award? It just doesn't make sense and there was no one who can give you a clear understanding of what the procedure is.

"This was my first time dealing with an HBCU [Historically Black College or University] and it was not good at all."

It turns out, Shirille Copeland's last minute call may have been a good thing after all because it could have been worse. Her daughter could have been homeless.

Dozens of Clark Atlanta University students were denied housing just 24 hours before classes were scheduled to start according to WSBTV in Atlanta. Like Malana Wells' situation, the university has resorted to blaming the problem on students and parents not completing the financial enrollment process.

Further complicating the mess is the fact that there is no off-campus alternative because, according to the college's housing and residence life policy, "all students enrolled or accepted to Clark Atlanta University will be required to reside on the campus until they have earned 58 or more credit hours."

You read that correctly. Freshman and sophomores are required to live on campus even if they have no place to stay. While the university policy forcing students to use something that is not available to them might sound as contradictory as making Miley Cyrus twerk or forcing Donald Trump to get a brain scan, I've been told that the grass at Clark Atlanta is really plush. It's so soft, you could almost sleep on it.

Incidents like Wells' are not rare at Clark Atlanta. Other parents have experienced the same issues with communication, clarity on financial aid and understanding what "financial enrollment" consists of. At least 150 students arrived at CAU only to find out that they had no place to live.

In a story that sounds eerily similar to Copeland and Wells' Nicole Redd, another mother of a student, described driving down from Baltimore only to discover that her daughter was "not financially enrolled" and had no housing, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Other parents have reached out to The Root and aired their frustration on social media.