Many students from Fremont Federation have received letters from a “non-profit” organization called National Honor Roll, but the group is actually linked to another company that sells student information for a profit.

National Honor Roll, which is owned by Nelnet Inc., refused to answer questions by the Green & Gold about how they got their information about students, including their grades, mailing addresses and e-mail addresses.

The address on the National Honor Roll letters -- 2020 Pennsylvania Ave. Suite 8000 -- is actually a Mailbox Etc. store address in Washington D.C., the Green & Gold discovered by searching the store locator for the mailbox company.

Some students who received the letter think it’s a scam.

“I received five letters from the National Honor Roll asking my family to send $80 (for a commemorative book). I thought it was scam and I didn’t buy it,” said Media Academy senior Peter Roth.

Students who receive this letter "should read between the lines and be careful," he said. "They should be inquisitive when someone tells them what they want to hear because it might be too good to be true."

The letter sent to parents of students such as Roth reads, “Because of outstanding academic performance, your child has been selected for induction into the 2005/2006 National Honor Roll.”

Other students say they simply felt honored to receive the letter.

“I felt proud to have gotten something like that. and I thought that I must be doing something right,” said Media Academy junior Kalen Bradley.

The National Honor Roll considers a B average to be “outstanding.”

Media Academy counselor Susheela Moonsamy says she doesn’t know how the company got the names or the grades.

When a Green & Gold reporter called the company and asked where the student information came from, the person answering at National Honor Roll hung up. This happened three times.

Other times, the reporter called and was transferred to voice mail. The reporter never got the answer to the question.

The letters sent to students say that their biographies can be published without any cost to the family. However, the students must “answer the questions on the enclosed data sheet” to be included.

On the data sheets, students are asked to fill out personal information with their interests in life. The company also asks students to give their grandparents’ names and addresses.

According to a press release from Nelnet, Inc., the company bought National Honor Roll in April 2005 at the same time it bought Student Marketing Group, a company that sells student names to companies that want to sell their products to students.

Erica Rains Vargas, a college adviser from Mills College who helps Fremont students, said she had never heard of the National Honor Roll.

“If you are in an honor roll or on an honor roll, they usually don’t charge you for it,” she said. "Those that do might not be legit."