Legal Question in Education Law in Wisconsin

Re: Scholar Award amount actually less than offered - am I entitled to the full

I am not admitted to practice in your state, so I cannot offer legal advice, just comment on the nature of law in generalities and how it might play out in my jurisdiction.

A scholarship is generally a gift, not a contract. As no one has a right to demand another give them a gift, there seems to be little to force the scholarship grantor(s) to award the full scholarship to either of you, nor is there anything to force them to double their gift.

If the scholarship is awarded only upon perfomance of some specified task(s) however, it may be seen as an invitation to contract extended to the general public or a segment of the public. One accepts the contract by tendering the specified performance. Ususally such contracts are couched in terms that allow only one person to accept the contract by performance and by communicating that performance to the offeror. Bounties on bringing a criminal into custody would be an example. First person to bring the criminal into custody of the authorities wins.

Unless there is some specific performance required by the scholarship, and that performance is something other than what could be expected of a student in general, it is unlikely that it would be seen as a contract.

The last possibility is that the scholarship application and rules created an express contract. If that is found to be the case, the contract can be specifically enforced- in other words, they can be legally compelled to pay the scholarship exactly as indicated in the contract. I think that this is unlikely.

To be sure of your status, you should contact an attorney admitted to the Wisconsin bar, give her/him all the materials you recieved in connection with the scholarship, including your application and any correspondence you received, and let her/him examine these possibilities under the specific provisions of Wisconsin law. Be sure to ask the attorney if they will examine the case for free, or a small fee. If they want a large retainer up front before evaluation of the case, I'd keep looking. Most good attorneys want to know what they are getting themselves into before they quote a fee. It's the best way to be fair to the attorney and the client. Good luck