ST. LOUIS (AP) - Harris- Stowe University in St. Louis is using federal pandemic relief funds to eliminate student debt from the last academic school year, school officials said.
Harris-Stowe, one of Missouri's two historically Black universities, announced it used the funds to cancel about $330,000 in debt, an average of about $1,076 per student, KCUR reported.
The state's other historically Black university, Lincoln University in Jefferson City, announced in July it was using federal pandemic relief funds to cancel about $1.5 million in student debt for nearly 930 students.
Dr. LaTonia Collins Smith, Harris-Stowe's interim president, said the burden of student debt caused by the pandemic led to low enrollment at the school this fall.
"Many of our students were saying they couldn't work - because of COVID-19, they lost their jobs," said Smith. "As a result they could not make payments towards their balances for the previous semester or the semesters which were impacted by COVID-19."
Smith said the school officials spent most of the week after it made the announcement convincing students and their parents it wasn't a hoax. Eventually the school received numerous calls and letters of gratitude, she said.