Refund Refunds

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Irregular News for 11.22.06

 

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.

 

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