My name is Dazhai Brown a senior at Howard University studying film and television with a minor in business administration from Newark, NJ. Like many students at Howard I have a story of will and determination to complete my matriculation. In previous years Howard University has given students ample time to settle any outstanding balance to the university before the first day of classes, your next semester you enroll. The following email was sent to all students who have an outstanding balance on June 4, 2025:

Please read this email in its entirety as it contains important information about your student account. Our records indicate that you have an overdue balance. To prevent your account from being sent to collections, payment arrangements must be made by Monday, June 30, 2025. If you have taken steps to resolve your balance in the last 24 hours, thank you for your attention to this matter.  

A student account in collections can result in the following consequences: 

• Inability to register for additional courses. 
• Dropped registration for any pre-registered future courses. 
• Inability to have your degree conferred and receive your diploma if you are a Fall 2024 or Spring 2025 graduate.
• Serious negative impact on your credit score. 

Our office does not have access to funds to clear your balance, and there are no financial aid options available to cover outstanding balances from prior school years. We strongly encourage you to contact us as soon as possible to set up a payment plan for your outstanding balance. 

While we offer internal payment plans to help you pay off your past-due balance, please be aware: 

• 
  You will not be permitted to enroll in future classes until your balance is paid in full.
• Your credit score will not be negatively impacted if you remain on time and up to date with your payments under the internal plan. 

Next Steps: 
Email collections@howard.edu to make payment arrangements. 
Please use the subject line: Collections Payment Plan Enrollment 
Your prompt attention to this matter will help keep your account in good standing and avoid the consequences of collections.  

In Truth and Service, 
Office of the Bursar 
Howard University

Visit our full-service branches (find locations at esfcu.org/locations). 
We’re here to make this transition as smooth as possible. Thank you for being a valued member of Educational Systems Federal Credit Union. 
In Truth and Service,
Office of University Communications

Recent Notable Donations:
$175 million: Bloomberg Philanthropies to the College of Medicine endowment.  
$40 million: MacKenzie Scott, largest individual gift to date.  
$20 million: J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation for scholarships.  
$10 million: Karsh Family Foundation, supporting the GRACE Grant Program. 
$5 million: Autodesk to the College of Engineering and Architecture. 

'In Truth and Service' to who exactly? Over the last few years Howard has made drastic changes but this specifically with 76% of the student body on pell grants shows that majority of the student body relies on financial need and acquiring more debt is not In Truth and Service to the majority student body on our campus. With this new policy change many students face the risk of not being able to reenroll which subsequently will also affect Howard's enrollment rate. The policy change will also affect students in the future as this will be a repeat cycle of students not being able to pay their balances less than a few weeks after the last day of classes.

For reference the estimated cost of attendance on-campus tuition is $64,142 and off-campus is $73,268 for a school whose majority population relies on need based financial assistance.

As members of the student body some of us are waiting on scholarships and financial aid benefits to be applied, some students have discovered charges on our accounts from last summer that no one in administration can figure out why it is there yet they won't remove the charges. Leaving students with less than 3 weeks to find thousands of dollars when we are accustomed to having at minimum until the first day of class has left a large sum of students at risk of having their classes dropped and facing severe life altering consequences.

As "The Mecca" a leading HBCU with frequent generous donations, we ask that during such troubling times we are currently in both within our school and out that we are given grace with this matter. Please sign this petition to help get the payment deadline generously extended for students at Howard University.