college error in courses required, lawsuit

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Question

Country: United States of America
State: New York

I was awarded a scholarship upon my acceptance in college 5 years ago - in 2000, my college is located in New Jersey and the statutory maximum is 6 years, so I still have time to bring up my case, however, I wanted to find out if it has merit. The award letter I received provided for $5,000 per year for 4 years - during 2 of the academic years, I was only enrolled for 1 semester and thus, ended up getting only half of that $5,000 because the school split the total into 2 for 2 semesters, so I'm wondering if they can do that and essentially, do I have a case for the $5,000 that I've missed. The other problem I have with them is that due to a faulty Application for Candidacy form of theirs with the incomplete list of courses needed for completing the degree requirements, I wasn't able to graduate when I was supposed to and was delayed by a emester. The school ended up paying for the extra coursework and the fees but did not reimburse me for my living expenses (and I'm n ot a local resident), so my other question is whether I can sue them for punitive damages or is that not possible after I accepted the payment for the fees and coursework?

Answer

You may be able to sue for the costs of having to stay longer--you would have to show that living costs were more than you would have had somewhere else etc.--we do not think you can likely get back the 5000.