Posted on 06/01/2021 6:43:53 AM PDT by Red Badger
WILBERFORCE, Ohio (WDTN) – Students at Wilberforce University got an expected graduation gift at their commencement Saturday.
At the end of commencement, President Elfred Anthony Pinkard told the graduates that their Wilberforce University fines and other debt owed to the university for 2020 and 2021 have been canceled to a balance of zero.
The total tally that has been cleared from all Wilberforce students enrolled in 2020 and 2021 exceeds $375, 000, according to the university.
“As these graduates begin their lives as responsible adults, we are honored to be able to give them a fresh start by relieving their student debt to the university,” said Pinkard.
The university graduated students with degrees in Master’s in Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling, Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, and the adult education CLIMB program at the event. This year’s socially distanced commencement combined the classes of 2020 and 2021.
Wilberforce University said their debt erasing dollars are resourced from various scholarships such as the United Negro College Fund, Inc., Jack and Jill, Inc., and other institutional funding to help students with their higher education finances.
“I couldn’t believe it when he said it. I know now God will be with me. Now I can use that money and invest it into my future,” said Rodman Allen, 2021 WU alumnus.
And the students who actually paid everything they owed? They get nothing?
Oh great. So when they take out a mortgage and buy a house they'll expect someone will relieve their debt to the bank.
Not a good lesson.
Perhaps that money should have been used to decrease the fees for all students.
If I still owed money from graduating before this class, I would cancel my debt obligations to them.
So when an employer sees a resume from someone from Wilberforce University, it goes straight to the “Do Not Hire” folder.
I saw a video of this on the news yesterday.
Half the class was up and dancing for joy.
The other half was sitting and wonder what the heck did I work my ass off, or my parents, to pay for this and they get a FREE RIDE?.....................
That total debt is about the same as a handful of medical students. If they had 375 graduates over two years, it's $1,000 each.
Did anyone notice that this does NOT include the massive tuitions bills owed to Fedzilla?
I would ask them if they had debt forgiven first...................
Bingo.
THEY were the ones sitting down and wondering, “Do I get a refund?”...................
Not all of the class had debt. Only about half according to the number of grads who were not up dancing................
So the people who worked their way thru college were punished.
Totally screwed...............
Very rarely will the university float you your tuition bill, especially more than a semester. With 166 graduates, this is an average of about $2000 each but a full year's tuition is about $25,000.
It looks like Wilberforce is picking up the crumbs that would normally result in you getting a final bill rather than a diploma at graduation.
Wilberforce? This one is off my radar.
1) Sam Bisbain, class of '96. Overnight manager at Akron's lone McDonald's stand
2)Susan Mulroy, class of '02. Hand model at WTTJ radio, Trenton, NJ
3)Billy Durben, class of '96. Chief custodial engineer at the now shuttered Birmingham mall, Buffalo, NY.
There’s only 672 students according to the info, so you’re only likely looking at 150 in the graduating class. The listed tuition is $12,000 a year and as one person cited it was not the LOAN but the fines and other items.
And it could have been a silent donor paying it off, like we’ve read in other situations.
Why don’t we just celebrate the accomplishments of an HBCU graduation ceremony instead of being snotty about it? I don’t see too many of us here bemoaning how wealthy families buy their kid’s admittance into the Ivy’s, which we all know happens.
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