Tuition Payment Issue

A

ArmyDad2026

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Joined
Mar 1, 2022
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14
My son is a 4 year Army ROTC scholarship recipient and is in his sophomore year. First three semesters in and tuition was paid without issue. For some reason this semester the tuition payment paid the balance AFTER his student loan disbursement essentially shorting his full tuition payment a few thousand dollars. He has reached out to HR but the answer he is getting is that there isn’t anything he can do and has to pay this out of pocket. This can’t possibly be correct given it is a full tuition scholarship and I am curious if anyone else has encountered this and what can be done? His first two semesters a student loan (this is for room and board by the way) was also disbursed and reflected on his tuition statement that he submits for payment and the payment was made for the proper amount of his full tuition so we are very confused. Any insight is appreciated!
 
HR meaning the HR person from the AROTC unit who assist to process these payments? I would immediately contact the bursar's office of the school to in writing advise you have a full tuition scholarship, and that the loan moneys are expressly intended for use for room and board. Document all interactions to date and here forward. Ask the bursar to make the adjustment and timebox the need. Your son should also work with the HR person/ his chain of command to share he has ensured the loan moneys went to room and board with the bursar, and ask them to ensure the full tuition bill is paid for this semester from the government/ scholarship. Recommendation here is to stay cool, not go all edgy on the HR person, but to ask for help calmly and to discuss this with his chain of command go to, also. This sounds fixable but only if you take the right steps. Your son should not be penalized/ the Army should ultimately honor their commitment to cover tuition and fees - I believe "nothing can be done" is incorrect. Good luck.
 
Thanks for the reply and insight we have spoken to the bursars office and early on let them know that the loan disbursements are expressly for room and board. They do still apply them to his account and they show up on the tuition statement. However the university is very patient with the scholarship disbursements as well since they know they will get paid ultimately. He is meeting with his Army HR person today and I agree with keeping the tone civil…for now at least! 🤣 I am trying to stay out of it for now and just provide some guidance. Thx again!!
 
While this is from an NROTC perspective, university processes work similarly for all branches of service. What tends to happen is the service branch HR person sends a request to the Bursar's office asking for an invoice for tuition. If there is a new Bursar's assistant or someone not familiar with ROTC, they "assume" all student loan monies apply to tuition. So they send the "balance" invoice and that is what the Army pays.

For this to get fixed, the university needs to send an amended invoice with a balance due. Then the Army can process the payment. For anyone reading this, this is why it helps to work with the university's Veteran Affairs office. They know the right lingo to use and can send the correct verbiage so that Bursar's Office understands.
 
GWU PNS (emeritus) said:
While this is from an NROTC perspective, university processes work similarly for all branches of service. What tends to happen is the service branch HR person sends a request to the Bursar's office asking for an invoice for tuition. If there is a new Bursar's assistant or someone not familiar with ROTC, they "assume" all student loan monies apply to tuition. So they send the "balance" invoice and that is what the Army pays.

For this to get fixed, the university needs to send an amended invoice with a balance due. Then the Army can process the payment. For anyone reading this, this is why it helps to work with the university's Veteran Affairs office. They know the right lingo to use and can send the correct verbiage so that Bursar's Office understands.
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Thank you so much for this info! I will have him reach out and mention this to Bursars office!
 
Update to this issue. My son Is being told by his Army HR person that there is no way to have the balance of the tuition paid. Apparently when the army receives the invoice that is provided from the bursars office, when it reflects “Student Aid” the Army assumes it is a grant, even though it is a student loan. So he is effectively shorted $3200 of his scholarship because they are unwilling to understand this fact. He still applies for a small student loan each year to cover his room and board so it’s incredibly frustrating that we are encountering this. I am working on trying to find a contact at his school, (University of Florida) also wondered if anyone else has had issues like this before and where they went for help? Thanks in advance.
 
ArmyDad2026 said:
Update to this issue. My son Is being told by his Army HR person that there is no way to have the balance of the tuition paid. Apparently when the army receives the invoice that is provided from the bursars office, when it reflects “Student Aid” the Army assumes it is a grant, even though it is a student loan. So he is effectively shorted $3200 of his scholarship because they are unwilling to understand this fact. He still applies for a small student loan each year to cover his room and board so it’s incredibly frustrating that we are encountering this. I am working on trying to find a contact at his school, (University of Florida) also wondered if anyone else has had issues like this before and where they went for help? Thanks in advance.
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We ran into this issue this fall with my DD. Luckily the Army HR person processing the paperwork advised her to not take the tuition and instead take the room and board part of the scholarship. I am not sure what changed, but last year they paid the full tuition even though her financial aide and scholarships were listed. He also let us know that the room and board portion of the scholarship had been increased to $6000. In my DD case the $6000 room and board was greater than her tuition balance. I guess it would depend on how expensive tuition is at each school, but for her the room and board was the better choice.
 
ArmyDad2026 said:
Update to this issue. My son Is being told by his Army HR person that there is no way to have the balance of the tuition paid. Apparently when the army receives the invoice that is provided from the bursars office, when it reflects “Student Aid” the Army assumes it is a grant, even though it is a student loan. So he is effectively shorted $3200 of his scholarship because they are unwilling to understand this fact. He still applies for a small student loan each year to cover his room and board so it’s incredibly frustrating that we are encountering this. I am working on trying to find a contact at his school, (University of Florida) also wondered if anyone else has had issues like this before and where they went for help? Thanks in advance.
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Seems as though the HR person could explain how the loan should be "reported" so that Army covers the full tuition. Surely your situation is not unique. If he/she can't, then try Cadet Command.
 
kinnem said:
Seems as though the HR person could explain how the loan should be "reported" so that Army covers the full tuition. Surely your situation is not unique. If he/she can't, then try Cadet Command.
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Yes I agree not sure what makes this unique aside from the fact that we are out of state. We do utilize small student loans each semester. I have been in contact with Bursars office and there appears to be a massive disconnect between the military payment process and how the universities invoice for payment. It worked the last three semesters but not for this one. I was on a long call with the Bursars office and they are supposed to be interfacing the correct parties to try and resolve but man what a loggerhead!

If I did need to reach out to cadet command is there a particular phone or email that I should use? My son has been trying to resolve this himself but I’m trying to take it off his plate.
 
Quick update! Bursars office was able to be updated on billing procedures and recieved quick payments. Thanks for all the advice! This was really a Bursars office issue but it really helped for the VA liaison to ensure they understood what was going in. What I can say is my son recieved great help from his Army HR and leadership!

This can be a frustrating thing for a parent when universities put holds on account but I am always impressed with how great the Army leadership is with assisting him!

Thanks again everyone!!
 
ArmyDad2026 said:
Quick update! Bursars office was able to be updated on billing procedures and recieved quick payments. Thanks for all the advice! This was really a Bursars office issue but it really helped for the VA liaison to ensure they understood what was going in. What I can say is my son recieved great help from his Army HR and leadership!

This can be a frustrating thing for a parent when universities put holds on account but I am always impressed with how great the Army leadership is with assisting him!

Thanks again everyone!!
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The BEST thing here is that you took the time to come back and let us know how things worked out. All too often we hear of an issue and give advice but we never know if the advice turned out to be any good.

Good on you for slugging it out with the Bursar and for working with Veteran affairs because they are the continuity at the college and can make sure this doesn't happen again.

Hopefully the unit HR person learns that simply telling someone there is no way to fix the issue is a weak answer.

Glad it worked out for you.
 
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