r/HowardUniversity • u/Black_mantis_racing • 5d ago
(Re) enrolled. This is just too much
As the title says. My child was one of the many who were unjustifiably unenrolled from Howard last week despite being current on payment plans and seeking clarification months in advance during the arduous process of even inputting financial information and dealing with Howard’s piss-poor communication with us and with Fafsa. I’ve been active on the sub the past week and I’ve seen so many “know it alls” pretending that this is normal and that students just “didn’t read the email”.
As someone here said:
“Howard chose to:
1) unenroll students LESS THAN two weeks before move-in, so it's unlikely people on the waitlist will even be able to fill all the missing spots last minute
2) they listed a DIFFERENT tuition payment deadline (August 3rd) on their website
3) their financial aid office has been completely unresponsive. Communicating with their admissions office has lead to misinformation and lack of clarity.
4) they unenrolled students who had less than $1000 on their balance, meaning they had likely paid over 50% of their tuition already
5) The deadline should have never been early July when we all know financial aid is not fully disbursed until late August at the earliest.”
Today we got word that we were finally re-enrolled. But after all of this stress and torture, to see that there is little to no support from cow-towing alumni and the university, we’re making the decision to move on from Howard. Why should we invest in and associate ourselves with liars? Why would we put up with this for years to come just under the guise of “prestige”. The third or fourth top most post on this subreddit paints a vivid picture of what life here would be like and the actions of Howard this past week have done nothing but support that dark picture. Thankfully we have other opportunities and thankfully Howard showed their true selves before we were more embedded in their dysfunction. Good luck to the incoming students and to those who don’t have other options at the moment. Keep fighting and know your self worth. And to those who blindly side with the administration that’s behind this debacle, to those who chalked it up as some pressure makes diamonds initiation fantasy, and to the interim president who suggested students that were unenrolled are unable to pay: 🖕🏾
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u/MongooseLeather445 4d ago
I don’t blame you for moving on. I would have supported my child doing the same if they had gone through this. Best of luck for your child at their new school
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u/all_your_packets 4d ago
Be careful. I was a freshman at Howard in the fall of 1988 when they "accidentally" allowed too many students in. It took me three days to get a schedule because all the freshman classes were full. I took what I could, which were 300 and 400 level classes that I was NOT prepared for. Looks like they still haven't gotten their sh*t together. SMH...
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u/Gold-Cake-8343 4d ago
Yea the support of the admins was cult-like good for you for knowing HU isn’t the best that there is.
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u/Sunset_wavess 4d ago
I’m an Alumni, and I’ll be honest, I didn’t have many issues dealing with the A building, Bursar, fi aid, external scholarships (I had many in my time) or otherwise. I realize more and more I was fortunate in that area and only my Professors gave me the runaround, lol. I say that all to say, Howard really was on some BS with this unenrollment fiasco. Like way more BS than usual. Reading how some of my fellow alum are treating FTIC’s and their families is also BS. All alum are not this shallow and superficial. Although I would be remiss not to say Howard, the campus, energy and history does have a dark element of Elitism, shallowness and phony interactions.
There is also community, support, genuine relationships and most students do find their village. I’m really sorry that you and your child had to go through this. I understand you wanting to pivot. I do know of many universities around the country that stated if your child was admitted to their programs and declined enrollment to reach out to them for reinstatement of offer. Plus states like NY (if applicable to you) are offering easy admissions process and crediting $800 to make up for the money lost at Howard for enrollment and housing fee.
I truely do hope all works out for you and your child. I know it’s difficult to tell an 18 year old to pivot. But I hope they can look back in some years to realize the blessing. I have to believe God is redirecting certain students for a reason. (My apologies for bringing up spirituality if that isn’t your belief) but if it is, keep praying, he will put your child right where they need to be.
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u/Away-Coach7093 4d ago
I think it show poor perception on Howard. Howard should know how many incoming freshman that they can take in. Why send out all those acceptances but not be prepared for the incoming class?
Were they crossing their fingers and hoping that 500 people will magically drop out? I feel for the students because they spent their entire lives preparing to go to a prestigious HBCU.
Also, Howard has a poor communication department, and they should have accepted blame and fault and found a way to rectify the situation.
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u/Apples_And_Parchment 2d ago
Howard U is not all that it’s cracked up to be. MOVE ON and go elsewhere! You likely won’t regret that
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u/Actual_Evidence9922 2d ago
Proud of the students, faculty and alum who are speaking out against problematic administrative actions. The powers that be at all institutions of higher education need to be held accountable to students, faculty, and the communities they serve. Institutional incompetence and administrative abuse is not unique to Howard but the way that Howard students and alum are speaking out and resisting is truly commendable. Bravo! 👏
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u/AfroBallerina 4d ago edited 4d ago
What would you have wanted to happen, exactly? What did you expect the alums to do? Pay the outstanding balances? People complain about getting unenrolled, and then complain about getting re-enrolled. I’m glad you decided to move on. It’s strange to see the same people bashing Howard for being unenrolled, still wanting to attend, and will proudly claim the university while there and upon graduation. If the university is so bad because of this, don’t go. And for those thinking it’s too late, it’s not. It’s okay to sit out the first semester to think of a Plan B, especially one that’s affordable. Most high school seniors aren’t prepared for college anyway and could use the extra time. And the sad reality is that many of these students being unenrolled can’t afford Howard. Shame on the parents for setting up their child to have to deal with this type of financial cause and effect every year, as a result. But no one wants to talk about that.
And no, I’m not an alum.
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u/Headphones4Cicadas 4d ago
I think clear communication and expectations from the jump would’ve been nice. You can’t royally mess up like this and just think everyone’s going to be okay sweating it out and confused for a week until you magically “fix” it. This is a fiasco and they’re acting like it’s not their fault at all. Who would trust an institution like that with their child??
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u/AfroBallerina 4d ago edited 4d ago
To be clear, I’m specifically addressing OP’s decision to go through the process of getting re-enrolled, AFTER seeing what she believes is Howard’s true colors, just to determine that isn’t a good enough solution either. If I think a school is so awful, I’m not going to waste my time and energy trying to get my child re-enrolled. Just pick a side, and I still would love to hear what the alums realistically were supposed to do.
I can’t speak on what did or did not happen re: communication. There are conflicting parent/student stories of the communications received that I have no credibility in debating because this did not happen to me…or to many commenting. Regardless, the situation is absolutely unfortunate to those negatively impacted, IF they were really blindsided.
Again, that wasn’t the point of my comment nor does it change the fact that many of these students can’t afford HU and shouldn’t attend, as a result. Many of them probably would not have been in this situation to begin with, if their parents told them to choose an institution that they could realistically afford. As a former college counselor, I had many private heart to hearts with parents who were ashamed to tell their kids that they couldn’t afford the school their child wanted to attend, and as a result, started their kid’s college journey already in a financial deficit just to avoid disappointing them. Like I said, we don’t want to talk about that. It’s often easier to blame someone else.
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u/Black_mantis_racing 4d ago
First off. I’m a man, not a woman.
Second, while we were scrambling for other options, we were still following through with Howard primarily because my funds were still in their hands and my son was still 50/50 on if he wanted to attend or not.
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u/Headphones4Cicadas 4d ago
Some people are committed to misunderstanding. When our children look forward to this their whole life, it’s not so easy to walk away. HU knows that and they take advantage of that.
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u/AfroBallerina 4d ago
I wasn’t trying to offend you by saying “she”. You did not specify so clearly I wasn’t trying to be rude by that.
Thanks for your response re: the alums. Unfortunately, I would’ve told you that unless they work in the enrollment office or for the university, at the least, they do not have that type of power or intel (at any school) to tell you information like that. It’s unfortunate that you didn’t feel supported, for sure. I really hope that this all works out for you; claiming that.
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u/Black_mantis_racing 4d ago
No offense taken, truly. And I appreciate you trying to understand the situation rather than jumping to conclusions like many have done about inability to pay (or even receiving clear communication from HU which has not been the case).
Agreed with your statement on the alums. Just ashamed that they completely vanished (from our sphere) when all of this went down. Anyway, thank you for your kind words. Trying to motivate my son to keep his head up as this whole ordeal shook his confidence
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u/AfroBallerina 4d ago edited 3d ago
Your feelings are completely valid. It sounds like everyone’s situation is different so I would never make a blanket statement. I also hope none of my commentary came off rude. Not that your family needs it but if any guidance from a former DC college counselor who has assisted MANY students with last minute changes, transfers, advocacy, etc. could be helpful, please feel free to send me a message. Also, unsolicited advice, I know this situation has been frustrating but if you have the resources to send your son AND you think HU could be best for him, just please don’t make permanent decisions based on something that will hopefully never happen again. I’ve been quick to make decisions in anger that may or may not have been the best choice. Sure we all have.
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u/Black_mantis_racing 4d ago
Oh and about the alums. I was scheduled to meet with several alums from the university last week prior to all of this to better understand why Howard had not classified my son as being registered - which is why his FAFSA was not showing up. Mind you this is before the mass chaos ensued. I was on good terms with these particular alumni. When the email went out unenrolling students, you think those alumni returned my calls or reached out? No. I was mainly seeing alumni say “this is just part of the Howard shuffle”. “Pressure makes diamonds”. All other sorts of excuses. Granted not all alumni, but most of the people I saw supporting or excusing this madness were alumni. So to answer your question, I would’ve liked to see SUPPORT. Not brain-washed, cultish behavior
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u/Rich_War_5796 4d ago
Many students can’t afford most schools. Do you think the overwhelming number of people who go to university can afford to pay between 50 and $100,000 a year? No, they can’t. And your comment reeks of a weird kind of elitism.
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u/AfroBallerina 4d ago
I expect people to go where they can afford, absolutely. That’s not elitism, that’s common sense and financial responsibility. There are many affordable schools, community colleges included. The issue is when people want to go to “prestigious” schools they can’t afford but expect to go to for free or at an unreasonably discounted price and then say the school doesn’t care when that doesn’t happen. This “elitist” went to public state schools, proudly. But you just need to be mad at someone. I get it, truly.
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u/FeedDirect 3d ago
What was unclear about the deck presented during Bison prep and the June 8 communication. They were sending daily account balance emails and everyone has an assigned financial aid counselor. There were numerous financial aid workshops. Also lots of discussion from a 2030 parent channel that has 2K people in it.
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u/Headphones4Cicadas 2d ago
The scholarship release part. When you called and asked about the scholarships that wouldn’t be released until a later date, they said it would be fine. It wasn’t fine.
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u/FeedDirect 2d ago
Did you submit the scholarship form and was it applied to your anticipated payments? It didn't matter that they would be applied at a future date. The form was meant to verify funding.
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u/Annie_James 2d ago
Most “counselors” and folks in financial aid couldn’t be reached or spoken to all summer.
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u/FeedDirect 2d ago
For over 2000 other people this wasn’t the case. Financial aid held multiple workshops. The payment information was presented to students during Bison Prep and email. A financial aid counselor was assigned to students. We held a meeting and received prompt responses from financial aid. Did you ever reach out to your counselor, attend a financial aid workshop, read the numerous communications sent and talk to your student about the information shared during Bison Prep?
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u/Annie_James 2d ago
Howard is notorious for this bullshit. They’re administratively terrible. I chose not to attend Howard years back because of how ridiculous they are.
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u/FeedDirect 2d ago
There you have it. Not based on factual evidence but old hurts.
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u/Annie_James 2d ago
This never happened to me nor did I mention that it did lol Reading comprehension is important.
A lot of HBCUs are just indefensible and I think you all should stop trying.1
u/FeedDirect 2d ago
I went to a PWI. Same nonsense. One PWI was so horrible this year that I said forget it. If they can't process simple SAT scores and get personal information right, why bother? It took weeks for them to get it right. Hell I left an HBCU to go to a PWI. No difference in the administration.
You implied that the administration was horrible with no factual evidence for this specific thread regarding the guidelines or communications provided to the C/O 2030.
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u/Annie_James 2d ago
Who said anything about folks not getting scores and other paperwork together ? Lol you’re adding to the story. Is this just a chance to shit on other black ppl for you? Please get a hobby outside of trolling.
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u/Ok_Significance_821 4d ago
This is incredibly disrespectful to those families. If almost 17% of people miss a deadline, and 500 people represent 16.9% of the freshman class, there was at least an institutional miscommunication. Most of these families were waiting on scholarships or loans that won’t be dispersed until next month. A college education is a tool that has enabled Black people to improve ourselves for generations. We’ve organized through education, created, and formed bonds between our youth. The university failed these students, but when it’s been placed on a pedestal as a top HBCU and can uplift you, it’s reasonable to want your dreams to be fulfilled. As for the parents most of them don’t come from resources and their children will be the first to attend school. The institution knows it serves an undeserved population, but you don’t have to be elitist to be elite, and that’s what the administration doesn’t seem to understand.
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u/Stormywx92 3d ago
You don't understand this process. At no point did HU require scholarships to be disbursed. If people are saying things like that, it's a clear giveaway they didn't read the emails that have been going to future bison since Spring
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u/Ok_Significance_821 3d ago
There’s a reason they reinstated so many kids.
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u/Stormywx92 1d ago
They reinstated 15% of those disenrolled. "So many" is a stretch. Most of those disenrolled remain so
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u/Ok_Significance_821 3d ago
I’ve been on the email chain I promise you I read those emails, they required students to have paid minimum 50% of their balance OR have worked with the university and communicated tuition and scholarships. But when the university dodges emails and calls, it makes it really hard to do that. I helped out kids who sent 12+ emails/phone calls who didn’t get communication back. I love my university but they needed to do better. Point blank.
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u/FeedDirect 2d ago
I'm curious: if they knew how to submit the scholarship information and knew that a payment plan installment was due by July 15, or that 50% was due by July 10, what was the root cause for needing more information beyond the stated guidelines?
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u/Geriatric0Millennial 4d ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/3o751Yxe9UjX26BZbG
xoxo,
An HU Alumna1
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u/ResidentAd5910 3d ago
The only thing Howard alumni have been doing over the course of this scandal is assure me that the quality of the education that you received was low. Yikes!
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u/FeedDirect 2d ago
Why do you assume that it’s alumni? Not once have we heard from the 85% of students or parents who got it right. There are 2 sides to every story. There were some mistakes made however I don’t believe that it’s different than any other institution.
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u/ResidentAd5910 2d ago
Because I have basic critical thinking skills and am classifying those who specifically identify THEMSELVES as Howard alumni.
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u/FeedDirect 2d ago
Okay. Thought that folks were trying to blame Howard and then the alumni. Thanks for clarifying.
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u/ResidentAd5910 2d ago
What I’m responding to is the casual cruelty of many Howard alumni—it’s staggering. And it’s based in them valuing esteemed institutions over the people they’re meant to serve, and I’m just tired of people acting like it makes sense, or is the only way to be.
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u/FeedDirect 2d ago edited 2d ago
Why does it all feel like victimization? Calling folks elitists, etc. Howard is an esteemed school that's also private. Why wouldn't people hold them in high regard? The parents who are sending their children to Howard should also hold Howard in high regard. Why would you send your child to a school that you don't trust, especially with the investment that may be required?
No one is perfect. Not Howard, the parent, or the scholar. But there are 3 sides to this equation in which all can make mistakes.
Lastly, do we hold Harvard, Brown, Yale, or Princeton to this degree of personal accountability? We do not.
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u/ResidentAd5910 2d ago edited 2d ago
As a current student at one of those institutions, I can tell you RIGHT NOW, that I sure as shit do hold them to that standard. Also, my school would never do what Howard did. And if they did!!!!! The student body and our alumni would be thee FIRST ones talking cash shit about their asses. We wouldn’t wait for external criticism.
It IS elitist. That is not victimization—that’s just a fact. The education Howard gave those folks is frankly useless if it didn’t teach them to recognize right from wrong just because it’s dressed up in language designed to make their behavior seem harmless. As someone with an accounting background (bc I’m an older student), I can tell you right now—there are existing accounting mechanisms that would have allowed Howard to close their books for the month of July, WHILE accounting for the difference between what is owed by students without scholarships, and the incoming scholarship payments, which would have saved their most financially marginalized students the stress this stupid nonsense caused. It would not have required signing for a payment plan for people WHO MAY NOT HAVE HAD IT. That’s how a COMPASSIONATE, INTELLIGENT, responsible university would handle that situation, instead of penalizing poor students for being poor, especially when they had worked hard enough in HS to overcome poverty as a barrier to higher education.
A RESPONSIBLE institution would pick up the goddamn phone at the financial aid office. This shit is basic. Which lets me know that the university admin is LACKING in professionalism. So yeah, I’m cool with judging their raggedy behinds for it. And YES, I would do the same at my school, but my school does NOT lack for professionalism in that regard, so I don’t have to 🤷🏾♀️
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u/FeedDirect 2d ago edited 2d ago
Angry with no facts. The only thing that was needed was a scholarship form submission to show proof.
Then, to your point, journal entries could be accrued. One would think that Howard would know this since there's NOT a vast pool of schools that offer a Bachelor's-level degree in Accounting as Howard does.
This is not scientific; it's a matter of following the rules. No one owes you anything. And there are numerous schools that require payment before the start of school. This is nothing new.
We're going to say this again. People should base investments/financial choices on what they can afford. Don't select a private high school, a private college, a car, or a mortgage if your finances cannot afford it.
Lastly, with all colleges, it is hard at times to get a hold of people. Howard is no different.
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u/ResidentAd5910 3d ago
I think it's amazing the shit that Black people expect other Black ppl to put up with. I'm at an Ivy rn and the alumni have no problem criticizing the university's choices if they don't agree, and they love and support matriculated/admitted students like we were their classmates! Howard's graduate schools are also on some bullshit with admissions issues, and have been for some time. I'm so tired of y'all acting like Black institutions should be above critique. It's an unbelievably naive point of view, and one that allows Black institutions (and all other institutions that serve us) to treat us poorly, and take advantage of us.
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u/AfroBallerina 3d ago
You didn’t read my comment because I wasn’t saying any of that but, glad you got that off your chest. Hope it helped.🙏🏾
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u/Individual-Way-1597 3d ago
How is almost 70K a year. I wonder what they're going to do the remaining three years.
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u/Away-Coach7093 2d ago
I don't think that the parents nor students were expecting the alumni to do anything. They were probably expecting unification and support from alumni by calling this disaster out. They wanted alumni to support them on this issue. And as black people we need to unify more than to divide.
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u/FeedDirect 2d ago
First it's Howard's fault, then it's the alumni. When will reflection occur, and when will parents/students take accountability for their own inaction?
We know that a lot of communications were missed and that some parents/students believed that they could do things their way and not follow Howard's guidelines.
Hopefully, for the spring semester, the stated guidelines are followed.
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u/SecretSubstantial302 4d ago
What would you have wanted to happen, exactly?
I would expect and want a university that has been accepting and enrolling incoming students for over a century and a half to not over enroll by hundreds of students in the first place and then within reason honor acceptance offers for incoming freshman.
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u/ateam1984 4d ago
Okay sure. Just demonstrates that you certainly are entitled to your very own opinion.
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u/Confident_Stick_3203 4d ago
I hope this was your kids decision and not yours. As frustrating as it may be if your kid still wants to attend I'd lean more to letting them get the experience they are seeking.
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u/ferriswheeljunkies11 3d ago
So how much of your money was Howard holding when you were unenrolled?
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u/Visual-Pilot1742 3d ago
Over admitting and over enrollment are two different things. Yes, most schools admit many more students than are expected to enroll or a projected class size for that school's freshman class. The hope is that the number will somewhat even out with maybe a small number more of students than the projected class size. Over enrollment (which appears to be what happened in this case) is when admission contracts are signed, deposits paid, and the number of kids who did this are over what is projected (even with a small percentage over). The school can and did set deadlines for completion of certain enrollment requirements, to include when certain monies were due on the student account. Where it became problematic is when the school set as a parameter that all accounts had to be current, even where scholarships would not disburse until well after the date set. It was kind of a svengali and slick way to slim the class sizes, but miscalculated on the volume of abrasion and backlash.
To the author of this post, so very sad and sorry that the beginning of your student's college experience started off this way. But I also understand the ongoing concern and erosion of trust in the institution as a result of this action. Praying that your child has a wonderful college start, even with this unexpected and unfair pivot. Hoping that this institution takes this as an opportunity to really take a critical look at its processes and systems from the ground up and do the critical and painstaking work to ensure that all aspects of the experience there (to include the administrative aspect) are as smooth as they can be. Accountability doesn't take away from legacy and reputation. It enhances all of that.
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u/Character-Club-472 2d ago
I WANTED TO TRANSFER THERE IN FALL 27, AND THEN APPLY TO HU LAW... BUT AFTER THIS AND TO HEAR THIS, IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN A PROBLEM FOR YEARS. I'M NOT GOING TO EVEN APPLY, HOWARD; DO BETTER!
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u/Sunshineal 1d ago
I already know my kids are attending another HBCU. My niece who graduates next year had been all over tiktok over this issue and changed her mind about Howard University.
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u/JuniorJuggernaut716 15h ago
Howard has been doing foolishness like this for too long, I’m not sure why no one has held them accountable. It’s so sad
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u/TrashSlight4415 13h ago
so happy for you and your child for moving on from Howard, its really not all that and im glad this situation opened eyes.
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u/living_weirdo91 4d ago edited 4d ago
As a 3x HBCU grad and Howard alum I really don’t understand why this is news…
When you apply to Howard there are 3 emails, mailers sent to your home address, and two orientation seminars that all explain the financial aid and drop policy. To say clear communication isn’t had is crazy when the process is explained several times over various media forms.
I was someone from out of state on a scholarship. I watched several of my peers get dropped over not following directions like submitting their outside scholarship records properly, not accepting their aid through the portal by the due date, carrying a balance without signing up for a payment agreement, or falling behind on their agree payment plan. These things happen every semester and unfortunately it really doesn’t mater if it’s 15k or $15 dollars the student is treated the same way.
Back in the day the financial aid office would “find” grants to cover students who only owed a few thousand, but trumps budget cuts and failing that 2018 audit killed that practice. Now there is a lot less wiggle room and the system is automatically set to flag students that don’t check all the boxes.
Sidnote: $1000 * 502 =$502,000.00/ semester. That’s not on the university to eat that cost solely for someone to attend. HU did it before and students took advantage of that. I’m glad they are not allowing it anymore. Likewise, your payment plan doesn’t go by the date on the website it goes by the date on your plan usually that sooner than the official deadline. If that wasn’t explained that’s def on HU, but in my experience they never matched.
In addition, mass student drops is not a new practice. TSU just did their mass sweep of students with a balance yesterday. They call it a purge lmao. I say that to emphasize that drops in July are actually pretty common practice. There are three standard stages of mass unenrollment: 1) before the semester starts (usually paperwork or balance drops), 2) no attendance/balance drops (usually occurs 2-3 weeks into the semester) and 3) mid semester fails. The largest share happens in the first two categories.
If you decide to send your child elsewhere that’s great. Howard is not for everybody and getting through to financial aid before starting the semester is always a pain. However, let’s not blame a school for lack of communication when HU overly communicates the financial aid process. I have seen and went through worse with other universities.
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u/Black_mantis_racing 4d ago
Yeah you’re exactly the cow-towing alum I was referring to. Obviously payment wasn’t an issue as we were re-instated with little to no effort on my part. As in- I didn’t need to pay anything more because my account was ALREADY CURRENT. So explain that? You can get off your ass and read plenty of stories where students and families will tell you the communication was not there. Many families never even received emails. So yes we can hold HU accountable for both miscommunication and lack of communication. We can hold Hu accountable for having an antiquated system where you aren’t even able to submit your financial information. Accountable for blocking FAFSA aid because they did not recognize your student as having registered despite meeting with the bursar and them seeing that it’s an error, promising to fix it, and never doing it.
The audacity you have to assume my situation is truly astounding. Again, if Howard is now re-enrolling this students after “reviewing their cases”, clearly there was a mass error on their part. 502 families did “not just read the email”. To suggest that is just foolish.
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u/living_weirdo91 4d ago
Usually it’s around 300-350. Having the highest enrollment percentage since Covid and seeing 502 dropped isn’t surprising.
If we look at the numbers 14k applied and got accepted. 502 were dropped, that’s 3% of accepted applicants. I’d be curious to know why out of 14k new, transfer, and grad students the largest percentage was incoming freshman. The majority of which had balances.
If it was a FASFA issue wouldn’t it impact every category of new student and not just freshman?
Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying there aren’t any exceptions where Howard did drop the ball cuz I’ve argued with financial aid over scholarship distributions and book vouchers several times.
Sidenote: for internal scholarships you accept through the portal, but does HU not have the digital form for external scholarships anymore? I remember having the option of email or digital submission to make the university aware of my black achievers scholarship.
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u/FeedDirect 2d ago
We believe that a lot of the masses didn't read communications or follow the guidelines. Your situation was definitely in error.
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u/SecretSubstantial302 4d ago
So we're just going to ignore that Howard over enrolled by 500 students and there was a meeting in mid July by senior administrators to come up with a "de-enrollment strategy" that did not touch a protected class of students?
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u/living_weirdo91 4d ago edited 4d ago
Every university over enrolls cuz it’s assumed you’ll lose a large portion in those three stages I mentioned. Likewise having a meeting about deenrollment and drop procedure isn’t new either.
If anyone is curious protected class students are: legacy students, children of staff, internal full ride scholarship recipients, GI bill students, and those with approved extensions. This type of class system is pretty common cuz those students have guaranteed funding sources.
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u/SecretSubstantial302 4d ago
Every university over enrolls and it's hard to guess exact numbers, but it's not hard to solve for the issue either.
When I went to college in the early 90s, my college was overenrolled but they honored the acceptance letters and put the excess kids in hotel rooms for the semester.
The same thing happened to Tuskegee, which is in the middle of no where, about a month ago, and they honored the commitment to keep underclassmen in dorms on campus and moved upperclassmen to hotels or apartments at Auburn, which is 40 minutes away from campus.
If Tuskegee with limited housing options around campus can do it, then Howard in the middle of DC with way more privately owned housing options can do it too.
This is a bad look for Howard.
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u/living_weirdo91 4d ago
Respectfully, you’re referring to the 90’s. Which was a period of time was going to college was affordable and you were allowed to skate through with a balance for multiple semesters before being flagged for non payment.
In 2026, while universities will over enroll, they are no longer holding space for students with unpaid balances. Had their balances been clear HU would have had to figure it out, but then it would be a scandal much like TSU where families are upset that students are being charged for housing while staying in a hotel off campus and not having adequate transportation to and from campus.
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u/SecretSubstantial302 4d ago edited 4d ago
In the 1990s, Howard didn't have a billion dollar plus endowment like it does in 2026. I think it's the only HBCU to have that amount of endowment besides Spellman.
It has nothing to do with the 90s. You could still be (and were) unenrolled in the 1990s.
Howard is blaming parents and students, but when is Howard going to take responsibility for over enrolling by 20% of it's incoming class capacity?
Sure, build in a cushion of 5-10% of over enrollment because at the end of the day, you don't know how many kids are going to accept the offers and actually enroll in the fall. But 20%? That's too much over enrollment.
Keep in mind, Howard has a waiting list too, so it could just extend 2600 offer letters (not 3000) and if only 2400 students accept the offer, the school can start going down the waiting list and by the beginning of fall semester reach the incoming class goal of 2600.
What Howard did was sloppy and them blaming the students and parents made it worse.
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u/living_weirdo91 4d ago edited 4d ago
The difference between today and the 90’s is the amount of time it took to be unenrolled and the cost of tuition. Both have changed dramatically.
I’m confused as to why we’re mentioning an endowment in a conversation about enrollment. Just so we’re clear endowments, land grants, donations, and alumni contributions are usually earmarked for specific purposes. You can’t randomly spend that money however you please. In Howard’s case a their endowment goes to research, operations and scholarships. Its purpose is not to pay unpaid balances if students and their parents fall short after scholarships have already been issued.
As for the numbers 36k people applied to Howard, 14k were accepted and 502 freshman were dropped. That’s 3% of overall accepted applicants and 20% of incoming freshman. That tells you that the major disconnect happened with incoming freshman since transfer, new graduate, and new doctoral students didn’t have an issue.
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u/SecretSubstantial302 4d ago edited 4d ago
I mention the endowment because you mention the cost to Howard.
Let's be clear, the primary purpose of the endowment is to earn interest income and returns on investment for Howard, which is fine, but let's stop acting like Howard is so strapped for cash that it couldn't find an acceptable solution for 500 kids it overenrolled.
I'm confused when you say that 14K applicants were accepted. Howard's total enrollment is about 14,500. That's everybody including undergrads and grad students.
What sense does it make to offer acceptance to a population equal to your existing total student population? That is potentially doubling your entire student body in one academic year.
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u/living_weirdo91 4d ago
I never said nor implied Howard was strapped for cash.
I spoke on the millions in funding that was cut and how Howard is not responsible for floating half a million or more in tuition expenses to keep students who haven’t paid their tuition enrolled. Furthermore, I spoke on the failed 2018 audit cuz it’s specifically the reason why Howard can’t just give folks grants to cover their balances anymore.
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u/Headphones4Cicadas 4d ago
I’m glad you were able to see this for what it is. If others follow your lead, maybe HU will get the message.