Confusing/Weird Scholarship

[Aightynine]

Today, I received a letter from my University's financial aid office. It starts off saying, "You have been awarded [scholarship name] for the 2010-2011 academic year. This scholarship is awarded to students at [University] who have displayed meritorious achievement and are members of Delta Delta Delta."

I never joined Delta Delta Delta.

The other weird thing is, I'm pretty sure I'm supposed to manually accept awards/loans--but this one was accepted automatically. Though it does explain why, a little while ago, I owed my school negative money.

I know that it's free money, and I probably shouldn't complain--except, since I never joined Delta Delta Delta, it's entirely possible that it's some sort of mistake. If so, when someone realizes it, I'm going to have to give it back anyway, right?

What should I do? Should I just smile and nod and accept the money, or should I try to give it back? Does anyone else have weird scholarship/financial aid stories?

[Izawwlgood]

You should make sure it's not a scam first.

[Aightynine]

You should make sure it's not a scam first.

I thought of that...the thing is, it's not just a random letter from Delta Delta Delta, it's actually from my school. And it is listed among my other loans/scholarships on the website my school has for students to check financial aid stuffs. So if it is a scam, it's a really elaborate one (and kind of a scary one, for that matter). I really do want to call my financial aid office, though. (And of course this had to happen on a Saturday....)

[Izawwlgood]

I'd be weary of organizations that accepted you without you applying to them. That said, it DDD may just be some kind of honors society that students are auto enrolled in for a certain GPA or something. But yeah, confirm with the financial aid office before interacting with the scholarship at all.

[Aightynine]

Hmm...I searched my school's website; it's listed as an inactive Greek Life chapter. Apparently that doesn't mean it's gone, necessarily, but it's still pretty sketchy. 0.o

[Dopefish]

Occasionally schools/departments will change the requirements for a particular scholarship without changing the descriptions, so it could be fine. I recently recived an award that the description says is for first years, but I'm almost done my 3rd year, but after talking to the relevent people it turns out they got rid of the first year requirement, but haven't updated the description yet.

In any case, just speak to the appropriate people and they can sort out if it's a mistake or not.

[Bakemaster]

I used to work as the scholarship and grant administrator in a college financial aid office, so believe me when I say that you will potentially make that person's job a lot easier by calling up or walking in and saying, hey, what's up with this award that I didn't expect and don't understand? If you're not supposed to have the money, it will be taken away regardless of what you do. If you're supposed to have the money, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing it's not going to vanish. And it's never a bad idea to develop a friendly relationship with the people who work in registration and financial aid at your college. If we know you and like you (and as long as you're friendly and polite, we like you - your peers probably aren't setting too high a bar, to be honest), we will work hard for you when you're having a problem. Not only that, you'll feel more comfortable about dropping by to get help when you need it. Win-win.