I’m Ramsey Khalifeh, a transportation reporter at Gothamist and WNYC whose coverage this year went far beyond the subways and streets. Last spring, I published the culmination of a nearly year-long investigation into a scholarship program at the Roc Nation School of Music, a school that formed in 2020 in partnership with Long Island University in Downtown Brooklyn.
Behind the partnership is one of Brooklyn’s most iconic names, rap mogul and businessman Jay-Z. His team at Roc Nation promoted the new school — where students can earn degrees like music production, sports management and vocal performance — and its “Hope Scholarship,” which stated that students with the “highest need” could graduate “without debt.” What I found was that at least a dozen students in the inaugural group offered the scholarship are now drowning in bills.
Not only were these students struggling financially, I also found that the school’s program wasn’t what students were promised. Celebrity guests who were supposed to provide lectures for students never showed up, and recording studios weren’t built until the end of the first year. After we published this reporting, officials with the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protections — which typically examines allegations of predatory business practices — began investigating LIU.
This reporting required months of interviews with financial aid experts, current and former LIU staff, and students who received the Hope Scholarship. None of that would’ve been possible without support from YOU: our readers and donors who help fund the Gothamist and WNYC newsroom, which allows me to spend time meeting with the people affected by institutions larger than themselves.
The end of the year is rapidly approaching, and your year-end donation now will help to ensure that we can continue to bring our community the kind of impactful reporting that drives change. Plus, the impact of your donation will be doubledthanks to an anonymous donor who is matching all donations, up to $50,000, made before December 31st.
