<p>Serious financial problems - from NBC4:</p>
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<p>This qoute is from early 2012, from the Howard University student newspaper:</p>
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<p>It seems there is a consistent history of financial mismanagement and endless bureacracy. Students describe nightmare experiences in dealing with financial aid, admissions, etc. In the comments section of numerous articles, the oft-voiced solution is to seek donations from wealthy African-American sports stars, entertainers, etc. It will be interesting to see if Oprah or Dr. Dre (two names that were mentioned) will rescue Howard, or if the administration has the resolve to make some drastic changes.</p>
<p>If Oprah bails it out, she’ll likely insist that the school reorganize and cut personnel. She’s not likely going to want her money just used to keep the doors open, with the same problem resurfacing after her money runs out. </p>
<p>Two employees for every student? Yikes!</p>
<p>It said one employee for every two students, not two employees for every one student. Still worthy of yikes, though.</p>
<p>yes, I did read it correctly, but wrote it wrong. 
Thanks.</p>
<p>In my mind I was imagining how the tuition from two students supports the salary of one employee. That would be hard to manage.</p>
<p>In a way, The problems at Howard mirror those of the DC government - lots of bloat, corruption and waste. Job creation/retention is the only real priority - never mind constituent services. Howard University fills an important role and I really hope they can resolve these issues. Probably need to bring in some new leadership from outside the university and clean house.</p>
<p>Some crisis seems to envelop Howard every few years. They just keep treading water and making the same mistakes. And no one, including Oprah, should toss money at the problem until concrete and transparent solutions are proposed and implemented. Many schools that have not moved with the times (improving customer service) are now defunct or greatly diminished…like Morris Brown College (where the President was indicted for fraud/theft), which is another private HBCU. If Howard can’t make the grade and better serve its students…shut it down.</p>
<p>Incidentally, having Oprah step in might be a worst case scenario for the dinosaurs at Howard because Oprah will demand results, not platitudes.</p>
<p>“Two employees for every student? Yikes!”</p>
<p>At Harvard, it’s about 1 to 1. The difference between Howard and Harvard is endowment size. The employee ratio, by itself, doesn’t tell you much about whether there’s waste and needless bureaucracy. If you can afford it, it makes sense to have huge research organizations, tons of student support people, many facilities people taking care of your historic buildings, lots of support staff for each professor, etc., etc. The problem is matching your services to what you can afford to provide, and making sure you aren’t spending money you don’t have on things you don’t really need. (Well, and making sure the top guys don’t have their hand in the till a la MBC, but I haven’t seen any indication that’s going on at Howard.)</p>
<p>This is a terrible shame. We need Howard.</p>
<p>If Howard cannot keep its doors open I wonder how any other HBCU will be able to.</p>
<p>I highly doubt that Oprah would bail them out.</p>
<p>This link has an interesting map of the 96 HBCUs which are recieving grants.
[Title</a> III Part B, Strengthening Historically Black Colleges and Universities Program](<a href=“http://www2.ed.gov/programs/iduestitle3b/index.html]Title”>Title III Part B, Strengthening Historically Black Colleges and Universities Program)
I did not realize there were so many!</p>
<p>"If Howard cannot keep its doors open I wonder how any other HBCU will be able to. "</p>
<p>HCBUs are not the only ones with these issues. There are schools out there, many of them that are pretty much discounting the tuition to practically everyone, and the official figures are really just window dressing to keep up with the crowd. Unlike the top schools that direct their discounts to those least able to pay, these schools find they HAVE to direct them to those most able to pay, since they can’t meet anyone’s full need and it has come down to how much money they can get out of their students. </p>
<p>I had predicted this would happen years ago, but expected it a lot sooner and more drastic. IMO, it’s the federal backing of student loans that are propping the existence of a lot of colleges. Pull that support, and we’ll see a mass falling of private schools that are in existence only because of those loans, and if parents ever get wise that they are not worth it, that house of cards will fall as well.</p>
<p>And a Howard University board member refutes the allegations:</p>
<p>[Board</a> leader: Howard U. remains strong - The Washington Post](<a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/board-leader-howard-u-remains-strong/2013/06/10/16fa4332-d1dc-11e2-a73e-826d299ff459_story.html]Board”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/board-leader-howard-u-remains-strong/2013/06/10/16fa4332-d1dc-11e2-a73e-826d299ff459_story.html)</p>
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<p>Well then Mr. Addison, I guess we can all stop worrying and go to sleep peacefully. Seems like I’ve heard similar statements from Howard dinosaurs before, sir.</p>
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<p>Not really. Mismanaged colleges and universities should go out of business just as do mismanaged businesses. There are many colleges and universities willing to take Howard students.</p>
<p>If people run a nonprofit institution into the ground, they should lose their jobs or sometimes even go to jail. But a university belongs to more than just the people who are in charge at a given moment. An existing alumni network, traditions, property, faculty relationships – those resources have value, and it would be a shame to let them all be destroyed because of a few people’s errors. The vast majority of faculty, staff and alumni at any institution don’t have any direct say over how it is managed.</p>
<p>No. A university does not belong to students or its employees. Though an institution’s governing board and administration may be fools or even malevolent, it is they and not current students or alumni who are responsible for running the place. Students and alumni have no substantial managerial role in running universities in America, no matter how emotionally vested they are in their alma mater. That’s the plain, simple and hard cold fact. Howard’s governors may have finally brought the axe down upon the goose’s neck. Sad. Unfortunate. But the resources consumed by Howard should be made available to students who can find support and opportunity elsewhere. Again, I see similarities to Morris Brown College. It made no sense to keep pouring money down the drain at private Morris Brown College when the public Georgia State University across town provided a superior education at significantly lower costs for Georgia’s African-Americans and all young people. By the way, Atlanta Constitution Editorial Board member Cynthia Tucker wrote extensively about the Morris Brown scandal. Her opinion on the mess? Close it down!!!</p>
<p>Perhaps some HBCUs would do well to consolidate or to expand their student outreach as some of the former womens colleges have done.</p>
<p>I dont think we are obligated to keep all public or especially private institutions open till the end of time, regardless of how well intentioned their original charter.</p>