Howard University Unenrolls 502 Incoming Freshmen Three Weeks Before Move-In Over Unpaid Balances

Howard University has unenrolled 502 incoming freshmen weeks before the fall semester begins, telling them by email late Wednesday night that it could no longer hold their places because they had not met a July 10 deadline to pay at least half their tuition or set up a payment arrangement.

The notices landed on students who in many cases had already paid enrollment deposits, chosen roommates and booked flights to Washington. Classes start Aug. 17. Tuition for the 2026-27 academic year runs about $37,996, roughly $18,998 per semester, meaning the threshold students had to clear was close to $9,500 before a single class met.

In a statement, the university said it "sent notifications to 502 first-time-in-college students whose accounts did not reflect the required enrollment and financial obligations by the previously communicated deadlines," and said it had sent detailed instructions to incoming students and their families repeatedly in March, April, May, June and July. Officials said they are reviewing the cases of students whose scholarships or aid are documented but not yet disbursed, and some students have since had their registrations restored.

That has not settled the matter for families who say the problem is timing, not money. Isabella Williams told WJLA she had been awarded $27,000 in Howard scholarships — an $11,000 award and a $16,000 award — leaving a balance of roughly $12,000, with outside scholarship funds scheduled to arrive in August. "They say that Howard teaches you how to advocate for yourself, but I shouldn't be advocating to afford to go to school or to be able to go to the school that I paid my enrollment deposit for," she said.

Parents and students turned up on the university's campus in person Friday looking for someone who could reverse the decision, and many described being unable to reach the financial aid office by phone or email. Students have circulated screenshots of their portals showing holds, missing aid packages and balances they say do not match their award letters, and several said the accounts have been unreliable since the university moved to a new student services platform.

The episode has drawn unusual attention because of what Howard is: the country's most prominent historically Black university, with an incoming class drawn heavily from families for whom a five-figure summer payment is not a formality. Alumni have organized informally online to cover balances for individual students, and members of the D.C. Council have asked the university for an accounting of how many of the 502 have been reinstated.