Oops! We made a mistake on your finaid award

<p>If $4000 is the number, is that a one-time scholarship, or is it four grand each year for four years? If it’s the latter, that’s certainly enough to justify paying a lawyer a few hundred bucks for a consultation on the issue.</p>

<p>emeraldkity - the bill is due 8/2. If the OP was budgeting for $14,000 and now needs $16,000 (or whatever her numbers are) that can be a real issue for many families. Many would be financially stressed to come up with an additional $2000 on 4 weeks notice.</p>

<p>The Presidential scholarship is $4500/year and the Engagement scholarship is $3500/year plus a $2000 grant to be used for study abroad or some other experience and they cannot be combined. We are guessing - but it looks like the award letter awarded both. So - if they are reneging on the $3500/year Engagement scholarship - that is a loss of $16,000 total.</p>

<p>I think you catch more flies with honey. Write a respectful letter to the head of financial aid, include a table on page 2 which gives a snapshot of your current financial picture, illuminating that paying an additional 16K over four years is going to be a hardship, and nicely request that they take a second and third look before they deny you the additional funds.</p>

<p>I cannot imagine what good bringing in a lawyer will do. The college most likely has fine print on the actual scholarship offer which protects them. The “damages” to your D is that she has turned down other colleges- well, this college will happily release you from your obligation to attend (and will refund your deposit, most likely with interest) to allow her to re-apply to any of these colleges next year. </p>

<p>And then what?</p>

<p>I think the bottom line is that if you can’t afford to send your D to this school, your D needs to withdraw. And then you get to be mad and whatnot… but not sure this rises to the level of legal action which will in any way compensate you for your aggravation. If you can afford it, then be mad and whatnot… but move forward.</p>

<p>What college is this BTW?</p>

<p>If online, and in the scholarship paperwork, it clearly states that you can’t receive both, I don’t think you have a leg to stand on. If it is very obscure, somewhere down in the fine print, hard to find, then I think you have cause for action. For most of us, money is important, and we would have looked long and hard at what our child needed to do to keep that scholarship, and why they received it in the first place. I would be very irritated at the school, but annoyed with myself for not looking into it further. </p>

<p>But if that information is completely buried, that is a lot of money, and I think you should pursue whatever action you need to, short of a lawyer. At hundreds of dollars an hour, it may not be worth the aggravation. Maybe if you make a fuss, though, they will find money from another pot to give to her.</p>

<p>I don’t believe that the obscurity of the fine print will in any way change the facts here. Fine print is fine print; and if there is somewhere on the website which describes the two scholarships which in fact states that you cannot receive two of them simultaneously, that is most likely considered to be adequate-- no matter how buried the notification.</p>

<p>There are all kinds of fusses however. There are the kind where you back their FA folks against the wall so they are praying that your D withdraws… and the kind where someone in power takes pity on your situation and realizes that he or she should stick his/her neck out to try and help fix your problem. The second is always better IMHO.</p>

<p>You don’t need to be lecturing or hectoring a financial aid representative (who probably makes 50K per year) about how much money 16K is. They know that. A courteous explanation that the gap between what you’ve been awarded and what you need to make this college affordable is probably a better way to go.</p>

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<p>The school is not reneging on anything when they explicitly state that the 2 scholarships cannot be combined. </p>

<p>from the school’s website:</p>

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<p>Op at some level is responsible for doing her due diligence, even if it means getting the award letter and looking up the requirements on the school’s website to see what needed to be done to keep the money. Even if she had done this little bit, she would have seen that the scholarships cannot be combined. So what is the answer? Was it Op’s intent to keep the money from both scholarships perhaps with the knowledge that D could not keep both scholarships? Then what,? Would it have been ok for OP to defraud the school under the premise that they are not going to miss the money and it was their error? Guess what? The school caught their error. Better now that later when Op would have had to pay the monies given to her child in error next year (which would really have her tight).</p>

<p>I totally agree with your post, blossom. I’m not speaking from a legal standpoint (as I really have no idea, and I agree that if it’s in the fine print, there is little recourse). I am trying to think from a logical and reasonable perspective…ie what I should have known and how hard I would go at this.</p>

<p>From sybbies post quote of the school’s website, it doesn’t look like there is any fine print about it. It is obvious that they can’t be combined. I would soft pedal it like you suggested. Just one person’s opinion.</p>

<p>Regardless of any disclaimer on a web site that “this scholarship may not be combined with xyz”, it seems to me to be a perfectly reasonable assumption that an award letter, signed by a representative of the school, would override what it says on the web site. Assuming it was even seen on the web site; not everyone devours and retains every word of what is written there.</p>

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<p>I’m a big fan of the honey approach, particularly when the school is sort of quietly daring you to lawyer up (and then point you back to the disclaimer). </p>

<p>Clearly, this misunderstanding had SOME effect on the decision to select this school, and it would be a pity if that misunderstanding affected either (1) the student’s attitudes toward fully engaging with the school during that all-important first year or (2) the family’s willingness to recommend this school to other friends and family who might be interesting in applying in the future. </p>

<p>And, in keeping with regional custom, be sure to work in a “bless your heart” at least once during this conversation.</p>

<p>sybbie - I think it was unfortunate that you chose to name the school - that was the OP’s call to make not yours. But since you did, the section that you copied and pasted does clearly state that the two scholarships cannot be combined, but I saw another place on the website that described both - without that disclaimer. Furthermore, I think it was completely realistic for the OP to rely more heavily on information contained in an award letter - sent to their D - than on generic info contained in a website.</p>

<p>The university is in the wrong and should find some way to work out a compromise with the OP.</p>

<p>I agree with notrichenough. If there was an error in combining the two scholarships, it was on the university’s part–and they sent a signed financial aid offer to the family in question. It is reneging on an offer. It was their policy (if that is the scholarship in question.) Universities have the power to waive their own established policies. It might have been an oversight, or it might have been an effort to fill the class on the part of the admissions department. Again, not the applicant’s mistake. </p>

<p>Do you want to continue to send your child to a college which behaves so capriciously? I wouldn’t. At present, your child has not yet matriculated. Should he/she enroll, remember transfer students do not receive the same financial aid packages freshmen receive. A school which yanks one award this year may pull the other next year. </p>

<p>In your place, I would speak with an attorney, contact any schools which came very close to being your child’s final choice, and seriously consider a gap year, especially if you are taking out loans to finance college study.</p>

<p>sybbie719 - it never really occurred to me to conduct due diligence on the website AFTER the award was made…it never occurred to me that a fin aid award letter would be incorrect and that the stated funds could/would be taken away… I looked at the bottom line number and said - “Thank you.”</p>

<p>So, I too am a fan of the honey approach. We have been working it but I just may have to leave it at “Bless your little heart.” </p>

<p>All I am saying to everyone else on this board, and the lesson learned, is that the financial aid office CAN and WILL take funds away and claim admin error. That it is entirely in the realm of possibility. So when you look at the invoice, and the funds aren’t there, there is a real possibility that they are not going to give them to you.</p>

<p>Legally I definitely have a leg to stand on…the awards letter is a binding contract but is it worth it? Probably not if my kid is moving in 6 weeks or so…</p>

<p>But at the end of the day, people make mistakes. The school stated that they made a mistake in combining 2 scholarships that are normally for the most part not combined. </p>

<p>What would Op consider a win-win situation (other than giving 2 scholarships for 4 years, which the school says it is not going to do)? </p>

<p>Would she be happy for the school said my bad, honored their mistake this year but not going forward? </p>

<p>The op could catch more flies with honey and needs to calmly explain her situation especially if accepting the offer for admission was the school is predicated on the hope that her daughter would receive these 2 scholarships. </p>

<p>Perhaps she could ask for a financial review, possibly even giving them another school’s offer, showing them that she did turn down more or a comparable offer to commit to the school.</p>

<p>How much will it cost you to pursue this (you may end up spending more than what you would be receiving).</p>

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No mention here of “cannot be combined”…</p>

<p><a href=“Elon University - America’s Top-Ranked Teaching University”>Undergraduate Admissions | Elon University;

<p>Yup, that’s what I was referring to above. In this spot, no mention that they cannot be combined. So, even if OP had checked the website, they could have seen this page and never dreamed there would be an issue.</p>

<p>I’m still mystified what folks think the result of speaking with an attorney will be.</p>

<p>Threaten a lawsuit over what exactly? Where are the damages? What is the cause of action here? What law has been broken?</p>

<p>Unless the college were saying that the D was not able to withdraw/they were holding her to her commitment to attend even though they have changed the terms of the agreement- which the OP has not stated… if the parents/kid are not happy with the new revised scholarship award, presumably they are free to withdraw, and I’ll bet a three line email to admissions would get their admissions fee refunded. But the “damages” seem to be limited to the cost of applying, and whatever deposit the family has put down, both of which I’m sure the college will be happy to refund even though both state (hidden in the fine print for you fans of conspiracy theories) that they are non-refundable under any circumstances.</p>

<p>My money is on a kind, polite, “please have mercy” approach. I think you will get zero by lawyering up, and I think you have a chance at the college meeting you halfway if you plead in a polite and courteous way.</p>

<p>Yes, an error. I am willing to bet you guys dinner that there is a nice fat disclaimer somewhere in the piles of paper that the OP has that says that no financial aid offer is considered final (or it is contingent upon a list of contingencies) until the final bill from the bursar is sent in June/July. Maybe dinner with dessert. There are all sorts of reasons why financial aid letters get sent out with incomplete information- either incomplete by the applicant or not subject to full review by the university.</p>

<p>So retaining a lawyer, in order to pay someone a few hundred bucks an hour to discover that sitting in the OP’s file is a notation that the financial aid award is considered contingent only until the final bill is received seems like a bad use of funds if in fact funds are scarce.</p>

<p>I would love to see the language on the scholarship awards letter that says that this constitutes a binding contract. I know kids who have “lost” all sorts of scholarships after the letter but before enrolling, and I’m not sure the U’s counsel would ever allow a scholarship letter to go out that says “This is a binding contract”. Kids get scholarships for being children of employees of certain companies. Parent was an employee on November 1 when the application went in. Parent not an employee on August 1. Scholarship withdrawn. Kid got scholarship for being member of a certain church. The foundation which administers the award contacts the religious leadership-- none of whom have ever heard of the kid or family. Scholarship withdrawn. Kid gets scholarship for being the child of a first responder who died on 9/11. University follows up with the folks who maintain the legal and complete list of 9/11 victims- parent not on the list.</p>

<p>Binding contract??? I’m not buying it.</p>

<p>and if you should click the Learn more at the Elon Engagement Scholarship website link</p>

<p>it takes you here (unless you choose not to read the fine print):</p>

<p>[Elon</a> Engagement Scholarships](<a href=“Tuition & Aid | Undergraduate Admissions | Elon University”>http://www.elon.edu/e-web/admissions/FinancialAid/engagement.xhtml)</p>

<p>where again it specifically states:</p>

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<p>That’s all fine, except the OP’s award letter on official college letterhead stated that her D was getting both. A reasonable person would not conclude that she is required to hunt around the college website to see if the statements made in her letter are true.</p>

<p>At the end of the day, it is the school’s money and their decision as to how to award it (while unpopular and not good from a PR standpoint) Op is not “entitled” to the award.</p>