Tyler Perry covers Tuskegee graduate’s remaining Harvard tuition
TheGrio...
The writer and educator said Perry’s support will allow her to begin graduate school with greater stability and peace of mind.
Tyler Perry is helping one recent HBCU graduate take her next academic step without the burden of an outstanding tuition balance hanging over her head.
Sheneika Janay DuBerry, who goes by Janay, revealed that the filmmaker and philanthropist covered the remaining cost of her tuition at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
DuBerry, a recent magna cum laude graduate of Tuskegee University, shared the news Friday, July 31, in an emotional Instagram post thanking Perry for investing in her future.
“After years of writing, building, networking, and earning my degree at Tuskegee University, I was accepted into Harvard,” she wrote.
Although Harvard offered DuBerry what she described as generous financial aid, the aspiring author and educator said she was still left with a significant funding gap and did not know how she would make attending the university possible.
Then Perry stepped in.
“Thank you, Tyler Perry, for hearing my story, believing in my gifts as a writer and educator, and covering the remaining cost of my Harvard education,” DuBerry wrote.
She said Perry’s contribution opened the door for her to continue her education, develop her voice and move closer to completing the books and educational projects she has been building.
“You are a true light in the Black community,” she continued. “I love you, and I am overwhelmed, humbled, and grateful beyond words. Thank you for investing in my purpose and helping make this dream a reality.”
DuBerry graduated from Tuskegee in May with a degree in English. During her time at the Alabama HBCU, she served as president and founder of the Golden Tiger Cinema Club and worked as a research assistant for the university’s Global Office. She has also described herself as a self-taught screenwriter interested in creating more Black-led young adult stories.
In a follow-up message Saturday, DuBerry said Perry had covered her remaining tuition balance, allowing her to enter graduate school with “greater stability and peace of mind.”
She also made it clear that Harvard represents an extension of the foundation she received at Tuskegee, not a replacement for it.
“Mother Tuskegee prepared me to walk through doors I once only dreamed about,” she wrote. “Harvard became the next chapter, but Tuskegee will always be the foundation.”
Her journey is another reminder that earning admission to an elite institution does not automatically make attending financially possible. Even after scholarships and institutional aid are applied, remaining tuition, housing and other educational expenses can place prestigious graduate programs out of reach for students without additional resources.
For Black students, those financial barriers can be compounded by the racial wealth gap and the disproportionate student debt carried by Black borrowers. Private support cannot resolve those larger systemic inequities, but in DuBerry’s case, Perry’s decision made an immediate and potentially life-changing difference.
Vanderbilt University professor and author Michael Eric Dyson also celebrated the gesture, describing Perry on Instagram as one of the most generous people in the world and praising him for helping change the trajectory of DuBerry’s life.
Perry has repeatedly used his wealth to respond to financial needs in the Black community and beyond. In March, he gave $1,000 gift cards to approximately 250 Transportation Security Administration employees working at Atlanta’s airport during a partial federal government shutdown. In November 2025, he donated nearly $1.4 million to organizations assisting people affected by the interruption of federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits.
Through the Perry Foundation, he has also supported schools, families and students in communities near Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta.
For DuBerry, however, the latest act of generosity is about more than paying a bill. It gives a young Black writer and educator the freedom to focus more fully on the work she believes she has been called to do.
“From Mother Tuskegee to Harvard,” she wrote, “I carry every lesson, every prayer, and every person who helped me rise.”