On July 22, Howard University informed 502 incoming first-year students that they had not met tuition payment requirements and were therefore unenrolled from the HBCU for the Fall 2026 semester beginning August 17.
“Howard University provided multiple detailed communications throughout March, April, May, June, and July to first-time-in-college students and families on steps needed to secure enrollment for the fall 2026 semester,” reads an official university statement. “Notifications included emails, personalized financial aid information, videos, and Bison Prep sessions — to help incoming students understand tuition payment requirements, payment plan options, the process for reporting outside scholarships, and the deadlines necessary to secure their enrollment.”
As a result of this notification, many of the affected students and their families have reached out to Howard to inform them of pending external loans, scholarships, and other funding, according to a report from ABC 7News in Washington, D.C. However, several of these students say they have not received any communication from Howard’s financial aid office.
In response to these students’ concerns, Keyana Scales, senior vice president for enrollment management, told ABC 7News, “What we have since realized is that there are a number of students who have indicated that they have actually submitted the information or attempted to satisfy our requirements. We are in the process of reviewing all of the email messages that we are receiving with care to ensure that we are looking at records, the documentation that students are presenting, and, if required, being able to enroll them or reinstate their classes.”
As of July 27, at least 46 students have been reinstated.
Kathy Hochul, Governor of New York, has ordered the State University of New York System and the City University of New York to offer enrollment to displaced Howard students who are New York residents. “Hundreds of students, including New Yorkers, are scrambling and scared since they’ve been disenrolled from their intended college just a few weeks before classes are set to begin,” said Governor Hochul in a statement. “New York is home to the nation’s finest systems of public higher education, and we are ready to welcome these talented students with the opportunity they deserve.”
The University of the District of Columbia and Elizabeth City State University in North Carolina have also offered the students who were dropped by Howard an opportunity to enroll at those educational institutions.
