It just goes to show you that you need to read the fine print in those record label contracts. Shanté did, and discovered her label – Warner Music – owed her an education.

According to the New York Daily News, after a top-selling single and two albums, Shanté found herself disillusioned with the music biz. By the time she was 19 she says she was swindled by her label and her life was shattered.

“Everybody was cheating with the contracts, stealing and telling lies,” Shanté said. “And to find out that I was just a commodity was heartbreaking.”

However, Shanté had something that many artists either don’t have or have it but don’t know it – a clause in the contract with the record company stating it would pay for her education.

Shanté said at first the label didn’t want to honor the clause, and it’s her belief the label considered it a “throwaway” – one of those empty promises made to placate the star. But she pursued it.

“They kept stumbling over words, and they didn’t have an exact reason why they were telling me no,” Shanté said.

But honor it they did… eventually. In the meantime, Shanté approached Marguerita Grecco, the dean at Marymount Manhattan College. She showed Grecco the contract and the dean allowed the singer to attend classes while she bickered with the label.

Grecco submitted bills to the label, and when the company didn’t pay them, she resubmitted them. According to the Daily News, the label finally decided to honor the contract’s education clause when Shanté threatened to go public with the story.

How much did it cost the label to pay for Shanté’s education? All of $217,000, which covered not only her bachelor’s degree from Marymount Manhattan College but also her Ph.D. in psychology from Cornell University, which she earned in 2001.

Today Dr. Shanté runs a therapy practice aimed at urban African-Americans, using her hip-hop talents to encourage her clients to “unleash their inner MCs” and speak what’s on their minds.

“They can’t really let loose and enjoy life,” Shanté said.

Click here to read the complete New York Daily News article.