A student in the United States of America has made history by returning a cheque for over half a billion dollars mistakenly sent to him by the US Department of the Treasury to help with college expenses.

Twenty-two years old Allen Smith was left stunned when he received a cheque for his monthly Veterans Affairs dependency payment and saw that it contained an unimaginable amount. “Instead of the usual $650, it was made out for a half-billion dollars,” said a Yahoo! report.

“The 22-year-old receives a dependency check from the Department of the Treasury to help with college expenses, because his father served in the U.S. Air Force. It’s just usually not that much.

Still, that’s a lot of textbooks,” the report added.

Commenting on the development, Smith’s mother, Patricia Attwood Smith, said: “He immediately, immediately went to the VA officer at Fort Benning ... (and) turned in the check.” She added she is proud of her son and knows his father is smiling down on him.

So where does the $690,000,000 actually belong? “That,” according to the report, “remains a mystery,” adding: “Smith was told the check could have been a misprint or the office could have been hacked. The VA inspector general assured Attwood Smith that the check will get back to where it belongs.”

*Photo shows the student and his mother.