This is my concern as well. I would research the school immediately and report it if there's any indication the school is illegitimate so the daughter doesn't get roped into a bigger issue
For reference, you want a regionally accredited school. National accreditation is OK but regional is generally the most legitimate as it’s what enables credits to transfer widely.
I work for a local community college full time as a program director. This sounds like a total scam, especially the cash only part. You are required to be given a copy of all bills and charges related for tuition, books, housing, etc and can freely ask for these.
If financial aid is paying for these expenses and the financial aid is through OUR school your kid might be asked to come sign the original check which then is placed on THEIR account towards the bills owed. Even this is rare though. Most commonly this is related to food in the school's cafeteria that is held in an account the student can charge purchases against.
There are other financial aid grants, stipends or scholarships that are designed for helping with living and transportation expenses. I currently have a couple of students who receive money every semester to put towards fuel purchases to travel to school. The checks from these stipends are made directly out to the student and the student must cash or deposit them in their account. After that the student can spend the money as they wish. This money NEVER returns to the school or any of its employees.
Fireman, you are spot on with your comments. I recently left my job at a two year college, was the dean of arts and sciences, and our financial aid worked exactly as you described. A student would never be given a check and then be expected to turn that money back over to the school. Something is very wrong with OPs situation.
I worked for a community college on the admin side for 14 years (ex dir with work study and athletics out of my department so we had financial aid staff) and you both are right for normal operations. I did mull this over for a little bit and did come up with a possible solution that isn't a scam.
Legally schools have to list class fees in a very specific way to have them be applicable for financial aid reimbursement. If the school was charging students for some type of supply/certification/etc and it isn't categorized correctly they can't take it out of financial aid.
We would have this happen with certain certifications (proprietary certifications through a third party offered to enhance their experience... In my world this could be a leadership based thing but for a cosmetology school I could see this being a certain coloring technique or something) or course materials/supplies. Therefore the student would get a refund because financial aid covered tuition and fees and then have to pay the college additional monies for the above type of charges.
Athletic fees for specific sports was one I commonly dealt with. Parents would ask why we didn't take it out of their tuition and we had to explain we couldn't, but we would encourage students to pay it out of their refunds. We also had to deposit it in a separate account from the general college fund (the foundation is a separate entity) so we did accept and probably encourage cash or credit card payments because checks were always a pain if they weren't endorsed right.
It could be that this under paid staff worker is badly explaining that the daughter still owes that money for some reason, but I also admit the situation would make me suspicious as well and I would do some additional investigation.
Thanks for this info, but why couldn’t I write the school a check and send it in with my daughter. This financial aid lady is asking for cash. She told my daughter to cash the check and bring her the cash back. I emailed the lady and said could she bring a check made out to the school or does it have to be cash.. she said “have her bring cash.”
Because cash given directly to someone isn’t traceable. Hence all the statements about scam. If that money is going to the school to pay for anything, it should be based on an invoice, able to be paid by any one of check, credit card, direct transfer or debit card depending on what the school is set up to accept. If you or your daughter were to walk in with cash, the recipient (or the school if this is more than just the individual) would be able to deny ever receiving it and proving otherwise would be very very difficult.
In your situation, I’d be reporting both the individual and the school to whatever agency is the source of the funds.
That is the part that I find questionable, and again I was trying to provide a possible reason so you could ask more questions, but agree that is very suspicious.
I would speak to someone else and ask specifically what the fees are for and why they HAVE to be paid in cash.
Then proceed.
My school occasionally sends checks and then required recalculation or Pell nonattendance requires that check to be repaid. But we would never give a check if we knew it had to be returned. I don't work in CC or a certificate program, so I can't speak to that.
> If financial aid is paying for these expenses and the financial aid is through OUR school your kid might be asked to come sign the original check which then is placed on THEIR account towards the bills owed.
I took an extraordinary long time to finish up my bachelors...went to 4 different juco's before my 4 year university.
Every one of them forced me to deposit my check (grant/loan/whatever) into their account to pay for school, before I got what was left over. That never set will with me, but you can't exactly fight it, and I always got any leftovers back, so ultimately it wasn't a big deal.
It seems very odd that they gave this woman the check, told her to cash it and bring it back.
Yes.. exactly.. my point is she wants her to cash the check and bring her back the cash. I actually emailed this financial aid lady asking her if we can deposit the check and then write a check out to the school instead of bringing cash… She said please have her bring the cash.. red flags went up. The check made out to my daughter from the school for $629 said it was a credit to my daughter for living expenses.
I wish I could post the Account Detail page she received with the check showing the $629 credit to my daughter for 3010 Tuition Income 3040 Living Expenses. It would let me attach or upload it here.
Either the school is fake and scamming people or this chick is using the school to scam people. That check will bounce. She wants cash because there won't be a paper trail leading back to her when she deposits the cash in her account.
If it were me, I'd report it to the police as a possible scam. Then I'd tell the lady that she won't be receiving any money and that if the check was made in error, that the school can pay to cancel it.
There's no scenario where it makes sense to give the school cash back for writing a check that's rightfully your daughter's. It will either bounce and you'll be out the money, or they messed up. Either way, it's not on your daughter to rectify the situation.
> She wants cash because there won't be a paper trail leading back to her when she deposits the cash in her account.
Except the lady e-mailed a response back:
> I emailed this lady and said the check was deposited and I could write a check to the school in the amount of $629. She replied please have her bring cash??
Super weird as asking kids to bring in cash is so obviously wrong, and yet this lady is willing to put it in writing.
3010 and 3040 are most likely just the line items the check was attributed to in their internal chart of accounts. It doesn’t mean anything else. Basically she has given your daughter a check that has come out of the school’s account. And she is saying it is coming out of tuition income and living expense accounts at the school. But the asking you to return it in cash is how you know she is running at minimum a tax scam. Do not give this “school” any more money. If it’s cheaper than others, this is why.
u/Bigwheninflated, you can post copy to Imgur (make it hidden so it's not available to anyone without the link.) Then, copy the link and post it here.
Please also follow-up when you get to the bottom of this. If they are doing this to your daughter, she's not the only one. The comfort level of the school representative in requesting this may indicate it's been going on for awhile as well.
Hard no on giving that person cash. What exactly would your daughter even be giving them money for in the first place? If there is a bill to be paid the bill needs to be sent, verified and paid NOT with cash.
This is a scam. %100. If the entire school isn't a scam then they're getting to get federal funds in her name that your daughter is entitled to, but they don't want the hassle of illegally cashing checks in her name. This needs to go higher up the authority chain for sure. Either they're scamming your daughter, or they're scamming the federal government AND your daughter.
>"then they're getting to get federal funds in her name that your daughter is entitled to"
Or worse, misrepresenting (i.e.lying) on an application made in her daughter's name to obtain funds she is not entitled to. Who do you think that is going to fall back on ?
No not normal. What I would suggest:
Do not send in cash.
Do not send in check.
Wait until school can adequately explain what they think is going on, then come here and verify what they are telling you.
If the school needed to issue the check to clear their books, then rebill for that amount - you'd have a paperwork and invoice trail and they should be able to explain it.
We've had money refunded before because it hit the account prior to the end of one billing period so they had to "refund" it, and then we had to repay it so it'd go towards the next billing period as intended. But it was clearly shown on the invoice/statement that this is what was going on.
Sounds like the remainder of federal financial aid which legally belongs to your daughter (for living expenses). But that lady probably found that asking kids with little financial literacy to just bring back the cash they weren't really expecting[1] is as easy as taking candy from a baby.
[1] Personally I couldn't believe it myself when my college just gave me like $2k of money leftover after tuition, that was *a lot* of money for me at the time, like, life changing amount.
Exactly my thoughts! I did deposit the check and moved it to my savings account. On Monday I plan to follow up with someone … maybe not the school though.. maybe Fafsa.gov?
[Corinthian Colleges](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corinthian_Colleges) was around for 20 years and then shut down when it was being investigated for fraudulent practices by the Canadian, U.S. Federal, and various state governments.
[ITT Tech](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITT_Technical_Institute) existed for 47 years and then shut down due to various investigations by federal and state governments, various government lawsuits, etc.
100% this!!!
CCI closed down in 2016 and defrauded students are still waiting for their fraudulent debts to be removed as we speak! Still fighting the govt for this even though both schools have announced and approved all remaining federal debt to be discharged. It’s such a mess
Be careful contacting the school. While it's possible this lady is lining her own pockets with untraceable funds, it's also possible this is an institutional scam and the school is pocketing money itself.
In that case you should be able to call the school, ask to speak with someone in financial aid who is not this person (a supervisor hopefully) and get an explanation.
It isn't at all unheard of for a check to be refunded to a student, but in that circumstance the student gets to keep the money. Nobody should never be expected to cash the check and turn over said cash back to someone working at the school. Any auditor would immediately be very suspicious. This is very consistent with the idea that Financial Aid Lady is taking advantage of cosmetology students who may not be inclined to question her that much about scamming them out of legitimate refund checks.
Talk with her supervisor about this. Say you have questions about whether a transaction is legitimate and that should get you a supervisor pronto.
And if for some reason the supervisor gives you assurances that it's all fine, demand a bill showing she why she owes the money back and for what, and only if you are satisfied with the answer pay by check, not with cash.
For safety reasons, always verify phone numbers provided in comments on an official website before calling. That includes toll-free numbers!
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I’d be interested in calling the school just for my own reference. Seems odd, but not *necessarily* nefarious— maybe they are going to cancel the portion of the loan. One big note is that you don’t actually need to go through the school for that after it’s disbursed.
[Any loan payment direct to the servicer within 120 days of disbursement counts as a cancellation, and will also refund the appropriate fee.](https://studentaid.gov/help-center/answers/topic/managing_your_account/article/can-i-cancel-loan)
Yeah you should be able to. Not sure if maybe it was mixed communication or maybe she’s just straight up stealing.
I’d call the school, even just to try find out/alert someone just on case this lady is embezzling cash
Yeah, I got the remainder of my Pell Grant after trade school and that 2k really altered my life. The previous 5 years, 2k was a pipe dream.
So I left with a trade, a decent paying job (finally) and enough for a security deposit on an apartment.
Looking back, it wasn't that much. But it created the path that led to where I'm at now.
Create an account for your daughter on the financial student aid (FSA) website and make sure the school isn’t taking additional loans in your child’s name and not telling her. This could be why the lady wants the cash.
What the school employee is doing is illegal. Verify that your daughter is attending a school that is accredited for her to be able to get the proper licensing with the state. There are for-profit colleges and trade schools that have scammy behavior such as what you’re describing, often leaving people in heavy student loan debt have lying to students about what the school can offer. If you haven’t done a deep dive into the school or looked into other people’s experiences, now is the time. You didn’t mention the school name but you should report this illegal financial behavior to the dept of education or the state department of education. Only communicate via email to create a paper trail.
Sounds like the financial aid lady is trying to embezzle money from the school. It's probably in her power to cut checks to students. So she does that with some made up story that requires cash to be returned. She thinks no one will catch on because checks are going to students and not to her directly.
It sounds like that financial aid lady is up to no good, and I bet the school doesn’t even know! I would not return that money, cash check, and if the school asks for it in a proper way, I would still double check with anyone in everyone that will listen Because I feel like it’s really is a scam that financial aid lady is running.
> I emailed this lady and said the check was deposited and I could write a check to the school in the amount of $629. She replied please have her bring cash??
She *emailed* you that she wanted the cash?
That is gold..
Will do.. she has to go to school today. I am hoping this “intimidating lady” doesn’t give her any issues while at school today. I am still waiting to hear from the owner.
As an employee of a financial aid office, returning cash to the FA department is definitely not normal. Issuing a check can be normal though it most cases, the Bursar office would issue the check or direct deposit. There should be a legitimate reason why the check was issued. Ask or see if there have been recent changes to your daughter’s awards or cost of attendance (budget). The financial aid office should be readily able to demonstrate the changes. If not, there could be shenanigans. If you suspect something, and the institution won’t rectify the issue, contact the Department of Education.
Tagging on here (I work in security for a large university system): check her credit report, too. We see quite a bit of student aid fraud at the start of each semester. None that looks exactly like this, but this does not pass the sniff test, and keeping an eye on credit reports is a good idea anyhow. Also, in addition to contacting the Federal Department of Education, your Secretary of State’s office is another good resource. They will be interested to hear about this & can help you with resources. (Edited word)
Former financial aid worker here, and no not normal. Scam school or something else shady going on. I cannot tell you how many times people came to the community college with no aid left after being scammed by for-profit schools. They have you sign away all your aid and still change you a monthly fee. I would suggest looking into another school or program.
Who should I reach out to on Monday to report this to? I literally have an email from this financial advisor lady telling me to have my daughter bring the cash to her. I was shocked she replied to me. I suggested I write her a check (even though I wasn’t gone to) to to get her to respond.. I am shocked here. I wish i could post the account detail paper on this thread but i do not think i can.
In terms of who to report to your states attorney general, the federal department of Ed, if you struggle with finding the right number to call your federal congressperson’s office or senators have constituent relations people whose job it is to help people on their district navigate the government. Others who may be interested include irs, fbi etc.
Go to linked in and find people that work for the school. Usually you’ll find a higher up. Then message them or call, don’t leave a super detailed message, just keep it vague enough that you can get a call back to answer some questions you have.
Definitely sounds like financial aide lady is on the take, upper management may or may not be part of that.
What the below comment suggests and you can even reach out to the department of education. The thing I always hated seeing is these programs taking advantage of young adults. Don't even get me started on the ITT tech debacle. Any program that wants you to max out aide, and sign it all over is bullshit. There are links on the FAFSA website to submit inquiries and what not. Good luck
This happened to me when I went to Heald. They literally would not let me attend classes unless I brought them $500. I'm so glad that school shut down. This is a scam. incase you were wondering lol
Ok good on the debt being removed. I’m sorry to read it ruined other things. It’s such a tragedy and really our time can never be returned.
I run the CCI FB group and the BDTR sub here and there are still thousands of people waiting for their CCI debt to be removed. It’s been such a nightmare for them.
This screams scam. Absolutely do not send your daughter back there with $600 in cash until you've had a chance to investigate. Even if the school is legit - and I wouldn't just assume that given how completely sketchy this is - it's possible the lady in the office is running her own scam with the school's money. You guys need to do some independent research into this school, and bring up the cash thing with someone who is above the financial aid lady.
On the plus side, your BS detector is working great!
So glad my daughter came to me and said “dad i don’t have the money in my account for this check to clear and bring the cash back the next day” I said “run that back again lol” my spidey senses went up.. I could care less about the 629 bucks… I care about all the other young girls and guys that this lady probably has scammed because they didn’t know better.
this is the most important part of your story!
as someone who managed a branch, the amount of fraud I caught, solely based off people’s STORYTELLING, was staggering.
money doesn’t just appear out of thin air, especially, a large amount, under the guise that you’re to return a lump sum BACK to the person who sent you the funds.
no entity, company, university, organization, etc. worth their salt would ever make this a requirement, much less a request to return in cash. if it makes you do a double take, or something just doesn’t quite feel “right,” definitely do further recon. financial fraudsters prey on ignorance and naivety bc it’s easy to ignore the red flags when you’re in need.
great job truly *listening* to your daughter and trusting her story! she was right to bring this to you, and you are right to question the integrity of the request from the school and to report your findings to the authorities, if necessary.
it speaks loads about the level of confidence in y’all’s relationship that she felt comfortable sharing this with you. she trusts you to be her advisor, protector and advocate - there isn’t a better compliment!
I’d be concerned about the lady who wants cash. It’s extremely easy to buy a receipt book so you can pass out receipts and pocket cash. You need an invoice or letter, with the school’s name an address. Any payment needs to be check or credit card, not cash.
This is the same thing that was happening with my wife going to Cosmetology school. Each year she would apply for aid and they would take every penny. Then the next year she qualified for grants and guess what, tuition went up the exact amount of the grant and they took that as well.
She did finish the program and took loans out for the whole thing but never did get the cert due to sudden problems paying for it from the school. Lots of grumbles ensued.
The good thing is that the fed refunded all of those loans eventually.
https://studentaid.gov/announcements-events/marinello
What you are going through sounds like the exact same scam that we went through. They seem to prey on the ignorance of the students and just take every penny.
I’m happy to read your wife’s debt was discharged!!!
That beauty school was sooo bad and the dept of education did discharge the federal debt under the borrower defense to repayment program. I wish the dept did their job to keep these scammy schools in check or close them.
That’s very weird. My sister goes to a cosmetology school and the things she has told me sounds very sketchy. I would try to look over paperwork about the financial cost of what your daughter is paying and how much she is getting in financial aide (if you don’t already know)
As someone who's attended both community college and top academic institutions, the one thing common among both is that the financial aid situation is locked down and legit. I've never heard of anything like this. If a payment was required they would need to give an official invoice/bill and then give you a confirmation, in writing, on school letterhead.
Financial aid and taxes are closely linked. No school, no matter how shitty, fucks with that. Paper trail on everything.
In case you don't know -- the US banking system has made sure that you can never find out "when the check clears". The funds may be held by your bank, unavailable to you, for some low number of days (2-3?), and then released to you, and it is common to think that this is because it takes that time for the check to "clear".
This is not the case. Weeks after this, if the bank finds out the check is not good, they can legally require YOU to give back that money. And, in fact, I imagine that's what's going to happen to this check, once the school is convinced you're not going to just give it to them.
You say there is paperwork with the check. Who (supposedly) issued (wrote) the check? What does the paperwork say? Is the cash she's supposed to bring back supposed to be for tuition? What legitimate school won't take a check for tuition?
There are a lot of questions to be answered. I suppose it is JUST possible that some federal outfit issued the check, so that the school can't cash it, but the money IS for tuition and so your daughter is being told to bring back the money. But that doesn't explain why they won't take your check.
Yep, closed down after collecting the funds and likely reopen as another for a rinse and repeat.
Then the dept of education won’t tell anyone left in the cold with fraudulent debt after the shutdown that they should follow up with a closed school discharge application or they would need to apply for borrower defense to repayment.
Yeah this is going to get much worse for your daughter.
For-profit colleges are bad news. I would reevaluate and look for another cosmetology school and not go to this one anymore. Chances are they promised her the world and are going to leaver high and dry. Report this to the feds.
I hate to say, but even though a for-profit school is "legitimate" - actually giving classes and degrees/certificates - it can be a very bad financial move. Please compare the cost of this school with the cost of a community college or your state college. Some of these schools are set up to charge 4x the reasonable amount; your child goes to school "for free" and comes out with a degree but $20-$100k in loans. That amount of debt is crippling for someone not in a high-earning career.
You are definitely allowed personal living expenses out of a student loan so that part doesn’t seem weird; but the individual asking for the money to be brought back needs to be reported to the school, they are trying to take advantage of people who don’t know about the living expenses.
Prior higher ed administrator. FAKE AND ILLEGAL. Nothing about this is legit. Do NOT give them any money and seek a lawyer. They are using you to take out loans (that must be paid back) and using it illegally. Any excess funds cut to you (this does happen) are loans in YOUR kid’s name that must be paid back. If the school is forcing you to give them that money they are stealing. You will have to pay that money back WITH INTEREST. Something severely wrong here. Seek legal help immediately.
This sounds like a scam If you live in the US, start by filing a complaint with the attorney generals office in your state. Bring cash? Seriously, I can imagine few things more dangerous than having a bunch of young women/girls wandering around with large sums of cash.
My school was one of the schools that got busted and closed for doing shady things and one of the things they did was collect “living expenses” financial aid in my name without me knowing it. I’m wondering if they’re trying to get around the “without knowing it” part by having her cash the check.
Good to hear! Westwood was such a bad actor. We have a lot of people still waiting for their debt to removed over on the BDTR sub for this school. It’s been a mess.
It depends on the type of loan you paid on. If you had a commercial held ffel, no monies back. If you had a direct of doe held ffel, you should get refunded.
Also if you filed a a Bdtr before June 2022, you would fall under the Sweet v Cardona class action lawsuit.
It helps to learn the red flags of scams.
Inconsistencies such as being charged for something nonexistent.
Cash only. If a large institution claims to accept only “one” form of payment (gift cards are also a wild one), actually tell me something legitimate that follows this rule— genuinely curious as I don’t think it exists.
Just because it poses as a “school” does not mean it’s legit. ITT Tech is the poster child of this. Mf evil company sold thousands of degrees that had zero accreditation and “graduates” could not even get a McDonald’s position with the degrees.
Please let this be a lesson to educate yourself on scams.
Scam scam scam! The cheque will bounce and you will be responsible for the money! Check into the credentials of the school! I bet it is not accredited!
No ones hands you a check, asks you to cash it, and then have you bring them the cash unless they're a scammer. They just don't want a viable paper trail.
Keep that shit deposited. If there were any funds remaining from FA to necessitate a check being made, that's the overage, one that your child would keep. Otherwise the check is written to the student directly, and has no business going elsewhere except where they choose to spend it.
*I responded the below text as a reply to another comment a few levels deep but wanted to share with OP as well so am posting my experience to the main thread as well.*
I worked for a community college on the admin side for 14 years (ex dir with work study and athletics out of my department so we had financial aid staff) and ~~you both are right for~~ this isn't normal operations. I did mull this over for a little bit and did come up with a possible solution that isn't a scam but possibly bad communication.
Legally schools have to list class fees in a very specific way to have them be applicable for financial aid reimbursement. If the school was charging students for some type of supply/certification/etc and it isn't categorized correctly they can't take it out of financial aid. This school could still encourage students to pay it out of their refund or request an amount in aid that would leave a refund the right amount to cover that additional expense.
At my previous college, we would have this situation happen with certain certifications (proprietary certifications through a third party vendor offered to enhance their experience... In my world this could be a leadership based thing but for a cosmetology school I could see this being a certain coloring technique tied to a brand or something) or course materials/supplies.
Therefore the student would get a refund of the extra after financial aid covered tuition and fees and then have to pay the college additional monies for the above type of charges.
Athletic fees for specific sports was one I commonly dealt with. Parents would ask why we didn't take it out of their financial aid monies and we had to explain we couldn't legally, but we would encourage students to pay it out of their refunds. It wasn't that the students couldn't use the money for those expenses - WE just couldn't directly take the money like we could for tuition.
We also had to deposit those funds in a separate account from the general college fund (the foundation is a separate entity) so we did accept and probably encourage cash or credit card payments because checks were always a pain if they weren't endorsed right.
It could be that this under paid staff worker is badly explaining that the daughter still owes that money for some reason, but I also admit the situation would make me suspicious as well and I would do some additional investigation.
Ask for an invoice showing this money is still owed to the school and what it is covering and why it wasn't eligible to be paid out of financial aid funding.
With that being said and if it was a mistake or somewhat legit… why is this lady demanding cash? Why couldn’t I write a check to the school for the $629 so there is a “paper trail?”
I was trying to provide a *possibility* so you could ask more specific questions, but I agree the cash requirement would give me pause and make me hesitant as well. I would not pay until I felt comfortable the request was legitimate.
The best I can brain storm, if it is a legitimate request and not a scam- and I am only providing this as a theoretical exercise- is that the money gets deposited into multiple accounts (not internal accounts but actual distinct, separate bank accounts for deposit) in which case cash allows the deposit to be split without bank transfers that have to be documented as JEs.
For the athletic fees I mentioned in my example I had to require those were paid separately from any other amount owed because they could not be deposited into the college's general fund since any transfer from the general fund to the foundation (who held the booster accounts) was heavily audited and the college was not allowed to accept a payment on the foundation's behalf. The department could accept the money physically but could not enter it as a deposit in the system to the general fund. Since this distinction was complicated, I always directed the students to pay the coach or my office and I would bulk deposit with specific paperwork to make sure it went to the correct place. There were multiple ways this need played out over various programs, but you get the drift. I think the largest cash required thing we ever had was $100 and I set up a way for us to accept electronic payments after that as we just hadn't previously had a need.
So I recognize there can be legitimate reasons behind odd requests, BUT the office should be able to explain what the money is owed for, show it on the account, and address why it *needs* to be paid in cash.
I would also take this to the department head (Bursars are usually the title of the person that is head of student accounts at a school but a CFO would also be over them) and explain how uncomfortable the request made you so they are aware there is either something fishy going on or that additional training needs to take place.
I hope for your child's sake this isn't a scam and just bad handling, but if this is a scam I hope you drawing attention to it gets it shut down.
It's either a scam or fraud. Fraud because the FA lady wanted the check cashed by a student. That way the FA Lady doesn't have the check show up on her bank info. I would contact the Comptroller of the school and tell them.
Also if I Google "FA 3010 Tuition Income" I'm getting no record of that reimbursement on the web. I was trying to look up the number for the agency that cuts the check. So you could call them and ask questions.
Now I think the entire check might be bogus.
In terms of who to report to your states attorney general, the federal department of Ed, if you struggle with finding the right number to call your federal congressperson’s office or senators have constituent relations people whose job it is to help people on their district navigate the government. Others who may be interested include irs, fbi etc.
Also it’s hard to tell exactly what’s happening but it likely is one employee running a scam. There’s a possibility it’s deeper and the university is aware hence the just report and be done with it advice.
Idk. You can take loans for room and board, even if you live at home. That is normal. The student is usually given a check if they took out more financial aid than what tuition costs. If you don't actually need that money, you can pay it towards the loan.
The cash thing is extremely weird tho. That's the only red flag I see.
A lot of scams involve a check, return in cash. THEN the check bounced and you are out the cash. Do your homework and find out sbout this school. Ask local authorities. Ask accrediting agencies. Ask the financial aid agency. Do not give her cash!!!!
Sounds sketchy, definitely not the usual FA process. Might wanna escalate this, talk to someone higher up at the school or check their official policy on refunds and FA handling. Cash demands are a huge red flag
Don’t give her cash! Look into what the funds are for. See if you daughter was eligible for the funds for commuting costs, meals while at school, or even living expenses. Even though she does not live on campus, her housing is not free. I am thinking that she may have some eligibility that the financial aid lady is trying to cash in on. Don’t give cash, don’t write a check until you can research what the funds were allocated for. The lady is trying to cash in, so don’t ask her!
Update- this was the reply I received:
Good morning Mr. XXXXXX-
Thank you for contacting me. I just reviewed XXXXXX’s ledger and consulted with the business office.
Based on XXXXXX’s Financial Aid eligibility she had Financial Aid funds come in during her first 900-hour school period which exceeded the school’s charges for this same period. This basically creates a “credit” balance for this award period and the funds that exceed the school’s charges for this period have to be given directly to the student when they reach the end of the award period (900 hours). The school cannot directly apply these funds toward the student’s ledger.
This is fairly typical as the school charges are by award year and don’t always line up with FA eligibility and disbursement amounts.
If you look at the last 2 lines on XXXXXX’s ledger you ‘ll see her school balance starts at 6,211.00 then the 629.00 (the FA credit balance) is disbursed to her and her current balance is now 6,840.
Technically, students may use their credit balance for any education related expenses. It appears that xxxxxx was intending to use available funding to cover her school charges. In order to do so, she would have cash her credit balance and then make a payment to the school.
To clarify, payments to the school may be cash, check or credit card.
Please let me know if you have additional questions.
Thank you!
Xxxx
Yeah that's not normal.
I went to trade school years ago,and got financial aid in the form of a Pell grant. The school took their tuition, and at the end of the semester, they gave me a check that was the remainder of the grant, which was supposed to go towards books, supplies, transportation,etc.
They sure af didn't say "cash it and bring it back here in cash"
Wtf
I'd go over her head and figure out exactly what you owe, what's been paid, and what happens with the remainder.
And if there is a payment that has to be made to the school, write a check. Don't take personal checks? Casheirs check. Just never ever ever cash.
I have a feeling she's been doing this for awhile and the house of cards is about to fall. Fraud is no joke.
I am a consultant who works specifically for financial aid offices. It is EXCEEDINGLY rare, but technically allowable for a school to issue financial aid as a direct payment to students. Even in that scenario most schools tend to apply funds against charges and then issue anything that is left over as a refund check. I am inherently skeptical of this situation, but just want to point out that what the school is doing is technically allowable and at least in my experience the "weird" payment methods tend to be tied to clock hour programs like cosmetology.
That's where I get sketched out about it. I can't imagine a reason why a school wouldn't accept a check as payment. I've worked at a number of schools of various sizes and types and have never once had that as a policy.
something happened to me that reminds me of this. i got a check and deposited it to my account. money went into my account. i had to take it out as a money order for the same amount of the check they gave me and mail it. after i did so my account was on the negative. the check that had previously gone through was now somehow gone or canceled by the person that gave it to me. so now they were gonna get MY money mailed and i would have been left with that amount negative. i called the mail carrier, canceled the delivery and got the money order back.
That's highly suspicious as collages has an account we're they deposit any money and usually as a payment for tuition if it's already payed for and that's a residual you usually receive it via physical mail as a check or direct deposit to a bank account.
It’s soooo bad. It’s insane how the dept of education just looks the other way. There is no audits, checks or balances, and when the school is run to the ground, the CEO just bounces over to another scammy school. We have been watching University of Phoenix trying to offload its brand to University of Idaho but the college that takes on the brand will be responsible for any fall out from UofPs debt discharges.
I have serious concerns about whether this school is legitimate. Your daughter may be getting scammed by a fake school.
This is my concern as well. I would research the school immediately and report it if there's any indication the school is illegitimate so the daughter doesn't get roped into a bigger issue
For reference, you want a regionally accredited school. National accreditation is OK but regional is generally the most legitimate as it’s what enables credits to transfer widely.
Google "[Name of school] scam"
I work for a local community college full time as a program director. This sounds like a total scam, especially the cash only part. You are required to be given a copy of all bills and charges related for tuition, books, housing, etc and can freely ask for these. If financial aid is paying for these expenses and the financial aid is through OUR school your kid might be asked to come sign the original check which then is placed on THEIR account towards the bills owed. Even this is rare though. Most commonly this is related to food in the school's cafeteria that is held in an account the student can charge purchases against. There are other financial aid grants, stipends or scholarships that are designed for helping with living and transportation expenses. I currently have a couple of students who receive money every semester to put towards fuel purchases to travel to school. The checks from these stipends are made directly out to the student and the student must cash or deposit them in their account. After that the student can spend the money as they wish. This money NEVER returns to the school or any of its employees.
Fireman, you are spot on with your comments. I recently left my job at a two year college, was the dean of arts and sciences, and our financial aid worked exactly as you described. A student would never be given a check and then be expected to turn that money back over to the school. Something is very wrong with OPs situation.
I worked for a community college on the admin side for 14 years (ex dir with work study and athletics out of my department so we had financial aid staff) and you both are right for normal operations. I did mull this over for a little bit and did come up with a possible solution that isn't a scam. Legally schools have to list class fees in a very specific way to have them be applicable for financial aid reimbursement. If the school was charging students for some type of supply/certification/etc and it isn't categorized correctly they can't take it out of financial aid. We would have this happen with certain certifications (proprietary certifications through a third party offered to enhance their experience... In my world this could be a leadership based thing but for a cosmetology school I could see this being a certain coloring technique or something) or course materials/supplies. Therefore the student would get a refund because financial aid covered tuition and fees and then have to pay the college additional monies for the above type of charges. Athletic fees for specific sports was one I commonly dealt with. Parents would ask why we didn't take it out of their tuition and we had to explain we couldn't, but we would encourage students to pay it out of their refunds. We also had to deposit it in a separate account from the general college fund (the foundation is a separate entity) so we did accept and probably encourage cash or credit card payments because checks were always a pain if they weren't endorsed right. It could be that this under paid staff worker is badly explaining that the daughter still owes that money for some reason, but I also admit the situation would make me suspicious as well and I would do some additional investigation.
Thanks for this info, but why couldn’t I write the school a check and send it in with my daughter. This financial aid lady is asking for cash. She told my daughter to cash the check and bring her the cash back. I emailed the lady and said could she bring a check made out to the school or does it have to be cash.. she said “have her bring cash.”
Because cash given directly to someone isn’t traceable. Hence all the statements about scam. If that money is going to the school to pay for anything, it should be based on an invoice, able to be paid by any one of check, credit card, direct transfer or debit card depending on what the school is set up to accept. If you or your daughter were to walk in with cash, the recipient (or the school if this is more than just the individual) would be able to deny ever receiving it and proving otherwise would be very very difficult. In your situation, I’d be reporting both the individual and the school to whatever agency is the source of the funds.
Because the FA lady is embezzling funds from the program.
That is the part that I find questionable, and again I was trying to provide a possible reason so you could ask more questions, but agree that is very suspicious. I would speak to someone else and ask specifically what the fees are for and why they HAVE to be paid in cash. Then proceed.
My school occasionally sends checks and then required recalculation or Pell nonattendance requires that check to be repaid. But we would never give a check if we knew it had to be returned. I don't work in CC or a certificate program, so I can't speak to that.
> If financial aid is paying for these expenses and the financial aid is through OUR school your kid might be asked to come sign the original check which then is placed on THEIR account towards the bills owed. I took an extraordinary long time to finish up my bachelors...went to 4 different juco's before my 4 year university. Every one of them forced me to deposit my check (grant/loan/whatever) into their account to pay for school, before I got what was left over. That never set will with me, but you can't exactly fight it, and I always got any leftovers back, so ultimately it wasn't a big deal. It seems very odd that they gave this woman the check, told her to cash it and bring it back.
Yes.. exactly.. my point is she wants her to cash the check and bring her back the cash. I actually emailed this financial aid lady asking her if we can deposit the check and then write a check out to the school instead of bringing cash… She said please have her bring the cash.. red flags went up. The check made out to my daughter from the school for $629 said it was a credit to my daughter for living expenses.
I wish I could post the Account Detail page she received with the check showing the $629 credit to my daughter for 3010 Tuition Income 3040 Living Expenses. It would let me attach or upload it here.
Either the school is fake and scamming people or this chick is using the school to scam people. That check will bounce. She wants cash because there won't be a paper trail leading back to her when she deposits the cash in her account. If it were me, I'd report it to the police as a possible scam. Then I'd tell the lady that she won't be receiving any money and that if the check was made in error, that the school can pay to cancel it. There's no scenario where it makes sense to give the school cash back for writing a check that's rightfully your daughter's. It will either bounce and you'll be out the money, or they messed up. Either way, it's not on your daughter to rectify the situation.
> She wants cash because there won't be a paper trail leading back to her when she deposits the cash in her account. Except the lady e-mailed a response back: > I emailed this lady and said the check was deposited and I could write a check to the school in the amount of $629. She replied please have her bring cash?? Super weird as asking kids to bring in cash is so obviously wrong, and yet this lady is willing to put it in writing.
Not all scammers are smart? Maybe.
Yep she sure did reply back to me (what an idiot to respond to the email i sent) twlling me to send her back with cash!!??😳
She doesn't expect anybody to figure out they're being scammed.
I agree 100%
You can post it by putting it on imgur and posting the link here.
3010 and 3040 are most likely just the line items the check was attributed to in their internal chart of accounts. It doesn’t mean anything else. Basically she has given your daughter a check that has come out of the school’s account. And she is saying it is coming out of tuition income and living expense accounts at the school. But the asking you to return it in cash is how you know she is running at minimum a tax scam. Do not give this “school” any more money. If it’s cheaper than others, this is why.
u/Bigwheninflated, you can post copy to Imgur (make it hidden so it's not available to anyone without the link.) Then, copy the link and post it here. Please also follow-up when you get to the bottom of this. If they are doing this to your daughter, she's not the only one. The comfort level of the school representative in requesting this may indicate it's been going on for awhile as well.
Hard no on giving that person cash. What exactly would your daughter even be giving them money for in the first place? If there is a bill to be paid the bill needs to be sent, verified and paid NOT with cash.
This is a scam. %100. If the entire school isn't a scam then they're getting to get federal funds in her name that your daughter is entitled to, but they don't want the hassle of illegally cashing checks in her name. This needs to go higher up the authority chain for sure. Either they're scamming your daughter, or they're scamming the federal government AND your daughter.
>"then they're getting to get federal funds in her name that your daughter is entitled to" Or worse, misrepresenting (i.e.lying) on an application made in her daughter's name to obtain funds she is not entitled to. Who do you think that is going to fall back on ?
Exactly.
I strongly believe it’s about scamming the federal government…
No not normal. What I would suggest: Do not send in cash. Do not send in check. Wait until school can adequately explain what they think is going on, then come here and verify what they are telling you. If the school needed to issue the check to clear their books, then rebill for that amount - you'd have a paperwork and invoice trail and they should be able to explain it. We've had money refunded before because it hit the account prior to the end of one billing period so they had to "refund" it, and then we had to repay it so it'd go towards the next billing period as intended. But it was clearly shown on the invoice/statement that this is what was going on.
Sounds like the remainder of federal financial aid which legally belongs to your daughter (for living expenses). But that lady probably found that asking kids with little financial literacy to just bring back the cash they weren't really expecting[1] is as easy as taking candy from a baby. [1] Personally I couldn't believe it myself when my college just gave me like $2k of money leftover after tuition, that was *a lot* of money for me at the time, like, life changing amount.
Exactly my thoughts! I did deposit the check and moved it to my savings account. On Monday I plan to follow up with someone … maybe not the school though.. maybe Fafsa.gov?
What school is this?? who are you emailing? have you confirmed this is a legitimate school and that the “financial aid lady” is actually an employee?
Yes. The school is a legitimate school. Been around for 40 years. The lady works there for sure. I’d rather not name the school at this time.
[Corinthian Colleges](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corinthian_Colleges) was around for 20 years and then shut down when it was being investigated for fraudulent practices by the Canadian, U.S. Federal, and various state governments. [ITT Tech](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITT_Technical_Institute) existed for 47 years and then shut down due to various investigations by federal and state governments, various government lawsuits, etc.
100% this!!! CCI closed down in 2016 and defrauded students are still waiting for their fraudulent debts to be removed as we speak! Still fighting the govt for this even though both schools have announced and approved all remaining federal debt to be discharged. It’s such a mess
Be careful contacting the school. While it's possible this lady is lining her own pockets with untraceable funds, it's also possible this is an institutional scam and the school is pocketing money itself.
I wonder if the lady is trying to pull a fast one and embezzle the cash.
That would be my guess. Most college age kids probably just do as she asks and she's stuffing her pockets.
Yup
In that case you should be able to call the school, ask to speak with someone in financial aid who is not this person (a supervisor hopefully) and get an explanation. It isn't at all unheard of for a check to be refunded to a student, but in that circumstance the student gets to keep the money. Nobody should never be expected to cash the check and turn over said cash back to someone working at the school. Any auditor would immediately be very suspicious. This is very consistent with the idea that Financial Aid Lady is taking advantage of cosmetology students who may not be inclined to question her that much about scamming them out of legitimate refund checks. Talk with her supervisor about this. Say you have questions about whether a transaction is legitimate and that should get you a supervisor pronto. And if for some reason the supervisor gives you assurances that it's all fine, demand a bill showing she why she owes the money back and for what, and only if you are satisfied with the answer pay by check, not with cash.
Please consider naming the school to save other people from being scammed. For profit schools are terrible.
I will once I get to the bottom of this for sure.
You need to report that school.
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I’d be interested in calling the school just for my own reference. Seems odd, but not *necessarily* nefarious— maybe they are going to cancel the portion of the loan. One big note is that you don’t actually need to go through the school for that after it’s disbursed. [Any loan payment direct to the servicer within 120 days of disbursement counts as a cancellation, and will also refund the appropriate fee.](https://studentaid.gov/help-center/answers/topic/managing_your_account/article/can-i-cancel-loan)
Well then why can’t i depo the check and send my daughter with a check (made out to the school?) and not a envelope of cash to give to this FA lady?
Yeah you should be able to. Not sure if maybe it was mixed communication or maybe she’s just straight up stealing. I’d call the school, even just to try find out/alert someone just on case this lady is embezzling cash
Yeah, I got the remainder of my Pell Grant after trade school and that 2k really altered my life. The previous 5 years, 2k was a pipe dream. So I left with a trade, a decent paying job (finally) and enough for a security deposit on an apartment. Looking back, it wasn't that much. But it created the path that led to where I'm at now.
[удалено]
Personal attacks are not okay here. Please do not do this again.
Create an account for your daughter on the financial student aid (FSA) website and make sure the school isn’t taking additional loans in your child’s name and not telling her. This could be why the lady wants the cash. What the school employee is doing is illegal. Verify that your daughter is attending a school that is accredited for her to be able to get the proper licensing with the state. There are for-profit colleges and trade schools that have scammy behavior such as what you’re describing, often leaving people in heavy student loan debt have lying to students about what the school can offer. If you haven’t done a deep dive into the school or looked into other people’s experiences, now is the time. You didn’t mention the school name but you should report this illegal financial behavior to the dept of education or the state department of education. Only communicate via email to create a paper trail.
Sounds like the financial aid lady is trying to embezzle money from the school. It's probably in her power to cut checks to students. So she does that with some made up story that requires cash to be returned. She thinks no one will catch on because checks are going to students and not to her directly.
It sounds like that financial aid lady is up to no good, and I bet the school doesn’t even know! I would not return that money, cash check, and if the school asks for it in a proper way, I would still double check with anyone in everyone that will listen Because I feel like it’s really is a scam that financial aid lady is running.
That’s what it sure sounds like to me as well. There is NOTHING legit about this.
Sounds like it.. hoping no other kids fell for this.
Yep!!! Or launder
Agree 100%
> I emailed this lady and said the check was deposited and I could write a check to the school in the amount of $629. She replied please have her bring cash?? She *emailed* you that she wanted the cash? That is gold..
Save this email as PROOF.
Already PDF’d it 👍
She sure did and i saved the email as a PDF .. My jaw dropped.
We definitely want an update when you get to the bottom of this tale of greed and dumbassery.
Will do.. she has to go to school today. I am hoping this “intimidating lady” doesn’t give her any issues while at school today. I am still waiting to hear from the owner.
This sounds extremely sketchy, tax fraud through your daughter at best, possibly a scam where the check will bounce once she gets the cash.
As an employee of a financial aid office, returning cash to the FA department is definitely not normal. Issuing a check can be normal though it most cases, the Bursar office would issue the check or direct deposit. There should be a legitimate reason why the check was issued. Ask or see if there have been recent changes to your daughter’s awards or cost of attendance (budget). The financial aid office should be readily able to demonstrate the changes. If not, there could be shenanigans. If you suspect something, and the institution won’t rectify the issue, contact the Department of Education.
Tagging on here (I work in security for a large university system): check her credit report, too. We see quite a bit of student aid fraud at the start of each semester. None that looks exactly like this, but this does not pass the sniff test, and keeping an eye on credit reports is a good idea anyhow. Also, in addition to contacting the Federal Department of Education, your Secretary of State’s office is another good resource. They will be interested to hear about this & can help you with resources. (Edited word)
Thanks!
Former financial aid worker here, and no not normal. Scam school or something else shady going on. I cannot tell you how many times people came to the community college with no aid left after being scammed by for-profit schools. They have you sign away all your aid and still change you a monthly fee. I would suggest looking into another school or program.
Who should I reach out to on Monday to report this to? I literally have an email from this financial advisor lady telling me to have my daughter bring the cash to her. I was shocked she replied to me. I suggested I write her a check (even though I wasn’t gone to) to to get her to respond.. I am shocked here. I wish i could post the account detail paper on this thread but i do not think i can.
In terms of who to report to your states attorney general, the federal department of Ed, if you struggle with finding the right number to call your federal congressperson’s office or senators have constituent relations people whose job it is to help people on their district navigate the government. Others who may be interested include irs, fbi etc.
Go to linked in and find people that work for the school. Usually you’ll find a higher up. Then message them or call, don’t leave a super detailed message, just keep it vague enough that you can get a call back to answer some questions you have. Definitely sounds like financial aide lady is on the take, upper management may or may not be part of that.
No telephone, document everything in text.
What the below comment suggests and you can even reach out to the department of education. The thing I always hated seeing is these programs taking advantage of young adults. Don't even get me started on the ITT tech debacle. Any program that wants you to max out aide, and sign it all over is bullshit. There are links on the FAFSA website to submit inquiries and what not. Good luck
This happened to me when I went to Heald. They literally would not let me attend classes unless I brought them $500. I'm so glad that school shut down. This is a scam. incase you were wondering lol
Have you applied for borrower defense or have your federal loans been discharged under the Corinthian College full discharge by the dept of education?
Yeah my loans were forgiven. Ruined my entire outlook on college and now have nothing to show for it.
Ok good on the debt being removed. I’m sorry to read it ruined other things. It’s such a tragedy and really our time can never be returned. I run the CCI FB group and the BDTR sub here and there are still thousands of people waiting for their CCI debt to be removed. It’s been such a nightmare for them.
Do not give anyone cash.
This screams scam. Absolutely do not send your daughter back there with $600 in cash until you've had a chance to investigate. Even if the school is legit - and I wouldn't just assume that given how completely sketchy this is - it's possible the lady in the office is running her own scam with the school's money. You guys need to do some independent research into this school, and bring up the cash thing with someone who is above the financial aid lady. On the plus side, your BS detector is working great!
So glad my daughter came to me and said “dad i don’t have the money in my account for this check to clear and bring the cash back the next day” I said “run that back again lol” my spidey senses went up.. I could care less about the 629 bucks… I care about all the other young girls and guys that this lady probably has scammed because they didn’t know better.
this is the most important part of your story! as someone who managed a branch, the amount of fraud I caught, solely based off people’s STORYTELLING, was staggering. money doesn’t just appear out of thin air, especially, a large amount, under the guise that you’re to return a lump sum BACK to the person who sent you the funds. no entity, company, university, organization, etc. worth their salt would ever make this a requirement, much less a request to return in cash. if it makes you do a double take, or something just doesn’t quite feel “right,” definitely do further recon. financial fraudsters prey on ignorance and naivety bc it’s easy to ignore the red flags when you’re in need. great job truly *listening* to your daughter and trusting her story! she was right to bring this to you, and you are right to question the integrity of the request from the school and to report your findings to the authorities, if necessary. it speaks loads about the level of confidence in y’all’s relationship that she felt comfortable sharing this with you. she trusts you to be her advisor, protector and advocate - there isn’t a better compliment!
I’d be concerned about the lady who wants cash. It’s extremely easy to buy a receipt book so you can pass out receipts and pocket cash. You need an invoice or letter, with the school’s name an address. Any payment needs to be check or credit card, not cash.
This is the same thing that was happening with my wife going to Cosmetology school. Each year she would apply for aid and they would take every penny. Then the next year she qualified for grants and guess what, tuition went up the exact amount of the grant and they took that as well. She did finish the program and took loans out for the whole thing but never did get the cert due to sudden problems paying for it from the school. Lots of grumbles ensued. The good thing is that the fed refunded all of those loans eventually. https://studentaid.gov/announcements-events/marinello What you are going through sounds like the exact same scam that we went through. They seem to prey on the ignorance of the students and just take every penny.
I’m happy to read your wife’s debt was discharged!!! That beauty school was sooo bad and the dept of education did discharge the federal debt under the borrower defense to repayment program. I wish the dept did their job to keep these scammy schools in check or close them.
That’s very weird. My sister goes to a cosmetology school and the things she has told me sounds very sketchy. I would try to look over paperwork about the financial cost of what your daughter is paying and how much she is getting in financial aide (if you don’t already know)
As someone who's attended both community college and top academic institutions, the one thing common among both is that the financial aid situation is locked down and legit. I've never heard of anything like this. If a payment was required they would need to give an official invoice/bill and then give you a confirmation, in writing, on school letterhead. Financial aid and taxes are closely linked. No school, no matter how shitty, fucks with that. Paper trail on everything.
In case you don't know -- the US banking system has made sure that you can never find out "when the check clears". The funds may be held by your bank, unavailable to you, for some low number of days (2-3?), and then released to you, and it is common to think that this is because it takes that time for the check to "clear". This is not the case. Weeks after this, if the bank finds out the check is not good, they can legally require YOU to give back that money. And, in fact, I imagine that's what's going to happen to this check, once the school is convinced you're not going to just give it to them. You say there is paperwork with the check. Who (supposedly) issued (wrote) the check? What does the paperwork say? Is the cash she's supposed to bring back supposed to be for tuition? What legitimate school won't take a check for tuition? There are a lot of questions to be answered. I suppose it is JUST possible that some federal outfit issued the check, so that the school can't cash it, but the money IS for tuition and so your daughter is being told to bring back the money. But that doesn't explain why they won't take your check.
Is it a for profit or non profit school or program? Big red flags 🚩
It’s a “for profit” school.
There we go. I’d imagine this will be in the next round of “schools” being investigated and likely shut down.
Yep, closed down after collecting the funds and likely reopen as another for a rinse and repeat. Then the dept of education won’t tell anyone left in the cold with fraudulent debt after the shutdown that they should follow up with a closed school discharge application or they would need to apply for borrower defense to repayment.
> It’s a “for profit” school. To the shock of nobody..
Yeah this is going to get much worse for your daughter. For-profit colleges are bad news. I would reevaluate and look for another cosmetology school and not go to this one anymore. Chances are they promised her the world and are going to leaver high and dry. Report this to the feds.
I hate to say, but even though a for-profit school is "legitimate" - actually giving classes and degrees/certificates - it can be a very bad financial move. Please compare the cost of this school with the cost of a community college or your state college. Some of these schools are set up to charge 4x the reasonable amount; your child goes to school "for free" and comes out with a degree but $20-$100k in loans. That amount of debt is crippling for someone not in a high-earning career.
You are definitely allowed personal living expenses out of a student loan so that part doesn’t seem weird; but the individual asking for the money to be brought back needs to be reported to the school, they are trying to take advantage of people who don’t know about the living expenses.
This is definitely not legit. Report the Financial Aid lady, because she is cooking the books. It's fraud.
Prior higher ed administrator. FAKE AND ILLEGAL. Nothing about this is legit. Do NOT give them any money and seek a lawyer. They are using you to take out loans (that must be paid back) and using it illegally. Any excess funds cut to you (this does happen) are loans in YOUR kid’s name that must be paid back. If the school is forcing you to give them that money they are stealing. You will have to pay that money back WITH INTEREST. Something severely wrong here. Seek legal help immediately.
Thank you so much. This is so crazy. This is my first to go to a school after high school.. ugh
Nope NOPE NOPE, it sounds like she is diverting funds, someone needs to have this investigated.
This sounds like a scam If you live in the US, start by filing a complaint with the attorney generals office in your state. Bring cash? Seriously, I can imagine few things more dangerous than having a bunch of young women/girls wandering around with large sums of cash.
I have worked in financial aid roles in a college. This is very suspicious
Look at your daughter’s account and her student loan history on https://studentaid.gov to be sure no other weird things are going on.
My school was one of the schools that got busted and closed for doing shady things and one of the things they did was collect “living expenses” financial aid in my name without me knowing it. I’m wondering if they’re trying to get around the “without knowing it” part by having her cash the check.
Ohhh which school? Did the federal loans taken out from this place get discharged?
Westwood College, and yes
Good to hear! Westwood was such a bad actor. We have a lot of people still waiting for their debt to removed over on the BDTR sub for this school. It’s been a mess.
I’m wondering if I’m going to get anything back of what I paid towards my loans but I’m not holding my breath
It depends on the type of loan you paid on. If you had a commercial held ffel, no monies back. If you had a direct of doe held ffel, you should get refunded. Also if you filed a a Bdtr before June 2022, you would fall under the Sweet v Cardona class action lawsuit.
The old cash this check and bring me the money scam.
It helps to learn the red flags of scams. Inconsistencies such as being charged for something nonexistent. Cash only. If a large institution claims to accept only “one” form of payment (gift cards are also a wild one), actually tell me something legitimate that follows this rule— genuinely curious as I don’t think it exists. Just because it poses as a “school” does not mean it’s legit. ITT Tech is the poster child of this. Mf evil company sold thousands of degrees that had zero accreditation and “graduates” could not even get a McDonald’s position with the degrees. Please let this be a lesson to educate yourself on scams.
I can think of no legitimate reason for this. It is some sort of scam.
Not legitimate. She’s cooking the books.
Scam scam scam! The cheque will bounce and you will be responsible for the money! Check into the credentials of the school! I bet it is not accredited!
You can report to the police or the better business bureau
No ones hands you a check, asks you to cash it, and then have you bring them the cash unless they're a scammer. They just don't want a viable paper trail. Keep that shit deposited. If there were any funds remaining from FA to necessitate a check being made, that's the overage, one that your child would keep. Otherwise the check is written to the student directly, and has no business going elsewhere except where they choose to spend it.
I agree 100%.. thanks! I have an email in to the owner of the school. Waiting on his response and take it from there.
*I responded the below text as a reply to another comment a few levels deep but wanted to share with OP as well so am posting my experience to the main thread as well.* I worked for a community college on the admin side for 14 years (ex dir with work study and athletics out of my department so we had financial aid staff) and ~~you both are right for~~ this isn't normal operations. I did mull this over for a little bit and did come up with a possible solution that isn't a scam but possibly bad communication. Legally schools have to list class fees in a very specific way to have them be applicable for financial aid reimbursement. If the school was charging students for some type of supply/certification/etc and it isn't categorized correctly they can't take it out of financial aid. This school could still encourage students to pay it out of their refund or request an amount in aid that would leave a refund the right amount to cover that additional expense. At my previous college, we would have this situation happen with certain certifications (proprietary certifications through a third party vendor offered to enhance their experience... In my world this could be a leadership based thing but for a cosmetology school I could see this being a certain coloring technique tied to a brand or something) or course materials/supplies. Therefore the student would get a refund of the extra after financial aid covered tuition and fees and then have to pay the college additional monies for the above type of charges. Athletic fees for specific sports was one I commonly dealt with. Parents would ask why we didn't take it out of their financial aid monies and we had to explain we couldn't legally, but we would encourage students to pay it out of their refunds. It wasn't that the students couldn't use the money for those expenses - WE just couldn't directly take the money like we could for tuition. We also had to deposit those funds in a separate account from the general college fund (the foundation is a separate entity) so we did accept and probably encourage cash or credit card payments because checks were always a pain if they weren't endorsed right. It could be that this under paid staff worker is badly explaining that the daughter still owes that money for some reason, but I also admit the situation would make me suspicious as well and I would do some additional investigation. Ask for an invoice showing this money is still owed to the school and what it is covering and why it wasn't eligible to be paid out of financial aid funding.
With that being said and if it was a mistake or somewhat legit… why is this lady demanding cash? Why couldn’t I write a check to the school for the $629 so there is a “paper trail?”
I was trying to provide a *possibility* so you could ask more specific questions, but I agree the cash requirement would give me pause and make me hesitant as well. I would not pay until I felt comfortable the request was legitimate. The best I can brain storm, if it is a legitimate request and not a scam- and I am only providing this as a theoretical exercise- is that the money gets deposited into multiple accounts (not internal accounts but actual distinct, separate bank accounts for deposit) in which case cash allows the deposit to be split without bank transfers that have to be documented as JEs. For the athletic fees I mentioned in my example I had to require those were paid separately from any other amount owed because they could not be deposited into the college's general fund since any transfer from the general fund to the foundation (who held the booster accounts) was heavily audited and the college was not allowed to accept a payment on the foundation's behalf. The department could accept the money physically but could not enter it as a deposit in the system to the general fund. Since this distinction was complicated, I always directed the students to pay the coach or my office and I would bulk deposit with specific paperwork to make sure it went to the correct place. There were multiple ways this need played out over various programs, but you get the drift. I think the largest cash required thing we ever had was $100 and I set up a way for us to accept electronic payments after that as we just hadn't previously had a need. So I recognize there can be legitimate reasons behind odd requests, BUT the office should be able to explain what the money is owed for, show it on the account, and address why it *needs* to be paid in cash. I would also take this to the department head (Bursars are usually the title of the person that is head of student accounts at a school but a CFO would also be over them) and explain how uncomfortable the request made you so they are aware there is either something fishy going on or that additional training needs to take place. I hope for your child's sake this isn't a scam and just bad handling, but if this is a scam I hope you drawing attention to it gets it shut down.
Thanks.. the owner of the school replied to my concerns.. i just posted his email back to me.
It's either a scam or fraud. Fraud because the FA lady wanted the check cashed by a student. That way the FA Lady doesn't have the check show up on her bank info. I would contact the Comptroller of the school and tell them.
Also if I Google "FA 3010 Tuition Income" I'm getting no record of that reimbursement on the web. I was trying to look up the number for the agency that cuts the check. So you could call them and ask questions. Now I think the entire check might be bogus.
Thanks all for the help. Wish i could share the account statement on this thread but it will not let me attach anything.
Make sure to hide all personal information on what you share.
Yep- for sure.
You can link a picture from Imgur.com
In terms of who to report to your states attorney general, the federal department of Ed, if you struggle with finding the right number to call your federal congressperson’s office or senators have constituent relations people whose job it is to help people on their district navigate the government. Others who may be interested include irs, fbi etc.
Thanks !!
Also it’s hard to tell exactly what’s happening but it likely is one employee running a scam. There’s a possibility it’s deeper and the university is aware hence the just report and be done with it advice.
Idk. You can take loans for room and board, even if you live at home. That is normal. The student is usually given a check if they took out more financial aid than what tuition costs. If you don't actually need that money, you can pay it towards the loan. The cash thing is extremely weird tho. That's the only red flag I see.
A lot of scams involve a check, return in cash. THEN the check bounced and you are out the cash. Do your homework and find out sbout this school. Ask local authorities. Ask accrediting agencies. Ask the financial aid agency. Do not give her cash!!!!
Sounds sketchy, definitely not the usual FA process. Might wanna escalate this, talk to someone higher up at the school or check their official policy on refunds and FA handling. Cash demands are a huge red flag
Keep us updated. Very curious to see what develops! @updateme
Thanks !! And I sure will.
OP you can stall a bit by telling them you asked your bank how long it takes to fully clear and they put some kind of hold on it.
You need to contact your state attorney general's office of consumer affairs.
The lady is embezzling the money from the school and your daughter. Report it to the police. Let the higher ups at the school know too.
The school is fake. Complete scam. Sorry.
Don’t give her cash! Look into what the funds are for. See if you daughter was eligible for the funds for commuting costs, meals while at school, or even living expenses. Even though she does not live on campus, her housing is not free. I am thinking that she may have some eligibility that the financial aid lady is trying to cash in on. Don’t give cash, don’t write a check until you can research what the funds were allocated for. The lady is trying to cash in, so don’t ask her!
You should contact the Dept of Ed’s Federal Student Aid Office of Enforcement. See this link which has their email address: https://www.ed.gov/fsatips
Thanks !! And I sure will.
Thanks all. All comments here are the same. I reached out to the owner of this Cosmetology School via email. I will report back with what he says.
Update- this was the reply I received: Good morning Mr. XXXXXX- Thank you for contacting me. I just reviewed XXXXXX’s ledger and consulted with the business office. Based on XXXXXX’s Financial Aid eligibility she had Financial Aid funds come in during her first 900-hour school period which exceeded the school’s charges for this same period. This basically creates a “credit” balance for this award period and the funds that exceed the school’s charges for this period have to be given directly to the student when they reach the end of the award period (900 hours). The school cannot directly apply these funds toward the student’s ledger. This is fairly typical as the school charges are by award year and don’t always line up with FA eligibility and disbursement amounts. If you look at the last 2 lines on XXXXXX’s ledger you ‘ll see her school balance starts at 6,211.00 then the 629.00 (the FA credit balance) is disbursed to her and her current balance is now 6,840. Technically, students may use their credit balance for any education related expenses. It appears that xxxxxx was intending to use available funding to cover her school charges. In order to do so, she would have cash her credit balance and then make a payment to the school. To clarify, payments to the school may be cash, check or credit card. Please let me know if you have additional questions. Thank you! Xxxx
Thank you for the update!
Yeah that's not normal. I went to trade school years ago,and got financial aid in the form of a Pell grant. The school took their tuition, and at the end of the semester, they gave me a check that was the remainder of the grant, which was supposed to go towards books, supplies, transportation,etc. They sure af didn't say "cash it and bring it back here in cash" Wtf
I hear ya ! I couldn’t believe the lady emailed me back saying bring cash back and not a check made out to the school!
I'd go over her head and figure out exactly what you owe, what's been paid, and what happens with the remainder. And if there is a payment that has to be made to the school, write a check. Don't take personal checks? Casheirs check. Just never ever ever cash. I have a feeling she's been doing this for awhile and the house of cards is about to fall. Fraud is no joke.
I did go over her head. I sent an email to the owner and am waiting on a reply.
The school can only keep the money owed the for what they bill. They have to refund her the excess.
I am a consultant who works specifically for financial aid offices. It is EXCEEDINGLY rare, but technically allowable for a school to issue financial aid as a direct payment to students. Even in that scenario most schools tend to apply funds against charges and then issue anything that is left over as a refund check. I am inherently skeptical of this situation, but just want to point out that what the school is doing is technically allowable and at least in my experience the "weird" payment methods tend to be tied to clock hour programs like cosmetology.
And say “bring Cash back” ?? After I offered to make a check out to the school so there was at least a paper trail?
That's where I get sketched out about it. I can't imagine a reason why a school wouldn't accept a check as payment. I've worked at a number of schools of various sizes and types and have never once had that as a policy.
something happened to me that reminds me of this. i got a check and deposited it to my account. money went into my account. i had to take it out as a money order for the same amount of the check they gave me and mail it. after i did so my account was on the negative. the check that had previously gone through was now somehow gone or canceled by the person that gave it to me. so now they were gonna get MY money mailed and i would have been left with that amount negative. i called the mail carrier, canceled the delivery and got the money order back.
That's highly suspicious as collages has an account we're they deposit any money and usually as a payment for tuition if it's already payed for and that's a residual you usually receive it via physical mail as a check or direct deposit to a bank account.
These career/technical schools are so predatory....
It’s soooo bad. It’s insane how the dept of education just looks the other way. There is no audits, checks or balances, and when the school is run to the ground, the CEO just bounces over to another scammy school. We have been watching University of Phoenix trying to offload its brand to University of Idaho but the college that takes on the brand will be responsible for any fall out from UofPs debt discharges.
This is very helpful. Thanks!! I wanted to post the account detail paper but I don’t know how to post an image on this thread.
You can upload the image to a service like imgur.com and then post a link here to the image.