a lot of the reason it has always been a problem was instead of putting the pre paid funds in to a seperate account which they could not touch except for the current months payment, they put it all in the same account as the general funds (aka bill gray's (when he was there for 10+ years) and len's piggy bank) and spend it as if it were theirs - which really, it is not, not until the incidentals or tuition is due for that month...
if they would have done that, it shouldn't have ever been a problem refunding monies that were rightfully due...BUT...well, you know the rest...