What is going on at Howard?

Wednesday morning I found an article on Medium which has since been removed though cached, which discusses a embezzlement scheme of financial aid money. If I recall correctly Morris Brown College lost its accreditation and sent it's President and director of financial aid into federal court.

Howard University on the other hand is a very important Historically Black College located in the nation's capitol. It has a law school that educated a SCOTUS justice - Thurgood Marshall - and it would be a shame if the school went down the road Morris Brown in Atlanta had in the previous decade. Embezzling financial aid funds student loans, grants and in the case of Morris Brown some students got loans they never requested, because they needed to pay their bills.

Question is why are financial aid officials doing this at Howard?

Howard University fires six employees after investigation into misappropriated funding https://t.co/pVbsKHHDU8

— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 28, 2018

A university investigation discovered that for nine years — from 2007 to 2016 — some employees who received tuition benefits to cover the cost of taking classes were also receiving university grants. That double dipping exceeded the actual cost of attendance, signaling that the workers appeared to be embezzling.

The news of misappropriated university funds and the subsequent firings marks the latest blow to Howard’s reputation. The school’s president, Wayne A. I. Frederick, came under fire earlier this month when he criticized a student for her tone when she expressed concern about whether she would get housing. And six women have accused the school — an iconic historically black university — of mishandling sexual assault allegations.

Frederick released a statement Wednesday about the financial aid misdeeds and promised measures had been instituted to prevent a recurrence of the misappropriation.

I was confused by the tuition benefits, but I think what's being stated and further explained in that Medium article is that Howard financial aid employees were receiving tuition benefits for working at the university. Say for example, perhaps they don't have to pay tuition or reduced tuition probably worth some research and that information is easy to find. Yet you might get some type of tuition perk working for the university and yet you get financial aid that could go to students with a need.

Here's the most interesting part that was retweeted by Instapundit:

There are Howard University students living off ramen noodles, but student Tyrone Hankerson was out here vacationing in Brussels, wearing burlap Prada pants and Gucci loafers, and no one suspected a scam? #lol pic.twitter.com/rZY8foVNiP

— Tariq Nasheed (@tariqnasheed) March 28, 2018

Evidently this individual noted in that Medium article also works in Howard's financial aid office. Where's Ron Simmons at? [VIDEO]

Then I theorized that this is about the so-called higher education bubble. My idea is a bit convoluted because the bubble just refers to what students are supposed to be getting with a college education as opposed to what they're actually getting. Instead of getting an education that allows college students to truly think independently of the world instead colleges are used to indoctrinate students. And for many years there has been some evidence of this, worse part of this is how many students thinks it's OK to disrupt rallies because they can't stand the political opinions of those who speak on their campus.

On the other hand the financial aspects are part of this. So evidently students who have need may not have their need met because some financial aid office workers learned to game the system. Some deserving student could've gotten some of this money to fund their education, especially someone who is truly dutiful about their studies.

And then on the flip side the undergrad degree I understand doesn't have the value it once did because now going to college is a societal expectation. On top of that what are these students majoring in - for example gender students - and will these majors enable college graduates to get jobs. How does gender studies apply in the business world let's say?

Either way Howard University needs to get their house in order. The one aspect of this story is for the Bisons to get their finances in order so that they don't become another Morris Brown College. The university's law school that helped educate a supreme court justice and a number of Blacks over the years deserves much better than this bad press.