Howard University students who were disenrolled have been invited to investigate opportunities at schools in Maryland, and officials are urging those students to apply soon.
Gov. Wes Moore has offered a plan that would provide expedited admissions and an $800 credit to attend a University System of Maryland (USM) school for Howard University students who were notified weeks before planning to move in that they were no longer enrolled.
Maryland Higher Education Secretary Elena Quiroz-Livanis said that currently there’s no deadline for applications, but told Â鶹¹ÙÍø, “I would encourage students and families to reach out sooner rather than later.”
“The sooner they contact the Office of Student Financial Assistance, the sooner we can connect them to university officials to make sure that we have a place for them here in Maryland,” Quiroz-Livanis said. “The takeaway here is do not wait, contact us as soon as possible.”
Bowie State University, like Howard, is an HBCU that is encouraging displaced Howard students to apply as well. The school is also part of the University System of Maryland.
“We have opportunities for them to choose and select any major of their choice,” Mitchel Kabia-Williams, Bowie State’s interim vice president for enrollment management and student affairs, told Â鶹¹ÙÍø.
Kabia-Williams said his office is working to make the transition as seamless as possible for students who decide to enroll.
“We do have a supportive staff, supportive faculty and it is a family culture,” he said, adding that student housing is currently waitlisted, though a new facility is expected to open in the spring.
Jaelyn Bull, a rising senior at Bowie State, also encouraged the Howard students to consider what other HBCUs have to offer.
Bull said Bowie State wasn’t her first choice. She said her dream school was Drexel University, and she got in, but the cost remained out of reach even after financial aid offers.
Instead, she enrolled at Bowie State.
“I got exactly what I wanted here at Bowie,” Bull said. “You can get whatever kind of experience you want. It doesn’t only have to be the Howard experience.”
Bull said she understands Howard’s appeal for many students. Her mother is a Howard alum.
Referring to Howard’s reputation as “the Mecca,” Bull said, “I grew up learning about the Mecca and hearing about the Mecca.”
But she said, people don’t seem to realize that “every HBCU has their own unique story and own unique history, and there’s so much of that here at Bowie, that you won’t feel like you are missing out on this Mecca experience.”
“Howard is a great school, but it’s not the end of the line,” Bull said.
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