Friday, November 24, 2006

"Some of the students did not take this very well"

There was a little problem reported at Old Dominion University. A computer glitch erroneously refunded dozens of students thousands of dollars. And now the school is asking for the money back. School officials said that 55 students are being told they must reimburse the school a total of about $323,000.00.


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

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.


HT to Stickyminds