<p>I want to return <code>StudentId</code> to use elsewhere outside of the <em>scope</em> of the <code>$.getJSON()</code></p>

<pre><code>j.getJSON(url, data, function(result)
{
    var studentId = result.Something;
});

//use studentId here
</code></pre>

<p>I would imagine this has to do with scoping, but it doesn't seem to work the same way <em>c#</em> does</p>

Yeah, my previous answer does not work because I didn't pay any attention to your code. :)
The problem is that the anonymous function is a callback function - i.e. getJSON is an async operation that will return at some indeterminate point in time, so even if the scope of the variable were outside of that anonymous function (i.e. a closure), it would not have the value you would think it should:
```
```
var studentId = null;
j.getJSON(url, data, function(result)
{
    studentId = result.Something;
});

// studentId is still null right here, because this line 
// executes before the line that sets its value to result.Something
```
```
Any code that you want to execute with the value of studentId set by the getJSON call needs to happen either
within
that callback function or
after
the callback executes.