Lourdes Lurigados knows the value of time.
“Time is money,” she said.
The small business owner stays busy with her two boys. Both had PayPams accounts, the online program used by Miami-Dade Public Schools to process credit cards, allowing parents to easily deposit money for their children to use to pay for school meals.
“It was simple,” she said of the process. “Used a credit card, I believe they charged a fee per transaction, and then I didn’t end up using it.”
When one of the boys transferred out of the school system, Lurigados said she went online to try to get a refund for the $20 she had in the account.
“It said to contact this department of school nutrition,” she said, saying the process of getting a refund seemed vague and cumbersome.
“Which is why I dismissed it and said ‘forget it,’” she said. “It’s just not worth the time.”
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NBC 6 Responds found hers is one of 11,914 inactive student accounts in the Miami-Dade Public School System with $90,081 waiting to be claimed.
“I’m surprised at the amount,” Lourdes said. “I’m not surprised that others didn’t pursue it either.”
In Broward County Public Schools, which uses the online platform MySchoolBucks to process deposits, there is even more money waiting for parents. The district reports $196,762 is sitting in 47,067 inactive student accounts.
“Even if it’s just sitting there, why is it sitting there?” Lourdes questioned. “It’s something that I think we definitely need to know – what is happening with the money?”
Both districts told NBC 6 Responds the money will stay in those accounts indefinitely – until either a refund is requested or the money is transferred to a sibling’s account. The school districts – and not PayPams or MySchoolBucks – handle refund requests because that’s where the money ends up after the online platforms process the payments.
Lourdes, meanwhile, had to request a refund directly from her son’s former school, in person. She feels the refund process should be simplified.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s 90,000 or 50,000 or 4 dollars,” she said. “It’s money that was paid out and money that should have been returned as easily as it was taken.”
To get a refund from an inactive student meal account in Miami-Dade Public Schools, contact the district’s Dept. of Food and Nutrition at 786-275-0400.
A spokesperson told NBC 6 Responds for all student cafeteria account refunds of $25 or less, the school site cafeteria manager will provide a refund in cash to the parent. For all refunds over $25, when a parent requests a refund, a check will be drafted through the school’s main office.
Broward County Public Schools said the Food and Nutrition Services Department is working with MySchoolBucks to develop letters that would be sent out at the end of the school year to families with inactive accounts. The letters would include information about balances and how to obtain a refund. Parents/guardians in Broward may contact their child’s school or the Food and Nutrition Services Department directly to request a refund by calling 754-321-0215.
