JAY-Z‘s Roc Nation School of Music, Sports & Entertainment at Long Island University Brooklyn has come under scrutiny over its promise that its students would be able to graduate debt-free.
In a report by Gothamist, a number of current and former students opened up about their experience at the school, saying they feel deceived after being saddled with thousands of dollars of debt.
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The school, which opened in 2021, offered some students what it called a “Hope Scholarship,” which was for applicants with the highest amount of financial need.
One of the first students to be offered one of these scholarships was a woman named Justice Stephenson, who claims she was later informed that she owed $26,000 in student debt.
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Stephenson managed to negotiate this figure down to $5,000 after providing proof that she was offered a debt-free education by the school.
Dozens of other students are also reportedly in a similar situation after receiving letters informing them they would be able to graduate without incurring any debt.
LIU’s head of marketing Jackie Nealon said in a statement: “Upon admission to the university, Hope Scholarship recipients receive an offer letter from the university that outlines the full-tuition scholarship and any student obligations. The offer letter also expressly includes that neither university fees nor housing costs are included in the scholarship.”
However, it was revealed that the school sent out several offer letters to student promising a “full-tuition scholarship” that would allow enrollees “to graduate without debt.”
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The offer letter does not make any mention of academic fees and housing costs not being covered.
Students also criticized the quality of education on offer, saying that the facilities provided were not up to standard and that promised guest lectures from Roc Nation artists like Rihanna and DJ Khaled never happened.
JAY-Z and Roc Nation have yet to respond to the claims.
Hov is not the first rapper to run into problems involving the operation of a school.
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His former close friend and collaborator Kanye West opened the Donda Academy in 2022, though it would close the same year after the rapper made a number of antisemitic comments on social media.
