Howard Enrollment is a SCAM!

This is a warning to transfer and first year students!

Howard requires you to pay the enrollment fee before they will even allow you to see your financial aid package to see if you can afford the university. This is because the school doesn’t have a lot of money and wants to secure the $300 payment form prospective students for funds and then screws you over if you don’t qualify for grants, scholarships, or extra aid. That’s like paying to see an estimate of how much you will need to pay. You CANNOT make an informed decision about if you will be able realistically afford Howard without a fin aid award letter as almost every other school in the US does. Howard is known throughout the HBCU community as not being as great as it lets on. It’s not how it used to be. Nearly no other school in the United States does this because it is completely backwards.

This is why so many people ( and many forums are made) are surprised when they find out they cannot afford Howard because Howard has already made you commit to attending.

PLEASE BE CAUTIOUS WITH THIS SCHOOL.

@MadisonMJ That was not my daughter’s experience with financial aid. She applied in October, finished her FAFSA in October, was accepted in December and received her initial financial aid package on March 16th, 6 weeks before the enrollment fee was due. Did you get your FAFSA completed in time? When did you apply? When where you accepted? It sounds like they were missing something. If your FAFSA was completed and you were accepted you should have gotten a financial aid award.

I’ve applied to Howard twice. Once in 2017 when I graduated and got in and once again after my freshman year of college (so this time around) and they did this to me twice. you sound like one of the lucky ones. Each time, turned in the application months before it was due. This time I turned in the transfer application in February, wasn’t due till May 30. I called and asked when I was going to know something because I also got into Boston University and they needed some answers. They said they hadn’t even begun looking at transfer and would let me know in June. The last week of June comes, I get a notice a got in. Go to check my fin aid, it’s not there, call to see what I need to complete to see it and they said I have to pay to enroll, then I can see it. That makes no sense and from what I’ve read online Howard does this a lot to many people. Be wary of this school. Their fin aid department has a 1-star rating on google

Please do not post the same comment multiple times.

@MadisonMJ You should just move on to your next choice. Your financial aid at Howard as a transfer may have been tougher to come by than what is offered to 1st time incoming freshmen. There is no way that you should pay the enrollment fee before finding out your financial aid package. I disagree that the school does not have money (The federal government gave Howard University $225,000,000 last year towards their operating budget and the school has had a surplus the last 2 years along with the largest HBCU endowment). My own theory is that Howard has already figured out that the incoming class is large and is trying to “dissuade” any other students from accepting an offer for admission due to the largest freshman female dorms (The Quad) being shut down for 2018-2019 school year to be remodeled. They will have to shuffle those students throughout the remaining dorms and have triples (3 students) set up for rooms built for 2 students. I am sorry that you have had such a rough time and wish you the best at your chosen institution.

If this was their plan then they shouldn’t have accepted me in the first place. I called Howard and was told exactly what is stated above. My freshman year when I applied I was given a belief nearly full-ride scholarship but had so many issues just contacting and actually being able to see my fin aid package, I did not attend . So once again, this happened to me my FRESHMAN year. And just because the school was awarded the money, does mean they are giving in to the students in the form of fin aid. Like what you just said they may be using that money to remodel. And have you heard about all of the fin aid and funding issues they have had beyond the recent scandal? if you look at some of the reviews for Howard from current students my age, then you can read about the dysfunction. I will be moving on but I needed to warn people about this because even if your theory is correct, that is an absolute HORRIBLE and IRRESPONSIBLE policy for a school that is supposed to be ranked number 2.

Here are just one of many student experiences at Howard.

And I suggest checking out the reviews for the fin aid office which has a 1-star rating.

https://www.google.com/search?q=howard+university+fin+aid&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS713US713&oq=howard+&aqs=chrome.2.69i59l3j69i60l3.4197j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&pli=1&authuser=3

Review from D C on google with 30+ likes:

If you like organization, then Howard is not the school for you. I am an incoming freshman for Fall 2017. The campus is nice and I visited. They have my program and gave me a good scholarship. I thought that the school name “Howard” was awesome and the experience would be like no other. That may be true. There are, however, MAJOR cons to attending. Move-In information was released one week before move in was scheduled to take place. No information about roommates were given to most students; others were lucky to be given the names of their roommates. This year Howard admitted far too many students; double rooms are turning into triples and some freshmen are being moved into upperclassmen dorms. I’ve had an extremely difficult time navigating the administration regarding class scheduling (I didn’t know what classes they scheduled for me until a week before move-in), financial aid, and residence halls. I’ve sent many emails to their departments and receive no answer (after weeks and even months of waiting). Howard takes the crown for leaving students high-and-dry when it comes to help. Good luck getting Howard to pick that phone up, and if you think you can just leave a message, I forgot to mention, all the voicemail boxes for each and every department are filled and there’s no room for you to leave a message. And in case you want to send an email, it’s good for you to know that they probably won’t respond. Even if it’s a major issue you need fixed, Howard says “oh well.” So if you don’t live in the DC or DMV area, great luck getting what you need to be done – done. I’m extremely frustrated and haven’t even reached campus yet. Howard is unorganized, uninformative and unhelpful in the transition from high school to college. From the outside looking in, Howard is not a place I want to be. (Unfortunately I’m finding out the hard way-- after accepting admission) I only hope that I think differently from the inside looking out. I’m starting to think they forgot their motto: “In Truth and Service.” Isn’t part of their service to help students? What I think is really in truth though, from the outside looking in, is that Howard is overrated. If you’re thinking about attending Howard, I strongly advise you to reconsider those thoughts. Strongly. When I get on campus, if I think any different, I promise I will come back and edit.

EDIT: I’ve completed 7 days on campus; “Freshmen Week.” You will meet nice people, will never “fit out,” there are events, church services, and services for religions other than Christianity, and good experiences for those who are not used to the predominantly black, big-city-like environment. However, let me start by saying that Howard University, once again, has proved to be EXTREMELY unorganized. Move-in day is an occasion that I assumed would be chaotic, as probably with every school. Howard’s move-in, however, was UNNECESSARILY A MESS. I first waited in a very unorganized line in the car (where we weren’t given clear directions on where to line up). After waiting two hours, we were told that we had another 4 hours to wait to move in. On move-in day and throughout the week, students did not have beds (only mattresses to sleep on the floor). MANY students were missing desks, dressers, beds, and wardrobe closets in their rooms. Almost every person I knew had SOMETHING missing. I had a very low bed; Howard told me that I was going to get a higher bed, then came back to tell me that they were NOT going to give me a higher bed and that I had to BUY risers for my bed. It took 6 days for Howard to bring my desk and chair. The academic advising appointment I made to finally get credits transferred and my schedule updated has been cancelled 1 hour before my appointment. And they want US to cancel 24 hours in advance if we can’t attend appointments. Should’ve seen that coming, right? I could ramble on much more.

Howard University, you are terrible to your students. Your students create almost every positive aspect of the experience, not the institution itself.

Now I hope your daughter’s experience is better, but I was just stating what happened to me

@MadisonMJ My daughter’s experience so far has been good as she has been on campus for 3 weeks so far taking classes. The financials are all showing correctly for the year (Had to make a call or two to make that happen). My wife and I both attended HBCUs and we know about the challenges better than most. We also have many more advantages than most incoming student’s parents (2 HBCU educated parents, family member already on campus, immediate family members in DC Metro, and a Scholarship Program Director who has been on point so far). You are right that the organization has issues, which was explained to my daughter up front, and I also have given her a solution which is to be on point with everything. In some cases, even having everything will still not be enough but if you go down this path, then she would have to put on her big girl pants. I believe one of the biggest lessons I learned from Morehouse is how to take care of business. I went through things that I could have avoid at other schools, but I also learned how to persuade, preserve, and overcome challenges. Now would I want those challenges for my own child? Absolutely not, but she has made the choice anyway (the positives outweighed the negatives) when she had many other viable options. Howard is definitely not for everyone, but similar to my own HBCU, those who come through that fire, build a kinship and an unique educational experience that is hard to explain.

“Howard is known throughout the HBCU community as not being as great as it lets on. It’s not how it used to be.”

If the above statement is true, then why bother applying in the first place? Also, if the exact same issue occurred last year then why did you apply again this year??

Because I thought things would have gotten better after the financial aid scandal. That there would be more oversight. I wanted to go to Howard because I dreamed about that since I was a little kid, but I had no idea the systems set in place there would be inefficient. Also, I’m stubborn so I still went for the school despite people all around me who work at several HBCU’s who expressed to me the statements and concerns over Howard. I still wanted to go despite this. But it is apparent from talking to several people that GO to Howard and recently graduated that they went there for the name but the conditions didn’t meet what they expected. Similar to Hampton feeding student spoiled food and poor conditions. They went for the name, but it wasn’t what they expected. But it’s my opinion. You obviously don’t agree and that’s fine. But it is very apparent that Howard only has a 1.2-star rating for Fin Aid and they are in need of drastic improvements.

https://www.google.com/search?q=howard+university+fin+aid&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS713US713&oq=howard+&aqs=chrome.2.69i59l3j69i60l3.4197j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&pli=1&authuser=3

UPDATE*

I got in contact with Howard. They apologized for the misinformation, asked for the information of the person who told me this, and stated that was not their policy.

No more responses are need as everthing has been resovled.

Madison, I am curious to know how things have turned out. @ChangeTheGame I am a Howard alum- n the disorganization, mismanagement of resources… yes what you have described above… lol I actually shuddered reading ur text. It was a “unique” experience. I would not pay for my kiddo to experience that.

@HowardGradly Thankfully, I am not paying for it:) I see some things getting better at Howard, but Howard should already be there (It is the MECCA after all and has a special place amongst all HBCUs).

@MadisonMJ I too would like to hear how things are going.