Wayne Frederick, interim president of Howard University, spoke with him Within Higher Ed Wednesday.
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Howard University has reinstated more than 200 of its 502 incoming students before the fall semester, following a review of the cases of affected students, said interim President Wayne Frederick. Within Higher Ed Wednesday.
The updated figure represents a significant increase from the 46 reinstated previously reported. Frederick said the reinstated students showed they met the university’s payment obligations or provided documentation showing they had outside scholarships or other financial aid that had not yet appeared in their accounts.
Frederick also outlined changes Howard plans to make in his interactions with incoming students. He said the university will make it clear that students must pay at least 50 percent of their balance to reserve a place and will include examples of numbers that show that requirement. Howard will also provide additional “high-level” support to students who need more help navigating the enrollment process, he said.
At the same time, Frederick dismissed the suggestion that Howard’s communication with the students had not been successful. Asked by Within Higher Ed why so many students believe they remain enrolled even after receiving messages telling them otherwise, Frederick said he “didn’t agree with that idea.”
More than 2,200 students “were ready, they obeyed the deadline, they filled out the forms and they were registered, which means that most of the students were ready and this is a small group,” Frederick said. “It means that something worked for those people who represented more than 90 percent of the students.”
After the Decision
In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Frederick said Howard’s decision to withdraw students this year was “unusual,” but said the university had been “less strict” about enforcing pay dates in previous years.
Frederick offered Within Higher Ed a detailed explanation of why Howard enforced its registration deadline so strongly this year. He said the uncertainty surrounding last year’s incoming class recruitment is a complex issue with student recruitment, class scheduling and the university’s readiness for the entire fall semester.
“Our preparation was not good because we were not sure how many students we would have and how much faculty we needed. [and] what the space requirements were,” said Frederick.
Frederick also said that students’ lack of financial readiness last year contributed to Howard’s decision to stick to the registration deadline. In the 2025-26 academic year, 16 percent of students had a balance of $10,000 or more at the end of the first semester, he said, while 9 percent ended the academic year owing at least that amount.
“When I put all those things together, it’s not fair for those students to succeed,” Frederick said. He noted that Howard’s four-year graduation rate is less than 70 percent and said the university is working to increase it. “The only way we’re going to get there is if we really push some of these issues and make sure that the students are ready and we’re ready to meet them.”
Howard Pushes Back
As controversy over Howard’s decision continues, officials in New York and other institutions have moved to offer enrollment opportunities to expelled students. New York guarantees admission to eligible residents at the State University of New York and City University of New York campuses, while the University of the District of Columbia, an HBCU also located in Washington, DC, extended its enrollment deadline to Aug. 7 for students affected by Howard’s decision.
Asked about those efforts, Frederick told Within Higher Ed institutions were “within their rights” to hire affected students. But he also questioned why colleges were able to accept hundreds of additional students late in the admissions cycle without the same scrutiny of their existing enrollments.
“There’s a lot of tension in Howard,” said Frederick. “If I had that kind of space to take those students in July … is your enrollment down?”
Frederick also argued that Howard was treated differently than other colleges that enforce registration or payment dates.
“This happens in other schools,” said Frederick. “I saw the school today issuing an announcement that if you don’t fulfill your financial obligations by July 31, you will no longer be writing with us. I have never seen a single news report saying that someone might ask that someone will wait until July 31 to release those students.”
“Howard is different in the way he’s been treated by the media and other people for decades, throughout his life,” he added.
After Fallout
In an interview with WTOP on Wednesday, Frederick was asked if he was concerned about the impact the firing would have on Howard’s reputation.
“I’m not. I don’t want to be naïve that being indifferent in the social media and in the press is not good for us. But I also think that when people start saying things like ‘because we’re Howard, we have to accept these students if they don’t follow the procedures, etc., “I think that’s a very wrong comment,” he told WTOP.
In his interview no Within Higher EdFrederick did the same when asked if Howard would change his enrollment procedures for the next admissions cycle.
“It’s definitely going to make us doubly hard to make sure we stick to the deadline to honor what the 2,200 students are doing,” Frederick said. “They did the right thing.”
