Assalaamu alaykum. Please, what is the ruling on one who collected an amount for tuition from his father that was higher than the actual fee. For example, the tuition costs $1,000, but he needed more than that, and knowing that it would be tough for him to get more than that, he told his father that it costs $1,150. Is this permissible? Wassalaam.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

This student must inform his father of his actual tuition fees and then mention to him what he needs in addition to that, and he must be truthful in everything that he tells his father. He is not permitted to lie on the pretext that it is difficult for him to ask his father for those fees because the lawful money from his father is that which he gives him out of his own proper will.

The Prophet said, “You should always tell the truth, for the truth leads to piety and piety leads to Paradise. A man tells the truth and persists in telling the truth till he is written with Allaah as a truthful person. Beware of lying, for lying leads to vice (wickedness, evil-doing), and vice leads to Hellfire, and a man persists in telling lies till he is written with Allaah as a liar." [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Allaah knows best.