<p>Sheesh opie, it was an honest, legitimate question. You read waaaaaaaay too much into it. Wondering where this came from. Thats all. I was also trying to be a bit light hearted, perhaps amusing. Guess that didn’t go over too well with some. Sorry charlie.</p>
<p>soozievt: As I stated before, those larger figures he mentions, that you posted, I understood to be hypothetical as the OP has said as much. I did not get the sense, however, from the comment below that the $2.5 itself is a hypothetical number. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>$2.5K per semester is the difference between younghoss’ HYPOTHETICAL 10K out of state and 7.5K in state. He has STATED those are hypothetical. The difference between the two hypothetical amounts is $2500, and thus itself is a hypothetical amount.</p>
<p>
Well, this is one interpretation of the purpose of reciprocity agreements. It’s not how I have always understood them.</p>
<p>Here is how the purpose is described for one such program:
<em>emphasis added</em></p>
<p>I think kluge summed up the whole issue quite well, btw.</p>
<p>I also think, and I will say again, that younghoss could get much better feedback on her original question if she were to post the actual wording of the scholarship award letter. Given that there is so much confusion about what the University meant to offer, which might be readily cleared up by seeing the full and actual wording (identifiers redacted), I am at a loss to see why the OP does not post that full wording.</p>
<p>calmom-
So, should A give the money back to B or C, should A just take a CAB and run? 
Sorry, couldn’t resist (well, I coulda, I just didn’t). All kidding aside, your alphabet salad explanation makes sense to me.</p>
<p>soozievt: Thanks. Yes, I had made that subtraction myself. Obviously, we’re reading those two statements very differently… As I said, I read the initial post about the ~$2.5K as the real refund figure. </p>
<p>jmmom: Yes, that’s how I’ve understood most reciprocity agreements as well.</p>
<p>jmmom-
Agreed about the reciprocity arrangements between states. As mentioned in post #84
</p>
<p>Janie and soozie-
I am not sure if the $2500 figure is real or hypothetical, but I just realized that is is a “per semester” difference, meaning the real or hypothetical difference between in and OOS tuition is at least $5000/yr. There are lots of schools that have about a 5K difference between the in/oos tuitions. Back to the CB drawing board!</p>
<p>And mstee-
Yay for SDSU!! Go Jackrabbits!!</p>
<p>I can absolutely see why the OP wouldn’t post the actual letter or any other information for that matter. The University has been contacted and asked for an explanation twice now (once through the bursar and once through the current letter). It is in their hands and that of the OP. Why would the OP want more information on cc so that she can be further villified or defended until she knows what the university is going to say? Once this thread became more about us and our way of looking at the world and less about the OP, it ceased to be of value to her. Any additional posted information would only be for each of us to justify our own position and less about getting any assisstance answering her own questions. At this time, the OP can probably get more help in answering her questions privately through PM or email than through this public thread.</p>
<p>
Because she wanted advice on how to proceed toward/against a University which she believes failed to deliver on what it promised. Because it was clear from early posts, and has become clearer ever since, that we don’t know what the University promised. The OP has come on time and again to say that the University offered “8 semesters of oos tuition.” I, for one, doubt that was the language used. I would like to see the promise, in the University’s words. </p>
<p>This thread would not be about different posters’ ways of looking at the world of scholarship offers if the OP had posted or would now post what the University actually said. Without identifying information. I expect that she is not posting it for the reason curm speculated - that it would clear things up quickly and in a way which the OP doesn’t want them cleared.</p>
<p>“They offered my son 8 sem., of oos tuition.(their wording)”</p>
<p>Here’s my take on it (thanks you’all for askin’ lol):</p>
<p>The school MEANT TO say that they were offering his son 8 semesters of IN-STATE tuition. They made a mistake. They inadvertently didn’t realize that
his son was entitled to in-state anyway because of the reciprocal agreement mentioned. So, let’s say that out-of-state is $20,000 and in-state is $10,000. They were THINKING that they were giving him a $10,000 discount (20,000-10,000). However, in reality, they are giving him nothing, since he is already entitled to tuition at $10,000. Assuming that the aforementioned scenario is correct, did they actually mean to give him a scholarship at all? If they had realized that he would be getting the $10,000 tuition anyway, would they still have offered him a scholarship or not???</p>
<p>See - your position, my position, curm’s opinion. If the exact wording would clear that up and give the OP valuable assisstance, the bursar’s answer would have already done that.</p>
<p>I think this
is the crux of the matter. I think the OP is well aware that the title and first post (and probably others) could have been written differently and would probably have not elicited the attacks it did from the very outset, but I think the OP would be wise not to open himself up for more chastisement. It would be simply lovely if, in the ideal world, after posting more info, everyone said “oh… now I see, and we all understand why you thought as you did”. Given the tone of some of the posters, it is probably more likely that anything the OP posts will be used to hang him, or at the very least to say “I told you so”. Why would he choose to go there?</p>
<p>Back on topic … if the award letter read, “You have been awarded a scholarship in the amount of OOS tuition for 8 semesters,” there is a possibility that OP’s idea of being owed money for past semesters may be correct. In this case, the scholarship offer does not stipulate that the award is FOR tuition. It stipulates that it is IN THE AMOUNT of the tuition. In the absence of such wording, I would bet my next paycheck that it simply means that tuition for this guy from another state will be covered in full (don’t get too excited if I am wrong … my next paycheck is 3 days of substitute teacher pay).</p>
<p>Don’t know exact wording of letter. Don’t know school. Don’t know financial aid policies. Don’t want to waste any more of my time (mainly because Law & Order is on now & I need to pay attention). But I had to get my last word in.</p>
<p>Amazing in a few days this thread has so many views. I guess its because either some are put off that you can hit the Win line that is more than an acceptance and a good FA (perhaps even a great FA); Or, there is always the 1/1million that one can hit the jackpot. </p>
<p>We’ve come close to hitting the college jackpot, but YH story is much more exciting.</p>
<p>Any-Know-It-All have a great Head Cheese recipe/story?</p>
<p>Wow- great reading, all 18 pages…you just never know what topic will take off on CC.</p>
<p>Ever one who said the exact wording is critical is correct.</p>
<p>It is really the intent, too.</p>
<p>Nothing wrong with qualifying for a tuition discount via a reciprocal program, and quite possibly that school has some sort of merit aid based on SATs or something like that, which is what the student earned.</p>
<p>The critical factor is what did he/she earn? Tuition or an amount?</p>
<p>Many schools provide a package of money, the first batch is applied to tuition, then dorm fees, but if one is living off campus, the school would EFT the amount greater than tuition to the student to pay living expenses.</p>
<p>My Ds school has living expenses which are twice tuition if you live in the dorms with some options, if they offered me monies toward that I would be grateful.</p>
<p>Whoever rewrote the question brought up a good point, old timers on the board have learned some tough & humbling lessons along the away, we also know how to phrase things in less inflammatory ways. But hey, just thinking of this thread and the Dad II threads, I guess inflammatory is kinda fun ;)</p>
<p>^ (inflammable) S blog had a picture of an Bangalore India, gasoline tanker truck, with the cautionary words “Highly Inflammable”. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What no Head Cheese?</p>
<p>back to topic:</p>
<p>can someone tell me under what contract and circumstances a student would get paid the differencem in cash, between instate/OOS tuiton, if they are instate to begin with (see Young hoss’s posts- they are Ohio residents and its an Ohio school if my research is correct), even if they were given some sort of reciprical agreement meant for OOS student that says they get instate tuition to attract them to the school…then factor in that the student has paid zero tuition anyway</p>
<p>You are instate to begin with, the scholarship says you get instate tuition anyway, you have paid nothing, how does the OOS tuition even factor in?</p>
<p>What would be the logic in “refunding” the difference in the two tuitions?</p>
<p>I printed out the OP’s posts, verbatum, and shared with my fellow law school students, without anyone else’s comments, and they just didn’t get the logic of getting paid to attend a college, but hey, we must all be crazy having not taken advantage of this “loophole” in the reciprical college program…must share that if you are instate and get an OOS scholarship to attend your instate school, you should get cash for the difference!!! What a deal!!</p>
<p>My thanks to all those that responed here. My op presented the facts causing my dilemma and asked for advice based on what I presented. Some advice I agreed with, some not, but I considered it all.
To put it very briefly, I have decided not to quietly cash and spend the surprise refund the Bursars office sent me, despite their explanation to me that I was entitled to it. It was tempting, I must admit. I have decided a better way to handle it is for me to contact Bursars’ office again, try to speak with someone higher up, to make certain refund was correct. I’m just not certain the explanation I got was correct, and even though their explanation is in my favor, I want to be certain. If it is correct, I’ll gladly accept it. If it was in error, I’ll return it.
Thanks also to those who relayed their own experiences of clerical and/or wording errors with colleges or other businesses. Those examples helped to show me I am not the first who may have had a bursars error. Some others surprised by a bigger bill than they expected, others had smaller bill than they expected.
I know many are curious about final result, and of course I don’t know that yet. When I know more, I will update status. Now that I have decided on my next step, I no longer need further advice on this thread. My thanks again to all that offered advice.</p>
<p>I think you are taking the right steps. People make mistakes, and that includes those who work in the Bursurs office. I hope you get to keep the check!</p>
<p>FWIW, I want to thank the OP for posting this odyssey so that those of us yet to go through the process know to scrutinize offer letters and bursar commuications very, very carefully.</p>