{"id":15757,"date":"2026-07-24T14:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T09:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=15757"},"modified":"2026-07-24T14:00:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T09:00:21","slug":"howard-university-freshmen-students-unenrolled-over-unpaid-bills-weeks-before-fall-semester","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=15757","title":{"rendered":"Howard University freshmen students unenrolled over unpaid bills weeks before fall semester"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F07%2Fhoward-university-students-unenrolled-comp-135339480.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Hundreds of incoming Howard University students from across the country were blindsided just weeks before the start of school after learning they had been unenrolled over unpaid bills. <\/p>\n<p>Freshmen were informed this week that they had missed a July 10 payment deadline and would not be allowed to attend the upcoming fall semester at the private HBCU school in Washington, DC. <a href=\"https:\/\/wjla.com\/news\/local\/howard-university-enrollment-incoming-freshman-fall-semester-washington-dc-tuition-scholarship-military-loans-administration-class-2030-academic-glitch-funding\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ABC 7 reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Students were set to start moving into their on-campus housing on August 3 while the Fall semester begins on August 17. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Isabella Williams was one of the students who received news that she\u2019d been unenrolled by the university.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Isabella Williams had her truck packed and was gearing up to take the long trip from her home in Alabama on Thursday to start her internship with the school\u2019s football team next week when her dream school informed her she was unenrolled.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNever in my life have I been so disappointed,\u201d Williams said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DbHUNmyMiP2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tearful video on her Instagram<\/a>. \u201cNever in my life have I gotten so far and worked so hard for it to be stripped from me on a random Wednesday.\u201d<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Williams, who was accepted to 42 colleges, committed to Howard University in May.<\/p>\n<p>Williams said she had two guaranteed scholarships pending from Howard University, who was going to cover the remainder of her tuition balance due in July.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had two scholarships from Howard University. I had an $11,000 scholarship and a $16,000 scholarship that was directly from them,\u201d Williams told the outlet.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Freshmen were informed this week that they had missed a July 10 payment deadline and would not be allowed to attend the upcoming fall semester at the private HBCU school in Washington, DC. <span class=\"credit\">Lee \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>She said she was as transparent with the school as she could be, sending them document proof that money would come in August and was told \u201ceverything was fine\u201d and that her \u201cscholarships could come through later.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Williams said when she reached out to the university, she was told that there was \u201cno way for us to come back,\u201d and the school \u201csuggested that we come back for another semester as a transfer student.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey gave a little bit of information about how to get scholarship reimbursement in the near future. Now, this was confusing for a multitude of reasons,\u201d Williams told ABC 7.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Dwayne Irvin was just 12 days away from leaving his Kansas City, Mo., when he was told he was unenrolled.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Her Instagram post quickly went viral after being shared Wednesday, with hundreds of other incoming students coming forward to say they had received the same notice from the university.<\/p>\n<p>Williams said her enrollment has since been restored after her post went viral.<\/p>\n<p>The school later confirmed to ABC 7 that more than 500 students received the unenrollment notification.<\/p>\n<p>Dwayne Irvin was just 12 days away from leaving his Kansas City, Mo., home to start at Howard University when he received the devastating news that he wouldn\u2019t be attending the fall semester, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcwashington.com\/news\/local\/dozens-of-howard-university-students-unenrolled-weeks-before-fall-semester\/4133711\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NBC 4 Washington reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Williams said when she reached out to the university, she was told that there was \u201cno way for us to come back,\u201d and the school \u201csuggested that we come back for another semester as a transfer student.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">@educated.barbie\/Instagram<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Another incoming student, MarLae\u2019 Coffield, said she checked her account on July 11 only to find her balance was negative \u2014 meaning she had more money in aid and scholarships than she owed in tuition and that the university owed her the difference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI graduated early. I graduated my junior year and I had a 4.0, and I did all of that just to get into Howard University. And now I can\u2019t go to Howard University,\u201d Coffield told the outlet.<\/p>\n<p>Howard University said it repeatedly reached out to students and families between March and July to inform them of the payment deadlines through emails, personalized financial aid information, videos and prep sessions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHoward University understands the concerns and challenges that students and families are experiencing related to the recent enrollment update for some first-time-in college students,\u201d the institution posted on X Thursday. <\/p>\n<p>Howard University said it is reviewing cases involving pending scholarship and financial aid applications and will issue refunds for any payments and scholarship funds already submitted, though the $800 deposits for tuition and housing will not be returned.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hundreds of incoming Howard University students from across the country were blindsided just weeks before the start of school after learning they had been unenrolled over unpaid bills. Freshmen were informed this week that they had missed a July 10 payment deadline and would not be allowed to attend the upcoming fall semester at the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/07\/howard-university-students-unenrolled-comp-135339480.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}