UVa student tries to get tuition paid for on eBay

By AARON LEE
Media General News Service
Published: August 21, 2008

Zack Ketz will start classes at the University of Virginia this fall and it’s unlikely the “imaginary people on the Internet” will foot the bill.

But Ketz tried.

His proposal was basically this: eBay customers would vie for the chance to pay for one year of the Norfolk resident’s college tuition.

In return, Ketz would become an advertising testament to the winner’s philanthropy.

The bidding started in late July and ended on Aug. 8 at $152.50.

Now there’s roughly $22,000 to go to cover this year’s tuition, the move to Charlottesville and other expenses, Ketz estimates.

The 30-year-old said he’ll spread out the remainder of the tab over four loans so he can study studio art with a concentration in cinematography.

Ketz has an associate’s degree from Tidewater Community College and he works full-time repairing and demonstrating electric wheelchairs. He said he
lives “paycheck to paycheck” and didn’t take time to apply for scholarships and grants to pay for UVa tuition.

“Why should I just give into the system,“ Ketz said of his plan. “Why don’t I at least make an effort to do something different?“

But his plan has drawn detractors.

A Web site called “College On The Record” listed Ketz’s auction as No. 1 on its list of “Top 5 College Scams.“ Add to that the person who wrote Ketz and told him to get a “real job,“ he said.

Ketz brushes aside the list and remark. “It’s just imaginary people on the Internet,“ he said.

It was Virginia Beach resident Tom Beacham, a friend of Ketz’s dad, who won the bid.

“It was ingenious on his part,” Beacham said of Ketz’s auction. “I think it adds a little comical side to [paying for college].”

For winning, Beacham is entitled to have Ketz wear a shirt at least once a week that says “Tom Beacham sent me to college.”

Beacham is also privy to copies of Ketz’s report cards, if he chooses. But Beacham told Ketz that he didn’t have to do any of that, requesting only that the
new Wahoo remember to shed a tear at Beacham’s funeral, Ketz said.

“That’s the least I can do, right?” Ketz said of Beacham, 57, who reports being in “excellent health.”

Aaron Lee is a staff writer for Media General’s Charlottesville Daily Progress.