Six Howard University Employees Fired For Stealing Financial Aid Funds

Six Howard University employees were fired last year after an investigation found the financial aid office had misappropriated university-based grants to some University employees.

The news follows the release of a since-deleted report on Medium which revealed that former financial aid officials received nearly $1 Million in financial aid funds between 2013 and 2017. The embezzlement was allegedly discovered by a student employee who noticed an irregularity between the type and amount of grants being awarded. They then realized that the grants were being given to their colleagues.

As the report states:

"Phony grants were allegedly created and awarded to financial aid employees who were also registered for University courses. In some cases, these employees qualified for tuition remission and therefore weren’t charged tuition for their classes. Despite this, they still received large grants and scholarships that exceeded amounts generally awarded to normal students. These grants almost always exceeded legally allowed amounts."

The report also suggests that the problem is far beyond the Office of Financial Aid and involves other employees and University offices.

In a report from NBC Washington, Howard University president Wayne Frederick issued a statement following the report's release, saying that he "was alerted in December 2016 that there may have been some misappropriation of University-provided financial aid funds."

Frederick said the university is now implementing a number of new policies to make sure "this never happens again."

Source: NBC Washington