Could 8, 2025
Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Faculty of Music at LIU-Brooklyn is below investigation after college students had been left burdened by sudden debt.
Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Faculty of Music at LIU-Brooklyn is below investigation after college students had been left burdened by sudden debt.
On Could 5, the New York Metropolis Division of Shopper 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 had been promised “Hope” scholarships and to “graduate with out debt,” had been as a substitute left with sudden balances starting from $5,000 to $39,000.
“Whereas we will’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, mentioned in a press release. “Shoppers can name 311 or go to nyc.gov/Shoppers to file a criticism 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 chance for college kids with the “highest want,” was initially marketed on LIU’s web site as offering a “debt-free training.”
LIU confirmed that 25% of every Roc Nation Faculty class acquired the scholarship. Nevertheless, in 2023, the language was quietly modified to explain it as providing a “tuition-free training” as a substitute.
LIU maintains that the scholarship solely covers tuition prices. Nevertheless, a number of college students admitted into this system below the guise of graduating debt-free say they had been left with sudden monetary burdens.
At the very least 4 reported dropping out because of the accumulating debt, with one scholar who was dwelling 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 embrace the shortage of entry to the state-of-the-art recording studios they had been advised they’d use.
The dearth 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, similar to Rihanna and DJ Khaled, who in the end by no means appeared. LIU has but to touch upon the continuing shopper safety investigation.
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