Nikiyah Clark had five boxes and a backpack when she ultimately received the keys to her Howard University dorm. Weeks earlier, the school had told her this moment would never come.
When Howard administrators informed Clark — and hundreds of others — that she was permanently unenrolled for missing a tuition fee deadline, she rode a bus from Cleveland, Ohio, to plea with administrators. She left in tears.
“I didn’t just lose my dream. I lost my way out,” said the 17-year-old, who had pinned her hopes on Howard as a peaceful environment and a path to financial freedom after years of growing up in “survival mode.”
Shortly after that, the university notified Clark she was once again welcome to enroll. But as she moved into the Washington, D.C., campus on Thursday, she remained uneasy. She worries that the university might reverse its decision yet again, and hopes Howard will make changes so that other students aren’t wrongfully unenrolled.
“I’m definitely not really over that,” Clark said.
