High School Senior Promised College Scholarship in Kindergarten Now Told She Can’t Have It

High school senior, Ynette Lopez was promised a college scholarship in 2007 not she’s been told she can’t have it. According to WSVN, Lopez was promised the tuition costs from an organization when she was a kindergartner at Hibiscus Elementary School.

“They stated that each kid would receive $3,000 per year for whatever four-year college or university for Florida only,” Lopez’s mother, Zondra Aimes said. She added that she signed a contract with the foundation, I Have a Dream, which promised her daughter would work extra hard in school in order to receive the scholarship. When Lopez and her family relocated from Miami Gardens to Broward County around the time she was in middle school, the organization assured her and her mother that it was “fine” and she’d still get the scholarship she was promised.

Upon investigating the situation further, Aimes was given two different reasons by two different people as to why her daughter was disqualified. One said it was due to the move, while another said it was because they “did not keep up with the program.”

“Legally, this is really tricky, because the contract is not clear, and there is wiggle room for both sides,” legal expert Howard Finkelstein told the local outlet upon reading the contract from the I Have a Dream Foundation. “The foundation has a strong argument, because after Ynette moved, she did not go to any of their programs, and Zondra said she only contacted them every year or two. But favoring Ynette is that she got great grades, did volunteer work and became the kind of student the scholarship was created for.” 

I Have a Dream Foundation Miami chapter head Stephanie Trump stated that 21 kids moved out of the area following the promise, but Lopez is the only one to not get the scholarship. Trump said she didn’t hear from Zondra Aimes since the family moved in 2014. Despite the situation, which almost bares an uncomfortable resemblance to Scott’s Tots from The Office, Lopez is currently applying for scholarships at numerous colleges.