Might 8, 2025
Jay-Z’s Roc Nation College of Music at LIU-Brooklyn is beneath investigation after college students have been left burdened by sudden debt.
Jay-Z’s Roc Nation College of Music at LIU-Brooklyn is beneath investigation after college students have been left burdened by sudden debt.
On Might 5, the New York Metropolis Division of Client and Employee Safety launched an investigation into the Jay-Z-backed music program at LIU-Brooklyn. The probe, usually reserved for predatory enterprise practices, follows a Gothamist report revealing that college students who have been promised “Hope” scholarships and to “graduate with out debt,” have been as an alternative left with sudden balances starting from $5,000 to $39,000.
“Whereas we are able to’t focus on particulars of ongoing investigations, we urge college students who really feel they’ve been harmed by Roc Nation LIU’s conduct to achieve out to us,” Michael Lanza, a spokesperson for the company, stated in a press release. “Customers can name 311 or go to nyc.gov/Customers to file a grievance with DCWP.”
Launched in 2020, the partnership between LIU and Roc Nation provided diploma packages in music manufacturing, sports activities administration, vocal efficiency, and extra. The Hope Scholarship, promoted as a possibility for college kids with the “highest want,” was initially marketed on LIU’s web site as offering a “debt-free schooling.”
LIU confirmed that 25% of every Roc Nation College class obtained the scholarship. Nevertheless, in 2023, the language was quietly modified to explain it as providing a “tuition-free schooling” as an alternative.
LIU maintains that the scholarship solely covers tuition prices. Nevertheless, a number of college students admitted into this system beneath the guise of graduating debt-free say they have been left with sudden monetary burdens.
No less than 4 reported dropping out because of the accumulating debt, with one pupil who was residing in a homeless shelter when he utilized to go away the college after racking up $17,549 in fees. Further complaints made by college students embody the shortage of entry to the state-of-the-art recording studios they have been instructed they’d use.
The shortage of studio house led to the scholars constructing a makeshift studio on their very own. Others criticized this system for selling high-profile visitor audio system, corresponding to Rihanna and DJ Khaled, who finally by no means appeared. LIU has but to touch upon the continuing shopper safety investigation.
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