Hazing scholarship was a scam, officials urge caution

Alana Hill thought she was being helpful.

In an attempt to aid fellow members pay for school the ASUSU assistant director of student involvement sent out an email to the Greek community last month.

But the email — about an anti-hazing scholarship —was quickly caught and recognized as a scam.

“To be honest I did not have any idea,” Hill said.

Hill’s recipients weren’t alone. Many employees received the pitch, which asked applicants to write and essay and include a $5 submission fee.

“I became curious because I received several of the messages in spite of not being in a position at the university that has anything to do with scholarships or other academic matters,” said Bob Bayn, of the USU information technology security team.

Patti Kohler, USU’s scholarship coordinator, said there is no way to know how many students actually received emails from their advisers and applied for the scholarship because they would have done so independently.

The email may have been particularly well targeted to USU students, even if it that wasn’t the scammer’s specific intent. Hazing awareness has been at the forefront of USU’s agenda since the death of Michael Starks in 2008.

Kohler does not think that these two things are related. “I’d be surprised if they even knew about Mike Starks, they probably just chose something that sounded noble and cold and applicable and then sent it by email to tens of thousands of people,” she said.

Students should always be wary of scholarships which require an application fee, Kohler said.

An email was sent to USU employees warning them about the legitimacy of the scholarship. Mark Kantrowitz, founder of finaid.org, called this a “promotional scholarship.”

Promotional scholarships are publicity attempts by the sponsor’s commercial website, Bayn said.

There is no reason to believe students have lost their faith in the USU scholarship office, or the IT department, Bayn said.

“Each applicant loses $5 at most. And, to the credit of the scholarship program, the applicant does need to find the university's hazing policy and submit a copy with their application,” he said. “So the applicant does gain some awareness of the hazing policy at USU, even if they aren't likely to win a randomly drawn scholarship.”

Students are cautioned by university officials to use good judgment when applying for scholarships.

Riley Jo Justesen, the Alpha Chi Omega membership programmer, said her sorority had received the email to apply for the scholarship. Justesen said she even started to apply for the scholarship, but did not get far enough to pay the fee.

“I just know that people need to be really careful,” Justesen said, “because you know scholarships are a good way for people to scam people these days.”

Justesen said that at least four of her sorority sisters applied for the scholarship last semester. She was not sure how many more sisters applied this semester.

“I honestly got it forwarded from admissions,” Justesen said. “I got a forward from some other folks in student services and just passed it along.”

Justesen said the scholarship felt legitimate because it had been sent to her by so many different university instructors and employees.

“USU cannot thoroughly evaluate all scholarship offerings that students may encounter,” Bayn said.

David Thomas, Brie Geller, Mackinzie Hamilton, Marissa Shields, Ashley Howell and Danielle Manley contributed to this report.