The scholarship snafu at Florida State College at Jacksonville seems to have finally been solved.
On Tuesday, members of the FSCJ board of trustees voted to take money from a scholarship fund that currently has about $6.5 million in it to pay off $4.2 million in mistakenly-awarded Pell grants and $0.8 million in ineligible loans. Five percent of the fund, or approximately $325,000 is used for need-based scholarships annually. The money in that fund comes from things on campus like the book store, vending machines, and food services. There are no taxpayer dollars or tuition dollars being used to pay off the debt.
The other options on the table at Tuesday's meeting were to either just write the debt off or continue asking students to pay it off, which interim president Willis Holcombe says "does not accurately reflect the college's role in the Pell Grant/SAP issues."
Originally, the school had sent invoices to 1,331 students asking them to pay off the portion of the pell grants they mistakenly received. This did not sit well with many students on campus, prompting many to come to board meetings to voice their opinions.
So far 180 students have already paid the school back a total of about $300,000. Holcome says those students will be reimbursed.
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