Education Department Places Financial Aid Restrictions on Howard University

Education Department Places Financial Aid Restrictions on Howard University

The historically black college has been struggling financially for years now and the situation is not improving.

Inside Higher Ed reports:

Feds Impose Aid Restrictions on Howard

One of the country’s most prominent historically black universities learned this month that it is now subject to one of the Education Department’s strictest forms of financial limitation.

Howard University landed on the list of institutions subject to heightened cash monitoring 2, a status that means it can receive federal funding only after it has disbursed financial aid to students. That doesn’t necessarily create a crisis for Howard, but it could generate more financial instability at an institution that has struggled in recent years with budget and financial issues.

The cash monitoring sanctions can be triggered by a number of situations, such as troubles with accreditation, late filing of financial statements or concerns about an institution’s financial responsibility.

Howard faced an embarrassing financial aid scandal last spring — the university fired six employees in its financial office for fraud, which was discovered via an internal investigation begun in 2016. Social media posts detailing the misappropriation of funds led to campus protests by students demanding answers from the university.

In a letter to university students and employees this week, Howard president Wayne Frederick indicated that the federal sanctions, which were first reported by The Washington Post, resulted from an inquiry that began after those issues became public.

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