<p>and the OP knew they had to pay the room and board and now want to not pay for that?</p>
<p>as for ethics, if you have someone who appears to want to take advantage of the system in a sneaky sort of way, it would be unethical to NOT take an extra look at their use of the scholarship, as a representative of the school…to do otherwise would be negligent</p>
<p>I dont see the OP as being “sneaky”. Monitoring a scholarship recipients every move to be “darned sure they are doing everything required…” and looking for ways to pull the scholarship is, however, IMO, sneaky.</p>
<p>If they student has drawn my attention to the account and wants a refund of cold hard cash, I would indeed have to check the students record very carefully…after all the OOS student now claims to be instate…and is claiming that the school owes them for the entire time they were at the school, so yes, I would make darn sure that student lived up to each and every aspect of the scholarship requirements, because at this point at least one aspect, a biggy, appears to be not being adhered to, and it is because the OP is claiming that the school is not living up to their end of the deal, it would only be prudent to make sure the student was living uo to theirs…</p>
<p>sneaky, no…because the OP has is making a claim for 20,000 or there about…for $ he never paid…yeah, I call that sneaky</p>
<p>Good grief-- it doesnt end!! Read post #182 and keepsmesane’s explanations. The OP does pay $$, just not tuition. Please read the other posts. Some are very helpful. If there is an accounting error and the person is entitled to a payment adjustment, that doesn’t justify scrutinizing their actions to look for ways to deny paying it. Sheesh. I repeat-good grief!! Time for some shuteye.</p>
<p>OP. This is the time when students and parents are expecting. And new topics or new twists on old themes brings excitement. </p>
<p>I sympathize with your question. I have been there too, although with a private school. I have related our last incident with that school but the first incident occurred in the freshman year (02-03) at about this time. I was paying according to the Students Online Statement. In this statement we have the Inputs: Institutional Merit Grant, the Company scholarship, Who Who’s Scholarship (not a scam, and we didn’t buy anything), Stafford Loan, PLUS, 529 funds, the UGMA funds, and personal funds. The outputs: Tuition, Room, Meal Plan, Lab fees, transportation fees, technology fees, student spending card (which can be used for just about everything), and room reservation for the next year. I am sure that most of the parents here have discovered that there is a considerable lag time between billing cycles, postings, and what the student actually spends. We got a $3000 refund which something that I really did not like to see because it is against the rules to use more federal loans than is necessary to pay costs. So we sent the equivalent money back. And what do you know, we got another refund check of $3000. I sent S over to their accounting and had him inquire-They said that we had simply overpaid and that they could not keep so much money on account for the next fall term. I never did figure it out and shortly after the end of the freshman year, there as a bill for dorm damage of a couple hundred, payable immediately.</p>
<p>What “biggy” requirement has the scholarship recepient not lived up to? Student is OOS from a state that this university gives instate tuition to. Not just to this student but to many students from this other state. The university has already verified his residence in that state. Nothing wrong, unethical or illegal about that. He IS NOT claiming to be instate. He has met the required GPAs and I’m sure the university already monitors this for all students. </p>
<p>The University initiated this refund. Cold, hard cash refund. The University stated it was because student was promised an amount equal to out of state tuition and at the same time was eligible for instate tuition rate under a seperate reciprocal agreement. Now, some Bozo in the Bursars office may have gotten this all screwed up and eventually, some higher up Bozo may decide they screwed this up. At that time, I am sure they will request a refund. That, however, doesnt’ make this student’s family unethical. They have relied on this Bozo’s information as most people would. However, if the University Scholarship Committee indicates they intended to do this to entice this particular student to matriculate, then in future semesters they will see this same $2500. In those semesters, it will probably be applied to room or board since the student wouldn’t have paid those expenses before the scholarship money is put into their account. </p>
<p>Regardless of what the University decides, there is nothing unethical about the family relying on information the University has given them. And it doesn’t make any difference what any of us think. The University gave them a certain explanation for this refund, they relied on this explanation, the University will decide if this explanation was reasonable. If so, the extra money will continue to flow. If not, the Bursars Office Bozo will be “reeducated” or if typical for state organizations, promoted and then the University will decide whether to let this $2500 ride or whether to request a refund. The OP will comply if student is to be granted a degree. And we will all go on to something much more critical or at least more fun in our lives. </p>
<p>In January of next year anyone still here will then get to weigh in on how to handle the University’s decision in light of Income Tax. Won’t that be fun?</p>
<p>thisoldman, your situation is exactly why I didn’t continue to pursue the “excess” in my daughter’s account. All I could get was “fuzzy” answers and I didn’t have time to pursue this. Her University also decided she couldn’t carry this kind of excess in her account each semester and initiated the refund. I trusted they would eventually figure this out and we would go from there. Don’t know if they ever figured it out but why would I continue to fight an extra $750 each year? And yes, we paid taxes on this extra $750 each year.</p>
<p>No question about it … the $2500 is taxable income in the OP’s scenario. If OP was somehow able to be reimbursed for past amount, he would have to amend his taxes for those years, as well, I would assume.</p>
<p>keepmesane, I think your screen name should be keepthisthreadsane! </p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>^^^^^^lol!!!</p>
<p>the BIGGY is that the OP was instate all along or claims they qualified for instate all along, before the scholarship was offered, an OOS scholarship…</p>
<p>so they accepted a FULL tuition scholarship that was meant for OOS students are getting their full tuition paid, a value of at least 20,000 and NOW want the difference becuase they were actually, all along, instate.</p>
<p>Can someone please explain to me the logic of PAYING this student 20,000plus to go to that college…I would guess that might break some interesting rules…we are not talking a stipend for books and supplies here, we are talking in what most states would constitute felony $$ if it was embezzeled…</p>
<p>^^ Wow. Just wow. Everyone keeps <em>trying</em> to explain the logic, but it seems to be falling on deaf ears. The op IS NOT INSTATE and NO ONE IS EMBEZZLING. That is a really nasty accusation and way out of line. Geez Louise. Keepmesane, you want to give this another try, or are you also going to throw your hands up in disgust?</p>
<p>^^Really.</p>
<p>I didn’t respond at first because I really didn’t understand what the situation was. It now seems clear to me that if the college (knowing all the facts) has determined the OP deserves a refund this year, they probably owe him for the past years as well when the same conditions held.</p>
<p>younghoss said:
</p>
<p>The way I understand it is that the younghoss S’s out-of-state tuition is EQUAL to in-state tuition. Since the scholarship stipulated that it covered oos tuiton and that amount is the same (in his part of the state) as in-state tuition, I don’t see how he should be getting a refund, unless his scholarship also included some sort of compensation for room and board. But apparently not as the OP states in post #64:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>younghoss also sates (post #103):</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>While that is true, as far as I know, colleges do not offer outright cash. When athletes get cash gifts, that is called a bribe, and that opens a whole other can of worms…</p>
<p>I would contact the school ASAP before depositing that check!</p>
<p>Perhaps younghoss would like to post the actual wording of the scholarship letter, with names and any other identifiers ***** out.</p>
<p>It seems clear to me that, when a school offers a tuition scholarship, that is what they mean to cover: tuition. If they had intended there to be cash toward living expenses, room and board, “enticement” money, ability to buy books/computer or whatever, it seems clear to me that this would have been stated as such and that it would not have ever appeared as a tuition credit. It seems clear to me, further, that the Bursar’s office refund is because the tuition credits and tuition charges do not match up. I would tend to think that the “right hand” (Bursar’s Office) does not know what the “left hand” (scholarship/admissions offices) is doing. And that office (scholarship/admissions) was not paying attention to how the reciprocal tuition agreements played out in this situation.</p>
<p>But without seeing the actual award wording (just a continued “quote” of “8 semesters of out-of-state tuition” - not sure if that is actually verbatim) and the full context of the letter, we are really projecting our own experiences and assumptions.</p>
<p>He Qualifies for INSTATE and always has, that is the whole point of his argument looking for cash…I never said he was embezzling i said the DOLLAR amount is large enough that you better darn well be careful…</p>
<p>jym626, if he qualifies for instate… He claims to qualify for an OOS scholarship while at the SAME TIME qualifiying for instate tuiton…</p>
<p>ps- how can you get a refund if you have paid NOTHING</p>
<p>cgm,
Now sinking to name-calling and insults. How sad. OPs son qualified for the reciprocal fee arrangement, but he does not live INSTATE. And throwing around words like felony and embezzling is just wrong, whether the “intent” is accusatory or not.</p>
<p>Thank you, menloparkmom. However, maybe the breath of fresh air would be nice…</p>
<p>so how does he qualify for instate tuition…</p>