Students Stage Sit-In At Howard University Following Financial Aid Scandal

Source: Screengrab via Twitter

Howard University students took to the school's Administration Building to protest following news that a group of former employees had misappropriated financial aid funding.

READ: Six Howard University Employees Fired For Stealing Financial Aid Funds

The demonstration began on Thursday with students protesting the embezzlement scandal, as well as calling for President Wayne Frederick resignation. Some also claimed that they were not getting answers regarding their own financial aid from the university. The demonstration has since turned into a sit-in protest and is planned to continue into the evening, according to a report from NBC Washington.

On Wednesday came news that 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 followed 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."

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