Athletic Scholship Fraud: Coach Forced Me To Send Scholarship Money To My Brother

Location: Kansas

Hey everyone, I have a complicated situation that involves athletic scholarship fraud. I’ve reached out to the university and multiple lawyers over the past two months but haven’t heard back, so I’m hoping for guidance on how to move forward. This took place during Fall 2019- Spring 2021

Background:

I attended a university in Kansas as an out-of-state student. My brother (two years older) attended at the same time. We were both on athletic scholarships — mine was $3,000, and his was a full ride worth $16,000.

Prior to my sophomore year, the university introduced a program that gave in-state tuition to certain out-of-state students, reducing tuition from $16K to $8K. However, my brother didn’t qualify because he was a student-athlete with a GPA under 3.0 (the program required a 3.0 GPA for athletes, but had no GPA requirement for non-athletes).

To get around this, our track coach removed my brother’s athletic scholarship, making him eligible for the discounted in-state tuition. The coach then took $8,000 from my brother’s revoked scholarship (originally 16k) and added it to mine — without consulting either of us. I was then told to pay that $8,000 to my brother to cover his tuition. This arrangement went on for four semesters.

This setup saved the track team 8k and a scholarship slot but forced my brother and me into a financial and contractual agreement we never consented to.

Long-Term Consequences:

I wanted to pursue a nursing degree, but was told it wasn’t possible due to conflicting schedules between track and nursing. I would have quit the team, but I couldn’t because my brother’s tuition was tied to my scholarship through this illegal arrangement.

I ended up graduating with a degree I didn’t want and have never used. I had to enroll in nursing school after obtaining my first degree.

I now have student loans from that first degree, and my brother has loans from when I eventually left the team and he no longer had any aid.

It caused long-term financial and emotional damage to both of us and created a lot of conflict in our family.

Evidence I Have:

A handwritten financial breakdown of the arrangement on stationery stamped with the coach’s name.

Scholarship forms showing my scholarship increase coincided with my brother’s loss.

Bank statements showing I received scholarship money and then promptly transferred the scholarship money to my brother.

Texts from coaching staff:

Pressuring me to stay on the team to protect my brother’s tuition when I wanted to quit to pursue nursing.

Suggesting I abuse COVID-19 policies to stay on scholarship without competing due to “personal health concerns.”

Is there any legal recourse here?

Could we push for loan forgiveness or compensation based on the misrepresentation and coercion?

Are there state or federal agencies, or NCAA channels, that I should report this to?

I’ve contacted:

The university’s legal office

Head of Student Affairs

Head of Financial Aid None have responded in over two months.

I know this is complex, but I believe this arrangement violates university policy, federal aid rules, and NCAA regulations. I’d appreciate any advice or next steps from anyone here.

Thanks for your time.