Deion Sanders asks Mississippi governor to help students hurt by late refund checks

Jackson State University (JSU) head football coach Deion Sanders is urging Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves (R) to help his student-athletes who are greatly affected by late financial aid refund checks. 

In a video posted by “Thee Pregame Show” on Monday, Sanders, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, said that the issue of student-athletes receiving late refund checks is a growing one at historically black colleges and universities, adding that multiple coaches have spoken to him about the situation. 

“I spoke to this issue several months ago, and still to no avail, and it’s bothering me,” Sanders, a two-time Super Bowl champion, said in his message. “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?”

Sanders also said that the late refund checks have created a strain on his athletes’ families, noting how parents need to take out an extra loan just to provide financial support for their children. 

“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,” Sanders added. “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.”

Sanders noted that the financial burden has also impacted his three children who attended JSU, arguing that this is the time for Reeves and the school to fix this situation. 

“We’ve got to keep our momentum so we have to get these check out on time to these kids. And guess what? Three of them are mine,” Sanders concluded in his message. “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.”

Sanders, who is entering his third season as head coach of the Mississippi-based historically Black university, recently called out University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban in May for accusing him and his program of paying five-star football prospect Travis Hunter $1 million to commit to his program last December. 

Sanders, nicknamed “Neon Deion,” also donated half of his yearly salary to help JSU complete its new football program facility, ESPN reported.

The Hill has reached out to Reeves’s office for comment and more information.