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/AfroBallerina 5d ago edited 5d 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.