Tuition Payment Errors Add Up to Big Bucks

Hundreds of millions of dollars spent on Post-9/11 G.I. Bill payments is being lost due to mishandling and errors, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of the Inspector General. The VAOIG recently evaluated the Veterans Benefits Administration to see if payments were being made correctly.

In one year alone, the VBA was responsible for $5.2 billion in tuition and fee payments for

* It was 20th-century American journalist and author Sydney J. Harris who made the following sage observation: “Men make counterfeit money; in many more cases, money makes counterfeit men.”

* The Hawaiian Islands didn’t have mosquitoes until the 1820s, when a ship evidently brought the pests along with the people.

* Those who study such things claim that, generally speaking, the more money a man makes, the less alcohol he drinks. With women, though,

796,000 students. The VAOIG picked 225 students at 50 schools, totaling $1.7 million in payments, to double-check.

One problem it found is that the VBA must rely on enrollment information provided by the schools, which sometimes submitted incorrect information. Is it a regular college or a community college? Tuition varies. How many times does the school let a student attempt to pass a class? One small item (until you add it all up) is the cost of books. VBA can’t tell whether it’s paying for supported or unsupported services, supplies and books, and generally it just pays the bill without asking. VAOIG’s suggestions were to reach out to the schools to ask for complete certifications, revise the handbook used by those who cut the checks and develop a

the opposite holds true: The more money she makes, the more alcohol she drinks.

* The name of the nation of India is derived from the name of the river Indus. It’s interesting to note, however, that the Indus doesn’t actually flow through any part of modern-day India; it’s in Pakistan and the disputed region of Kashmir.

* The snapping turtle is the only modern reptile that can breathe underwater, and then only if it stays put on the bottom. If it starts to swim, it has to surface to breathe.

* A researcher named Joel Achenbach says that the red in the occurrence of red eye in some photographs is actually blood. The color comes from the flash reflecting off the way to check for satisfactory completion of classes (or at least remaining academically eligible), enrollment status, duplicate information on students and repeated classes.

The bottom line: Of the $5.2 billion in tuition and fee payments for one year, the VAOIG calculated that $247 million was lost in improper payments, and more than $205 million was lost in missed recoupments (getting the money back in case of overpayment). Doing the math, the VAOIG concluded that, if things don’t change, the VBA could lose $1.2 billion in improper payments and $1 billion in missed recoupments over the next five years. That’s a lot of money that could be sending others to school. (c) 2016 King Features Syndicate Inc. blood vessels in the back of the eyeball.

* You might be surprised to learn that of the 6 million parts that make up a Boeing 747, half of them are categorized as fasteners.

* It would take 34 days (and nights) to ride a horse around the world. If you didn’t stop for sleep, of course. Or bathroom breaks, or food. And if you were provided a fresh horse whenever the one you were riding began to tire. And if those horses could gallop across water.

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Thought for the Day:

“I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.” — John Cage (c) 2016 King Features Syndicate Inc.