'I was freaking out,' says Howard student among 500 unenrolled over tuition payment

The university said hundreds of students missed a critical tuition deadline.

Howard University has reinstated dozens of the more than 500 incoming first-year students it unenrolled last week over missed tuition and financial-aid deadlines, leaving hundreds still without a place in the class weeks before the fall semester begins.

While some are breathing a sigh of relief, many prospective students have been left in limbo and in a state of confusion -- some traveling to Washington, D.C. from all across the country to attempt to resolve the situation in person.

Last week, the university said 502 students missed a critical tuition payment deadline that would have otherwise secured their registration for the Fall 2026 semester, which starts on August 17.

The school claims that students received a wide range of tuition and financial aid deadline notifications beginning in March, with additional notifications every month, including in July ahead of the school's July 10 deadline that reminded incoming freshmen to submit their tuition payments.

But some incoming students claim they never received a notification at all. Others told ABC News that the only notification they received regarding the tuition payment deadline came the day it was due, sending people like Nikiyah Clark, a 17-year-old incoming freshman, scrambling to try and find the funds last minute -- causing her to miss the deadline.

The next notice Clark said she received was one unenrolling her from the school. Clark told ABC News she took a Greyhound bus at 2:30 a.m. Monday in an attempt to regain her spot at the school.

“I was freaking out,” Clark said when she received a notice from the school that stated that she had been unenrolled. “I was so scared because Howard University is my dream school, like, my grandma went there,” she said.

“On July 22, on a Wednesday, I got this email to my Howard email, and basically it says, you have declined your offer to attend Howard University,” Clark explained, adding, “However, I never did that, so I was kind of confused.”

“Then I got another email around 3:00 p.m., like, a couple hours later, basically saying you missed the July 10 payment and -- because of that -- because you missed the July 10 payment, you will not be able to attend our university. All decisions are final,” Clark told ABC News.

In a statement, Howard’s office of communications is standing by the school's decision, stressing that its enforcement actions are to “ensure the University can appropriately allocate resources to support all enrolled students.”

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