July 24, 2025
The students found themselves owing thousands more than usual due to a new account platform switch.
While many Howard students are planning for their final year at the renowned HBCU, some are now facing an unexpected and expensive bill.
The school has transitioned over to a new payment platform for students called Bison Hub. However, this new software has left some with a considerable amount of money to pay before they can register for classes.
Typically, for HBCUs, any student with a financial hold on their account cannot register for the next semester until the hold is paid. One student told NBC Washington how she woke up with what looked like an entire year’s tuition weighing on her account.
“Right now, it says I owe that $57,540-something, like I owe the whole thing,” explained Howard scholar Alissa Jones. “If you have any type of hold, you cannot register for class, but with these, obsessive amounts of money that they’re saying we owe, it’s almost like, that’s not one semester’s worth of tuition, at all. That money has been there, but where? And why are we just now finding out about it?”
With only a few classes left to take at Howard, Jones has had scholarships to support her journey financially. She told the news outlet that her bills to the institution never totaled more than $15,000 a year, which is vastly different from the over $50K currently shown.
Jones believes around 1,000 students now have unexpected past-due balances with seemingly nowhere to turn. Another co-ed dealing with this issue, Kimora Hughes, said the school’s Office of Financial Aid has not thoroughly communicated the changes to students.
“It’s just been extremely stressful, one, because I feel like the people in our offices are not communicating amongst each other,” explained Hughes.
She and her family opted to take out a loan to cover the new difference. However, school officials told her that they never received it.
“There’s no way Howard never received this, but I have the email of the loan being approved,” she continued.
Some students have also been impacted by outside political changes, such as Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” The bill’s new limits on Parent PLUS loans have left some potential and current students looking to their community to help alleviate the newfound cost of attendance.
School policy reportedly states that students must fulfill the balance or enroll in a payment plan. However, the lack of communication with financial aid officers has left many uncertain of where to go next.
The school released a statement, also confirming that some student accounts faced delays over the platform transition. The statement also emphasized that the school awarded over $210 million in aid during the past year.
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