As a former Howard student, I think the school's just hella cheap, but also doesn't like getting negative attention from the outside. Students (myself included) have been complaining for years about the quality of the buildings, and asking for renovations. But it wasn't until the neighborhood started gentrifying, and the new neighbors started to complain, that Howard did anything about it.

Which is why people get upset. Its not that the changes aren't good, its the fact that the change doesn't happen until someone else asks for them.

I don't know about Howard but seems like lots of colleges are spending on fancy new buildings (etc) to attract students and that's driving up the cost of education? Do you think that has anything to do with it?

Howard specifically tries to brand itself as a school that has a large amount of economic diversity, and a high percentage of students who are first generation college grads (around 38% for the class of 2014 [1]). Its a pretty well-known/prestigious HBCU, and doesn't have a problem attracting applicants.

But, unlike a lot of other schools in its position, its alumni network generally doesn't give back all that often (probably in part because first-gen college students are more-likely to have financial responsibilities to their families, and less-likely to be able to afford to give/prioritize giving back to their universities).

But I do specifically remember having to move off campus because my dorm had a mouse/mold problem (woke up multiple nights in a row to mice in my bed, and started having breathing problems because of the mold. Some students even had mushrooms growing out of their carpet). And when I brought it up to the director of residence life, he responded by saying that it wasn't a big enough deal to address, and that students always complain about these things and eventually stop pushing....So....

[1] https://www.howard.edu/assessment/documents/reports/Graduati...