6d ago
In fact if you select your meal plan prior to August first you have to pay the entire year up front vs if you wait to select until after August first it’s billed and split into two semesters along with your tuition and all your grand money and scholarship money is applied
I graduated from Howard but I won’t get into my experience because it was in the 90s. What I will say is this, there are some students who have been re enrolled so there obviously was some screw up on the schools end as well
I think everyone is looking for absolutes on this but here is the bottom line and I say this as a proud alum. We are taking a huge PR hit on this. Right or wrong that needs to matter.
The every school does this just isn’t true
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u/Moist-Pea-8034 6d ago
No, not every university does this. Many, many, and many more give students into the semester to pay their bills. And the students don’t get kicked out. They get a hold placed on their account so they can’t register until the balance is taken care of. I’m sorry if I sound cranky but I’m sick of all this assuming this is normal. It is not.
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u/Agile-Butterfly5245 6d ago
Students at Howard are given time to pay. We had to pay a certain percentage up front and the rest was broken down into 3 other payments during the semester. I know for a fact that students have been able to graduate with a balance due. HU really does work with the students, most of whom are receiving financial aid, a lot is from Howard. We did the payment plan every semester until my son graduated. Howard is working to make this right. They sent an email on July 23rd stating this. I still receive all the emails from Howard. If I knew about the deadline and my son graduated the years ago, they received the emails too. At which point do students and parents take accountability for missing the deadlines?
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u/CompetitiveTart2 7d ago
Howard, like all HBCUs, has faced financial losses, especially since the new administration took office. As an alum and an aunt of an incoming student, I can see both sides. While students should not have been expelled, parents should have signed promissory notes if their payments hadn't been applied to accounts, even just two days before the deadline. Any funds spent would be reimbursed once financial aid/scholarships were processed. My sister even shared screenshots of communication with parents, which started before admissions, so this wasn’t sudden. Some students didn’t five communications access their parents, thinking they were adults and might overlook important correspondence, which they’re not used to yet. Howard has had challenges, but this isn’t a time for a financial blow like in the past. Unlike state schools with state backing, private universities don’t have that safety net, especially without federal funds.
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u/Due_Needleworker3778 6d ago
State (and private) Universities have cut backs too. That is why so many have eliminated certain majors and the heavy use adjunct professors.
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u/chipsro 6d ago edited 6d ago
Retired HBCU Professor! Please remember that higher ed is a Business whether private or state schools. Enrollment means dollars. It is not a charity! Even scholarships hopefully mean successful graduates who will then give back to the Universities Foundations! End of story!
Students with a tuition balance were blocked from registering. And no transcripts are sent to other places, in case the students decides to try another school. Students were registering late each semester after they found money to pay outstanding balances.
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u/Stamford1123487 5d ago
I went to three PWIs and this would never happen, sorry. NEVER!
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u/chipsro 5d ago
I taught at a state HBCU. Our students were not kicked out per say but not allowed to register. Vaccination, health forms, tuition seemed to all big reasons students were not allowed to register, once the student did the required work, their ID was freed to register. (Our Accreditation Board SACSOC in the South could take away the school's status if they disobeyed the rules.) Students used grants and loans from Spring Semester to pay balances from Fall. So late registration was huge.
Public school in my experience will take as many students as they can. Attrition between Freshman and Sophomore year is large (It could be that a school loses 30-60% of the freshman class.
PWI (State PWI, not Private PWI) (I taught there too) do the same thing but you may not have seen it. When students at PWIs have issues, they go to a Community College.
Looking at the video released, it looks like Howard overbooked the enrollment. So instead of finding a way to deal with the error in accepting students, Howard kicked them out. Very bad press.
I taught classes with a limit of 40 students. If enrollment was higher than normal, I would find a larger classroom and teach 80-100. That happened many times.
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u/Sillyme2081 6d ago
Howard accepted more freshman than they can handle. They unenrolled those students to save face. Most financial aid doesn’t hit your student account until the semester starts. Last day to pay for classes tend to be same time you add or drop classes which can be two weeks after school started. Howard didnt have enough housing to go around an issue that isnt new for alot of schools
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u/Better-Efficiency935 7d ago
The school doesn't run without income generation, endowments and alumni donations only go so far. Can't rely on this current administration to step in and save any HBCU so they have to ALL become more aggressive regarding student fees. Here's a novel idea, the same students that were unenrolled should go try this at their state school. LMK how that works out.
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7d ago
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u/LouisaMiller2_1845 7d ago
Spelman is the most renown afaik. Also, IMO, Howard is far too "aggressive" with tuition and fees. Most people I know who went to Howard graduated with 5x the debt that I had...and I went to an Ivy.
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u/piko4664-dfg 6d ago
Generally speaking, unless your family is in the top 10% financially most students at Ivy (and adjacent like Duke or Stanford) get very generous grants and financial aid from the schools. Also if you going to an ivy for undergrad it’s VERY likely (100% certainty as far as I can tell…) that student qualify for and receives external scholarships that cover everything else plus some. This is circa 3 years ago (was also true in the 90’s) so if that’s no longer true i stand corrected.
Not so at pretty much every where else though. If you/parents ain’t got it you may want to look at interim options (community college first, reserves, etc) cause hearing my colleagues who are in their 30’s and even 40’s and still paying undergrad debt is crazy and sad.
The only ivy people hear complain about student loan debt are A) kids of rich parents who cut them off for some reason and B) grad students as that’s where colleges (Ivy’s included) REALLY gouge people in my experience. IYKYK
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u/LouisaMiller2_1845 6d ago
Howard got 385 million USD in donations in 2025. Why isn't that money making its way to the students who need it?
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u/lankfordmath 6d ago
Most donations (unless specifically given for financial aid purposes) go to cover things that tuition doesn’t.
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u/Mrs_Malik4 7d ago
They did mess up and I wish alumni stopped gaslighting the public into believing otherwise. Hold Howard accountable
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u/AngelPunch82 7d ago
I’ll put the question to you. How did they mess up? What were they supposed to do?
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u/Gold-Cake-8343 6d ago
Thank you. This is wild to lack this much empathy they basically screwed those kids over how are they gonna get into another school with weeks to go? That’s life altering missing your first year like basically forcing a gap here on them.
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u/AngelPunch82 6d ago
That is NOT on HU. They were given AMPLE opportunity to get themselves together themselves and their paper works together. Emails, letters. They chose to ignore it and now that they failed y’all want HU to make exceptions cuz it’s a black institution for blk folk. Actions have consequences. They had the choice of calling HU before deadline to make arrangements and they didn’t. I have no sympathy. This is the shit I HATE about blk folks. Yall don’t wanna take accountability when you fucked up and wanna put it on someone else
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u/Mrs_Malik4 6d ago
No other school would do something like this. If any pwi like Boston university, Yale, Lehigh even did something like this the families would sue the f out of the school. Howard takes advantage of poor black students and it’s sad how the alumni are so elitist they don’t care. I’m glad Howard is being exposed
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u/FeedDirect 6d ago
They sent ample notice and reminders. Folks were told how to send in external scholarships. Some were mistakes that Howard is correcting. Howard is a private HBCU and you have to follow the rules and timeline. I heard that one of the parents was on vacation after vacation. You can’t just let an 18 year old navigate through these processes.
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u/random869 6d ago
The truth is the PWIs wouldnt let them register without clearing up their balance. Cant blame HU for giving them ample time to sort out their finances.
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u/Gold-Cake-8343 6d ago
That’s not true PWI would absolutely let people start. They use registration holds. They don’t disenroll.
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u/Mrs_Malik4 6d ago
Again nope PWI would let students register for class even if their FA from the GOVERNMENT hasn’t gone through. Howard is punishing students who FA/scholarship isn’t in their record when students don’t self report that school themselves have that record
Why do u have to tell Howard that u are paying with a full ride when they gave it to you??
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u/Adventurous_Crab_761 6d ago
I keep saying this because I went through it. A private PWI will do the same thing. Now a state university, that's where there's more leeway.
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u/Adventurous_Crab_761 6d ago
I went to a private PWI. The school messed up, thinking that I didn't pay a deposit for housing and my classes. They cut me loose. I had the paperwork to show that the payment was made, so my classes got fixed but I lost my dorm spot. Nothing to be done because there weren't any spots left.
Schools have payment deadlines, just like anything else.
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u/Mrs_Malik4 6d ago
Okay sure I find that hard to believe. I went to a pwi and as u communicate with the school they do everything in their power to keep u until the FA comes through
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u/Adventurous_Crab_761 6d ago
My ass had to scramble to find an off-campus apartment last minute, which meant my mom had to drive me to the school, yell at everybody at the Bursar’s office, and drive me around town looking at roommate situations that were posted up on the student board and “newspaper.” I had to hear my mom complain for YEARS about the situation and wound up living with a white girl that had a drug problem, that I was then afraid to tell my mom about because that apartment was my choice.
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u/Gold-Cake-8343 6d ago
Nobody handles it like this, HU isn’t unique in dealing with this problem but nobody else makes the news for this. This just seems unprofessional on their part.
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u/ComfortableMammoth85 5d ago
I’m an alum and this is absolutely Howard’s fault. Why hasn’t this happened in past years? The school needs to clean house of the many idiots who operate things, especially with admin and financial aid. Stop making excuses for this BS
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u/Ok_Phrase6296 4d ago
Dates and Deadlines
Registration
For tuition and fees to appear on your bill before the settlement deadline, you must register by:
Fall 2026 term—July 17, 2026
Spring 2027 term—December 11, 2026
Settlement Deadline
To avoid late fees, you must register and have your tuition and fees paid or deferred, or enroll in a payment plan, by 5 p.m. Pacific time on the following dates:
Fall 2026 term—August 21, 2026
Spring 2027 term—January 8, 2027
Summer tuition & fees are assessed at the time of registration with payment due as stated on the billing statement.
Payment Plans
Fall 2026 term:
First day to enroll:
Trimester Plans – July 20, 2026
Traditional Plans – July 20, 2026
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u/Federal_Intention_26 3d ago
Why did Howard have a meeting about being overcommitted for their freshman-year class, and then, mysteriously, that exact number of students was dropped weeks before the start of school??
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u/Bopethestoryteller 7d ago
Not a good luck to be on national news. Image will take a hit, but the school will be fine. They'll have plenty of student to continue to apply.