what to do if someone is using education grants for things other than education?
ByI know someone in CA that has been using her education grants from CA for things other than education. Like a boob job. Is there a law about that or any way she could get in trouble for it?
She isnt working and and owes some money for school.
When the school receives the grant funding, they first deduct what they need for the school bill to be paid (Tuition, etc.). The grant money leftover from that is then sent to the student in the form of a check, but this does not mean the student can use this money for whatever they want. It must be used for education-related expenses such as rent, books, travel expenses for getting to and from school, personal expenses such as shampoo and laundry detergent, and school supplies. Spending financial aid grants on something like a boob job is illegal, but there’s not an easy way to catch it unless she were to tell a financial aid officer that she’s doing that.
Financial aid advisor, 2 years
6 Comments
July 5th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
As long as she is paying her tuition and fees and any other mandatory charges and has met any criteria that the grant has mandated, the remaining would be her refund to assist with expenses. It is her option on how the funds would be spent. If the grant was sent to the school, they would only disburse the rest to the student once all the school’s charges had been paid. If she got the funds and did not give it to the school to pay her charges, she will be dismissed and still owe the money to the school.
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July 5th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
It’s going to be pretty obvious to the school that she’s not paying for her classes and they’ll demand all the money back. They’ll send collection agencies after her and it’ll really hurt her credit score.
But, yes, this counts as fraud and it is illegal. She is using money for purposes other than what they are intended for and she would have had to lie to the government in order to get the money in the first place. NOTE: if the money she is using is just refunds and her schooling has already been paid for then she can legally do what she likes with it.
If you want to report her you can use this: https://www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/fraudnet.cgi
You can identify yourself as anonymous so she won’t find out who tipped them off.
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July 5th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Yes, it is her option on how to spend that as long as all other fees have been payed
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July 6th, 2009 at 12:08 am
The money that she is receiving is a check that comes when most of the money has been spent on her classes, and that is the money that is left over for living expenses/college materials. If she is also working full time while in school, it’d be kind of hard to prove what she is using the money on. When my financial aid guy was talking to me about those checks, he said it is to be used on college expenses only which can include rent, internet, a new computer, childcare, etc. I also work FT so hypothetically, how would they know if I spent $1,000 on a TV from my check from the school, or my money from my paychecks? I usually use my school money to pay my bills, and my checks from working to get out of debt/save for a house.
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me
July 6th, 2009 at 12:58 am
When the school receives the grant funding, they first deduct what they need for the school bill to be paid (Tuition, etc.). The grant money leftover from that is then sent to the student in the form of a check, but this does not mean the student can use this money for whatever they want. It must be used for education-related expenses such as rent, books, travel expenses for getting to and from school, personal expenses such as shampoo and laundry detergent, and school supplies. Spending financial aid grants on something like a boob job is illegal, but there’s not an easy way to catch it unless she were to tell a financial aid officer that she’s doing that.
Financial aid advisor, 2 years
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July 6th, 2009 at 1:43 am
The school takes out money for tution and fees. The rest goes to the student as a refund. She can use it for whatever she wants. Trust me, no one gets the grant money without the school handling it first. If she feels that’s what she needs, then she can get ‘em.
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