It’s been a whirlwind summer for the incoming Howard University community.
Three months waiting for a housing assignment at her dream school. Unenrolled along with more than 500 other students. And days later reenrolled.
“My balance just kept changing, and it wasn’t consistent,” Flanders said. “I paid everything I had to pay, then they just unenrolled me out of nowhere.”
After several calls and unanswered emails, she was reinstated, but she said that, too, came out of nowhere.
Flanders is one of more than 200 students who have been reinstated after more than a week of backlash and calls for accountability. Days before official move-in days, incoming freshmen flooded social media with the same story: the same email, the same sudden unenrollment. The panic ripped through one of Howard’s largest incoming classes in years.
Coming from Miami, Flanders said she didn’t receive any notifications from Howard about an unpaid balance, and said she had been waiting nearly three months for a housing assignment. She told Capital B she had a remaining balance of a little over $700, but when she checked again the week of July 8, the balance had climbed to over $1,200. By July 22, the bill was $4,790.
The enrollment confusion wasn’t the only sign of drastic changes at Howard for the incoming semester. As students struggled with billing errors and housing delays, the university was also quietly reshaping its workforce.
A week after the news settled down about unenrolling students, news leaked that the university quietly offered 600 eligible faculty. In June, the university sent out an email to faculty and staff, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education.
Wayne A. I. Federick, the interim president of the university, said the buyouts were meant as a “refresh” as the university embraces the “Research One” Carnegie Classification announced in early 2025, arguably one of the highest designations for research institutions. Right now, Howard is the only HBCU with the title.
As of July 31, less than a week before she’s set to drive 18 hours to move into her dorm, Flanders is still missing scholarships on her university account, some of which were awarded by the institution itself.
In the days since the uproar, Howard issued a statement defending what happened to the hundreds of students.
Frederick said the university received 36,000 applications for the upcoming semester, nearly twice the current enrollment of 14,500, according to the university. He doubled down on the university’s previous stance that the university sent several emails to incoming students about deadlines dating back to March, pointing out that 2,200 incoming students met financial deadlines.
“Enforcing established enrollment processes and deadlines is essential not only to responsibly managing an incoming class of this size, but also to ensuring that every enrolled student has access to the academic, financial, residential, and student support resources necessary to thrive,” he said.
But students tell a different story, self-advocating on social media and sharing screenshots of follow-up emails and proof of scholarship award letters. Several students have said they were reassured through financial aid that delayed scholarships and grants would still leave them in good standing.
Isabella Williams was one of 500 students in the Class of 2030 unenrolled from their courses — just days before some move-in started in late July. And she was among the 200 students who were reinstated.
The incoming freshman told Capital B she’s always dreamed of attending Howard University.
In 1984, her mother enrolled at the historically Black college in Washington but quickly had to drop out due to financial issues. Fast forward 42 years, and now she’s in a similar predicament.
Williams was just four days away from setting out to college from her hometown in Fort Mitchell, Alabama – a nearly 14-hour drive – when she learned she had been dropped from fall semester courses due to an outstanding tuition balance and unenrolled from the university. She told Capital B that she got an email from the university saying she would be refunded for the payments she’d made and that she’d be able to apply as a transfer student next semester.
Williams said she previously spoke to the financial aid office at the university, which said she should be in good standing, even though scholarships and grants she applied for were going to be applied later in the summer.
Within 48 hours she was reenrolled after speaking with the financial office again and the growing backlash. Still, other students had not been reenrolled.
For years, the cost of attending historically Black colleges and universities have crippled students, especially around the start of academic semesters. Just a few months ago, several HBCU students took to social media sharing GoFundMe and crowd-sourcing fundraisers to stay enrolled in their respective colleges.
Howard University did not respond to Capital B’s request for comment about how many students were impacted and policies around unpaid balances. But in a statement on July 23, the university said that it “is reviewing information related to anticipated scholarship funding and other financial aid, where appropriate, and will consider relevant circumstances presented regarding pending scholarship awards and financial aid resources.”
Williams and other students are being reenrolled in fall courses but the abrupt drops have sparked calls for accountability from Howard and its financial aid offices. For tuition alone, the university charges nearly $38,000 per semester, in addition to housing costs that can reach $12,380, according to the university’s website.
Surprise student balances aren’t a new thing within the Bison community.
“We know that there can be issues with financial aid, but they have never done this two weeks before school started and dropped hundreds of people out of nowhere,” Williams told Capital B.
“The way that Howard University has handled this was extremely disrespectful. We’re supposed to be in truth and in service, and I don’t think that this aligns with either of them.”
Struggling with tuition isn’t unique to Howard.
Several philanthropists and nonprofit organizations have donated to HBCUs, specifically to relieve expenses of attending Black colleges to keep students on track to graduate. In 2016, AT&T donated $26,000 to support Winston-Salem State University in North Carolina through its Gap Assistance Scholarship Program.
At Howard, community members and alumni organizations often “adopt” students experiencing financial hardships by donating and fundraising on their behalf. Last Bison Standing, a nonprofit organization started by Howard alumni, often provides emergency assistance to students who are in good academic standing and show a strong need for assistance.
At UNCF, students can apply for the UNCF Campaign Emergency Student Aid (CESA, now called UNCF Emergency Student Aid), which was founded in 2009. Since then, the nonprofit has awarded more than $30 million to keep students enrolled, according to the nonprofit.
In the meantime, Flanders and Williams said they’re still excited to attend Howard, even after the unenrollment hassle.
“People don’t really understand, like, when you invest so much into something, you’re going to want the outcome,” Flanders said. “I want what I paid for, and Howard wasn’t going to refund my deposits.”
This story has been updated.
