photo courtesy of Instagram/deionsanders
Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders addressed the Mississippi governor Tate Reeves in a July 25 Instagram post. He took to the platform to address an issue of delay with refund checks with his players at Jackson State – where he coaches. He continued to press that multiple HBCUs were having the same problem and that it was not only causing financial strain but also hurting recruiting.
“I spoke to this issue several months ago and still to no avail, and it’s bothering me,” Sanders began, speaking to the camera. “Gov. Reeves, can you help me with this issue? How is it fathomable that our refund checks for our kids are consistently late, but the checks for the administrators are consistently on time?”
According to financialavenue.org, a “refund check is money that is directly given to you from your school, but it’s not a gift. It is the excess money left over from your financial aid package after your tuition and fees have been paid.”
Essentially acting as a form of financial reimbursement that many students use for purchasing supplies and books.
Sanders continued, “Here’s the problem. I sit with a parent and say I’m going to take care of your child and make sure your child is secure. Yet and still, refund checks are consistently late. Now the child calls the parent needing money. Now the parent has to overextend themselves or the child has to go to the bank and take out a loan to pay their rent on money they should already have.”
The football great assured that he likes Reeves and considers him a friend but that HBCUs are losing potential players because of the delay. He asked, “Where is this disconnect coming from? Is it from the state? The government? Or is it from the school campuses or those administrators? I need to know because it is affecting us. At the SWAC meeting, one coach told me he lost a few kids because of this situation, and we can’t have that.”
Sanders added that he has three kids of his own that are affected by the issues at Jackson State University.
“We’ve got to keep our momentum, so we have to get these checks out on time to these kids. And guess what? Three of them are mine,” Sanders said.
“And you know I ain’t having it because now they’re bothering me about something they should already have. Thank God, I got it. But I’m looking out, and I’m speaking out for those parents that may not, that are budgeting their life. Someone help me bring solvency to this consistent and continuous problem.” he concluded.