r/HowardUniversity

I was accepted into Howard's History PhD program last week, and while I was shocked and excited, I became anxious when considering the costs. I saw the financial aid package during the weekend, and saw that I only received loans and nothing else- no grants, scholarships, or even work study. Even with the loans, it still would not be enough to pay for this year.

With a heavy heart, I decided to defer to next year, because I'm hoping that I will have a better financial preparation and outcome. While I'm disappointed in making this decision, I'm trying to see the bright side of things, since I realized there are some things that I need to do while I defer and head to Howard next year instead.

Despite the deferment decision, there are some concerns I have. First and foremost, I'm worried that my deferment will not be accepted, and I will have to drop out instead. Second, I'm also worried that Howard's Admissions department will not respond to my deferment email since I know that their communication is not the best. With that, I'm wondering who I should reach out to instead of Admissions.

Despite these concerns, I also have some questions regarding preparation for the next year. I would like to know from those who deferred, especially current and former PhD students, what they did to get the finances in order. I already know about applying for the assistantships, which I am going to spend the summer preparing for, but I also want to any other access to funds, especially grants and scholarships. Also, I would like to know if there is anything I would have to do during the deferment to make myself a stronger applicant than the other candidates for next year. I'm looking into doing independent research, internships, and other possibilities to get some experience and enhance myself.

I really appreciate those who took the time to help me with this situation. Any advice and suggestions are taken into consideration.

When I try to complete my housing, this is what shows up. It has been like this since Friday, ~ 11 pm, and no matter how many times I refresh, it shows the same message. Res Life sent an email stating, "Housing spaces are currently available; however, availability may change throughout the process as students continue selecting rooms, adjusting roommate groups, and updating housing preferences." Does this mean I will be placed in a random dorm or what?

https://preview.redd.it/pv2y68k5pr1h1.png?width=1676&format=png&auto=webp&s=95e072c78ee722814301815aac22d753430f0db8

Paid for application and when we go to select room it says none available. I’m confused as my son picked four options for housing in April and now they aren’t showing up. Was anyone able to select a room? He was in school yesterday during his scheduled pick time

I recently got accepted into howard university as an undergraduate and still haven't received my award letter. In my admission letter I only received my merit scholarship. I've tried emailing my counselor and calling and I haven't got much help at all or responses. I want to see my total money i will receive to see if I can even go this year. I've applied to other colleges and I have already received my award letter, so I don't believe it's anything on my end. Im just wondering if anyone else is having issues with this and could help me.

Do you guys know if Howard takes high school credits? I've already taken algebra II and precalc and my ALEKS exam i showing I need to take it again when I get to howard. Should I talk to my academic advisor about it?

I want to choose CHN for my dorm however I am waiting for confirmation from a roommate. When I log back in after a period of time, the housing options refresh and give me new options but not options to every single dorm. I had all CHN dorms and now I have quads and CHS options. Do I just wait for it to recycle again? I'm also weary because last night after refreshing too many times it told me no housing options were available until I logged back in this morning.

I apologize for the long post, but I really need some advice from fellow students and alumni who have gone through similar situations that I am going through.

I applied for the History PhD program on 2/13, and I received the acceptance email just yesterday, 5/13. This was just a shock to me because it was my only acceptance I got out of the 9 PhD applications I did for the Fall 26 cycle, and it was my first round. While this acceptance is great, life-changing even, it also made me extremely anxious once the shock wore off, particularly with the funding, because I truly did not expect to be accepted somewhere in my first round.

The letter stated that the acceptance does not mean guaranteed funding, which I expect, since I know that the History department will be the one to handle that. However, my anxiety began to kick in when I saw that the competitive assistantships were already closed because they were specified for priority applicants- the ones who turned in their applications around 11/15. This made me panic because I had sent my application to meet the regular 2/15 deadline instead, and just received my acceptance 5/13, which, in my opinion, is a little long and makes me a bit concerned. I know that the PhD programs usually cover the tuition cost for their students, provide stipends (they're supposed to imo) in exchange for the latter to work as teaching and research assistants. But I'm worried that I sent my application a bit too late to receive enough to cover the expenses.

I've looked through previous Reddit posts regarding Howard, and they have mentioned that there are plenty of issues with the university, specifically, a lack of communication when it comes to financial aid issues. But I also looked into other options from the same posts, and they mentioned looking for fellowships and scholarships, but it seems that they are limited, since once again, I did not expect to be accepted. So, because of this, I applied for FAFSA yesterday, even though it's not required for PhD applicants since the school is normally supposed to cover the expenses, but I really don't want it to be the case where I would have to use loans to cover them instead, due to my tardiness.

I don't know what else to do, and this caused me anxiety to the point of losing sleep over it. I would appreciate any advice on this issue, especially from current and alumni PhD students who have gone through something similar. Like, who should I reach out to? When should I reach out? What places should I apply for extra funding, particularly for fellowships and scholarships? I really don't want to defer because I feel this is my only chance to enter into my dream PhD program, and I may never get another chance, so any, ANY, suggestion would be helpful.

Thank you all for your advice and help, especially with my long post.

I got accepted to the math PhD program back in February and I immediately accepted but didn't pay the enrollment deposit. I've been trying to pay it the past few weeks but can't log in and never received a temporary password. I emailed admissions and haven't gotten a response. Is anyone else experiencing this issue?

Hello to all fellow Bison!! 🦬

Just some quick questions:

1. How are we all feeling for Fall 2026? Nervous, excited, undecided?

2. Anyone else having issues access their stuff for the fall (mainly email access issues)? (I’ve email the university and they’re working on it but how long does it usually take for them to fix these things?)

3. Housing? I’ve narrowed mine down but does anyone (including current bison) have any advice on important things to look for when finalizing.

4. What is everyone most excited about in DC and at Howard?

5. What’s Howard like? How’s your current vs expected experience of the university?

I worked at Howard University and loved many aspects of it. The legacy, the history, and the sense of American Black intellectual tradition genuinely inspired me.

That said, one experience seriously unsettled me. Before an exam, a student began leading a Christian prayer and asked everyone to bow their heads and close their eyes. Most people joined in automatically. One student did not, and I immediately wondered how alienating that moment could feel if you were Muslim, nonreligious, queer, or simply not Christian.

My issue is not that students have their religion. My issue is the expectation of a collective participation while in a university setting (i.e. not a church, or a home, or a community etc but a place where people come to live and learn from ALL backgrounds). A classroom at a secular university should not operate as though Christianity is the default identity of everyone present, and it felt that way to me. I felt weirded out and alienated, not to mention the student who did not pray.

As someone who grew up in the Black church, and endured its harms, moments like that make me nervous about whether there actually is room at Howard for ideological and religious non-conformity because people seemed really into it and I wouldn't want to feel left out or like I had to clash. Had I been a student there, I probably would have spoken up at the risk of costing myself social value. As an employee, I had no clue what my role is.

I still deeply respect Howard’s importance and legacy as an HBCU, especially as someone from Maryland who grew up aware of Black and mixed figures like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass. But I do think universities should be careful about maintaining environments that are welcoming to everyone, not just people comfortable with public Christianity.

Curious how other people feel about this, especially students or alumni from HBCUs.

Note: Written with the help of ChatGPT. It said: "Your current draft has a few tonal layers happening at once:

1. sincere admiration for Howard University and Black intellectual legacy
2. discomfort with public prayer in an academic setting
3. fear of social exclusion as a queer/nonbinary leftist person raised in Black Christianity
4. implied criticism of Black communal religiosity itself

The first three can absolutely generate productive discussion. The fourth is what will likely trigger backlash, derailment, or moderation issues."

I just received an external scholarship that they will be mailing directly to Howard. Does Howard struggle with award displacement or will my bill go down after this scholarship?

I would be Co ‘32 but i’m preparing for improvement for junior year and my SATs. I am a B/A student (86) GPA as of now, but i have 300+ community service hours, am very involved, have a job, in SGA, and my school classes are hard compared to other schools in my area because it’s private and college prep.
What should i improve on (besides GPA) to allow my chances of admission higher? I also plan on applying early action or maybe early decision.

Hi. Can someone kindly refer me to the change of major link? I am an incoming international student. Thank you.