[Oasfaa] Minor Student Question

[kevin miller]

we have just been confronted with a scenario from last year of a student
who turned 18 on 8/29/01, our registration day for classes was 8/27/01.
she signed her registration contract (promise to pay her account) during
our june 2001 registration day, so she was 17 at the time, and she also
would have been 17 on our registration day.

long story short, she withdrew at some point during the semester without
official notification, so per return of title IV requirements we
withdrew her at the 50% mark of the semester and adjusted her aid
accordingly, pell and seog only.  the student did not take any loans.
she of course was, and still is, upset that she now has a $4,000 balance
with us and has refused to pay.  we just recently received a letter from
her attorneys stating that since she was a minor at the time of the
signing of her registration contract (june 2001) she was therefore
unable to legally enter in to any contract agreement.  again, she would
have been a minor on our school's official registration day, as well.

this is the first time we have encountered anything like this that
anyone here can remember, and while this may not directly be spoken to
in the financial aid regs (in regards to a school's registration
contract), we thought many of you would have some advice or direction on
how best we can resolve this.  it just can't be that "easy" to get out
of it for the student.

this issue of course would have been just as important had she signed
her perkins promissory note or MPN.  does it need to be a practice that
for those students who don't turn 18 till late, that they either must
wait to sign promissory notes (loans included) until after they are 18,
or require a parent signature if it is done before the student's
birthday?

we would be interested in any and all info on this, we're sure larger
schools deal with issues like this on a more regular basis.  thanks for
your time...

kevin miller
Oklahoma Wesleyan University