Jenice Armstrong: Mary J. Blige in college!

NOW THAT there's no more time for drama in

Mary J. Blige

's life, can we really expect to see her dashing across the yard on Howard University's campus on her way to class?

I can't quite picture her lugging a bunch of heavy text books around or parsing sentences during English 101. Nor can I see her putting off a scheduled recording session because of a big exam.

But if you believed the soul diva's onstage chatter during a recent mini-concert on "Good Morning America," enrolling in college appears to be in her not-so-distant future. Blige told the crowd that not only has she finally gotten her GED, but she has been accepted as a freshman at Howard.

Come again? Mary J. Blige matriculating at the black Harvard?

Howard officials are neither confirming nor denying the possibility, citing privacy issues. But they did issue a statement yesterday saying, "Without question, Ms. Mary J. Blige's resilience and dedication to her craft are largely unmatched. We encourage Ms. Blige to continue her studies and welcome her consideration of Howard University." An e-mail to her publicist yesterday wasn't returned.

The possibility of her acceptance at Howard raises all kinds of questions about celebrity privilege, but that's a waste of tongue-wagging. This kind of thing has been going on since forever.

How else did former President George W. Bush, a self-admitted C student, wind up at Yale, which was his father's and grandfather's alma mater?

I'm much more interested in the kind of role-modeling that Blige, who dropped out of school in the 11th grade, would provide for her legions of fans.

The symbolism of having a star of Blige's stature going back to school at age 39 would be precious, especially since she has always personified the poor, abused girl from the projects who wound up with all kinds of material things - designer clothes, fly, multicolored hairdos and fancy cars - but who still wasn't educated.

She had street cred but lacked so many basic skills. "There was a time when I wouldn't read nothin', " Blige once admitted in an interview. The nine-time Grammy Award winner has complained over the years about how her lack of a formal education has hurt her career and damaged her financially because she's not savvy about investing or getting the right advisers.

Blige, though, has survived drug and alcohol abuse, abusive relationships and career missteps to become a symbol of what it means to triumph over a difficult past.

Blige has reached the top and, instead of merely capitalizing on all of her accomplishments by starting another useless clothing line the way so many other celebrities do, she's talking about humbling herself to join a class of freshmen, some of whom weren't even born when her first album, "What's the 411?" was released in 1992.

I'm really hoping that, despite having already earned millions, she winds up going to Howard - if no other reason than to show her fans that getting a solid education trumps ghetto fabulousness any day.

Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, who also briefly attended Howard and helped Blige early on, would be proud that she didn't just wait around for a school to bestow an honorary degree on her. Now, if only we can get him to move beyond the bling and re-enroll.

Send e-mail to heyjen@phillynews.com. My blog: http://go.philly.com/heyjen.