ODU asking students to return mistaken refunds of about $323,000
By the Associated Press
November 20, 2006
NORFOLK, Va. -- A computer glitch erroneously refunded dozens of Old Dominion University students thousands of dollars, and now the school is asking for the money back.

School officials said 55 students are being told they must reimburse the school a total of about $323,000.

"Some of the students did not take this very well," President Roseann Runte said during a meeting of the executive committee of the Board of Visitors on Monday.

Robert Fenning, vice president for administration and finance, said some students owe as little as $1,000 while some owe up to $15,000. Some of the students had asked about the checks, but were told they were legitimate, Fenning said.

Officials said the affected students began as out-of-state students, who pay higher tuition than in-state students, and later switched their residences to Virginia. When the student records software was upgraded, it read the new addresses and applied them retroactively, issuing refund checks to those it perceived as having overpaid.

The error was discovered in August after another software upgrade, but it had been happening since last year, Fenning said. The school checked all the records and sent letters to the affected students earlier this month.

Repayment plans are being worked out, officials said.

Information from: The Virginian-Pilot, http://www.pilotonline.com

Yeah right. Let Howard try some stuff like that back, they aren't getting a dime of it back, no matter what they try. It's not the students' fault that ODU messed up.

quote:

Originally posted by RA:
Yeah right. Let Howard try some stuff like that back, they aren't getting a dime of it back, no matter what they try. It's not the students' fault that ODU messed up.

I know right can you imagine the kid that got the 15k...you know he's pushing somthing..payment plan hail..they better write it off as a loss

^^ Pretty much. Good thing for ODU they are state supported.

Interesting. I bet they make those students pay it back.

quote:

Originally posted by THE DREAMER:
Interesting. I bet they make those students pay it back.

They are trying to, they have set up payment plans for them..

quote:

Originally posted by Baby Boy:

quote:

Originally posted by RA:
Yeah right. Let Howard try some stuff like that back, they aren't getting a dime of it back, no matter what they try. It's not the students' fault that ODU messed up.

I know right can you imagine the kid that got the 15k...you know he's pushing somthing..payment plan hail..they better write it off as a loss

If it is not your money and you know the source...you need to return the money. You should never have spent the money that was given to you erroneously when you knew it in the first place.

quote:

Originally posted by Captain Silver:

quote:

Originally posted by Baby Boy:

quote:

Originally posted by RA:
Yeah right. Let Howard try some stuff like that back, they aren't getting a dime of it back, no matter what they try. It's not the students' fault that ODU messed up.

I know right can you imagine the kid that got the 15k...you know he's pushing somthing..payment plan hail..they better write it off as a loss

If it is not your money and you know the source...you need to return the money. You should never have spent the money that was given to you erroneously when you knew it in the first place.

In all honesty I really don't think they knew it was an error and how do we know that they didn't try to give it back but was told it was theirs...Money appears once in my checking account I tried a whole year to return it and they kept saying it was mine..I finanly spent it

I would just call this a "BLESSING IN DISGUISE!"