University of South Florida officials fired three employees of the school's English Language Institute after finding $275,000 in misplaced checks and cash scattered throughout an office there.

Nearly half the money - $133,647 - is in checks as old as a decade and cannot be deposited, which means lost money for the university, USF spokeswoman Michelle Carlyon said.

The institute's director, Richard Schreck, found the cash and checks Dec. 21 inside desks and underneath books and office machines, among other places, Carlyon said. Much of the money was in payments to the program, which provides intensive English study for international students and prepares them for college.

Some money was for student health-insurance premiums, which never reached their insurance carrier.

The discovery comes about a month after a state audit of USF found lax financial controls.

…In addition to the more than $133,000 in old checks, investigators have counted 132 checks from 2005 totaling $92,734. University officials are trying to deposit them, although some banks may consider them too old, Carlyon said.