Students can disregard the hope of getting free tuition if they get hit by a Wolfline bus. The Wolfline rumor is false, according to Catherine Reeve, director of the Department of Transportation.
“There’s nothing that I’ve ever heard that is specifically: ‘You get hit by a bus, you get free tuition,’” Reeve said. “There’s nothing in writing, practice or history that we know of.”
Reeves said she asked around the department and was met with confused reactions and raised eyebrows.
“This is one you can definitely file away under urban myths. I’ve never heard of it happening,” Reeve said. “It’s morbid to think [about]. There’s no way that would be something that would satisfy that situation.”
Jasmine Kamiab, a freshman in civil engineering*, said within two hours of being on campus, another student informed her that if she were to be hit by a bus, she would receive free tuition.
“We were crossing the street, and we almost got hit by a bus,” Kamiab jokingly said. “And so she said, ‘Hey, you know, if you get hit by a bus, you get free tuition.’ I said, ‘That’s cool, maybe I’ll try to get hit by a bus?’”
Drivers of the buses are not employees of NC State, and the Department of Transportation doesn’t have the ability to give out money, according to Reeve.
“In any kind of litigation, it’s going to go through the proper channel, with the university’s legal staff, and when you sue a state institution, it’s actually called a court claim,” Reeves said. “It’s not going to be handled at the Department of Transportation alone. We would not have control over it—it’d be up to the legal decision-makers of the university.”
Another common rumor says free tuition can also follow the death of a roommate.
“The rumor from ages ago is that if your roommate dies, you get something from the university. There’s no truth to it at all,” said Susan Grant, director of University Housing.
However, many students believe this rumor.
“I don’t know who I heard it from first, but people really believe it,” said Madeline Robless, a sophomore in international relations.
Grant is unsure of when and how the rumor was started at NC State.
“I’ve been here 29 years, and I’ve heard that one before,” Grant said.
*The Technician originally did not report what Jasmine Kamiab was studying. it has now been corrected.
