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UCLA accidentally direct deposits duplicate financial aid checks to some students

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UCLA issued duplicate financial aid checks to about 7,000 students by mistake last week, but now those students have to give it back.

In some cases, this meant windfalls of anywhere from $400 to $10,000 or more. About a thousand students returned the money immediately after they noticed they’d gotten more financial aid than they’d expected for the spring quarter.

The university says it e-mailed students Thursday about the error, reportedly caused by a communication glitch between two student billing systems. Since then, UCLA Student Financial Services has recovered about 99 percent of the duplicate payments.

Students who do not return their payments will not be allowed to register for classes in the coming month, and a hold will be played on all their university accounts.

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The campus controller has issued a statement of apology for any inconvenience, confusion and frustration this situation may have caused students.

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