Anxious students who were unenrolled now moving into Howard University dorms

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nikiyah Clark had five boxes and a backpack when she ultimately received the keys to her Howard University dorm. Weeks earlier, the school had told her this moment would never come.

When Howard administrators informed Clark — and hundreds of others — that she was permanently unenrolled for missing a tuition fee deadline, she rode a bus from Cleveland, Ohio, to plea with administrators. She left in tears.

“I didn’t just lose my dream. I lost my way out,” said the 17-year-old, who had pinned her hopes on Howard as a peaceful environment and a path to financial freedom after years of growing up in “survival mode.”

Shortly after that, the university notified Clark she was once again welcome to enroll. But as she moved into the Washington, D.C., campus on Thursday, she remained uneasy. She worries that the university might reverse its decision yet again, and hopes Howard will make changes so that other students aren't wrongfully unenrolled.

“I’m definitely not really over that,” Clark said.

While administrators prefer that students, faculty and alumni focus on the school's new academic year, much of the community's attention is still trained on the unenrollment debacle. More than 500 incoming first-year students were unenrolled for missing a July tuition payment deadline, the university said. About 200 students have had their enrollment restored.

It was also reported Friday that Howard unenrolled the students about a month after offering voluntary early retirement buyouts to 600 eligible employees. But Howard University said in a statement that the employee buyouts were unrelated and part of a plan for “long-term financial sustainability.”

For some in the Howard community, the bitter experience has raised questions about the legacy of one of the country's most revered historically Black colleges and universities. Others say such administrative matters won't lessen the career impact a Howard diploma can have.

Zy’Aira Blackmon had her heart set on attending Howard, seen as the preeminent Black university in the nation.

But, after her enrollment status was revoked and then reinstated within days, the 18-year-old from Grand Rapids, Michigan, doesn’t feel the same way. The luster Howard once held has been dulled.

“After this situation, most people are going to ignore all the good things Howard has to offer,” said Blackmon, who now will study at Western Michigan University.

When Howard took away 17-year-old Yuisa Davis’ enrollment, her mother hopped on a plane July 28 from the family’s Puerto Rico home to get answers. An administrative official told Karina Polen-Davis and her husband, who was on speakerphone, that she couldn’t answer their questions. Then the official called security.

The Davises say they paid what they thought they owed but the university rescinded enrollment without explanation or recourse.

The school never budged.

“It’s very disheartening just because there’s so many opportunities that’s kind of just been taken from me without me being able to" find a resolution, said Yuisa Davis, who often visited Howard as a child.

Now, Davis is working with The New School in New York City on possible financial aid.

“The difference in how we've been treated has been night and day,” Kenneth Davis said.

Interim President Wayne A. I. Frederick told The Associated Press last month that Howard simply followed its payment policy, noting that 2,200 students did meet payment requirements.

Unenrolled students and their parents did not properly read school communications about a July 10 deadline for half their unpaid balance, with financial aid factored in, Frederick said.

Those students who did everything correctly “deserve to show up on Aug. 17, the first day of class and meet their professors in class, have their housing assignments taken care of,” Frederick said. Previously, the school had to scramble to find enough student housing and adjunct professors to fill classrooms.

Some students assert they followed the school’s payment requirements.

Blackmon said her scholarship had not been included in her balance owed. After being unenrolled, she constantly called and emailed the school.

“They reinstated me. They really didn’t explain much,” she added.

Ashley Christopher, an attorney and Howard alumna whose son is a sophomore there, thinks Howard shoulders some blame. She is the founder of HBCU Week , a foundation that awards scholarships, and believes students received “bad information" from the school.

“There’s a way to take accountability for a misstep, and also explain that there’s joint responsibility here,” said Christopher, an attorney. “It is not just the parents. It’s not just the students."

Frederick said that how Howard has handled unenrollment and reenrollment can contribute positively to the school’s image.

“All this does is strengthen our legacy and helps us perform as a high-performing institution on the administrative side, as we have been doing in the past,” he said.

The nearly 160-year-old Howard is one of about 100 HBCUs in the U.S., with famous alumni including former Vice President Kamala Harris and actor Chadwick Boseman.

Howard has a 6-year graduation rate of 70% and a retention rate of 90%, according to the U.S. Department of Education's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System . The school consistently ranks among the most prestigious private HBCUs, including as the top-ranked HBCU by Forbes.

The university costs more than $66,000 each year to attend. The median income for four-year graduates is about $73,000, according to the Education Department. Frederick said Howard has graduated more Black doctors than any other school in the country.

The “scandal,” as Christopher calls the unenrollment issue, likely will not impact Howard’s reputation as “The Mecca” of Black education in the long run.

“Howard has been the blueprint for HBCUs, graduated the best and the brightest — not saying they’re the only one who does that," she said. "When it comes to overall impact of HBCU institutions, Howard stands at the top of that list.”

___ Tang reported from Sunnyvale, California. Williams reported from Detroit.