NY bans colleges from withholding transcripts over student debt

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by chrisjm18, May 5, 2022.

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  1. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

  2. nomaduser

    nomaduser Active Member

    Wow this is amazing! I think all US states should do the same.
     
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  3. nomaduser

    nomaduser Active Member

  4. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    I'm on the schools' side on this one. If you haven't paid for it, why should you receive it?
     
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  5. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    I'm with Rich. 60+ years ago this was the rule where I live. AFAIK it still is. Pay for your year and you get your marks.
    I live in Canada, eh? :)
     
  6. nomaduser

    nomaduser Active Member

    Schools also create debts.

    i.e. you were awarded scholarships upon entering the school. Then you decided to transfer to other school.
    School then cancels your scholarships and add debt to your student account.
    Then suddenly you owe so much money to the school. You can't even get transcript anymore.

    It's the way they make money from people who leave the school. I think this only exists in US. It's a scam!
    Imagine if the scholarship was $30k !
     
  7. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Simple - if you're no longer a student, you no longer qualify for the scholarship. Don't like that? Stay put. They can't go dishing out scholarship money to people who don't study there. That would be ridiculous. The scholarship is so you can study THERE. Not somewhere else.
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2022
  8. nomaduser

    nomaduser Active Member

    No, they shouldn't try to take away scholarships they already awarded to a student.
    I found that to be ridiculous.
    The student was qualified, awarded scholarship. He decides to transfer to other school after one year. Then the school asks for sudden refund for the money.
     
  9. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Doesn't change anything.
     
  10. Alpine

    Alpine Active Member

    I agree with the Governor of NY signing this legislation into law. The article mentions the effect it has on students being able to get jobs or finish college or go to graduate school which leads to gainful employment and subsequent ability to pay off the loans. The school can still pursue other legal options in collecting debt without putting a hold on one’s transcript. I remember transcript fees used to be free or $2 a copy. Now the fees are $12 to $25 a request making the process a revenue producing win for the school.
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2022
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  11. Alpine

    Alpine Active Member

    However, many employers are satisfied with unofficial transcripts which are often downloadable free pdf files. Licensing boards, military, and colleges require official transcripts.
     
  12. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    Withholding transcript of 120 paid-for and earned credits over a $5.00 parking fee does seem a bit disproportionate though. I think in the majority of cases, the people caught in these fee/transcript issues have paid for many or even all of their courses but they're provided no proof of what they already paid for due to a debt that may not be related to their tuition.
     
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  13. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    That's true; a deal is a deal. But I suppose one could also argue that schools get in their own way when it comes to collections if they make it harder for students who owe them money to use their degree to improve their financial situation.
     
  14. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Tuition and other academics-related fees, yes. Ancillary (non-academic) fees, no. I think those should be treated as other debts are.
     
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  15. nomaduser

    nomaduser Active Member

    Here are other articles:

    "Colorado college students will get access to their transcripts and diplomas, even if they haven’t paid tuition and other debts"

    https://www.cpr.org/2022/04/25/colorado-college-students-will-get-access-to-their-transcripts-and-diplomas-even-if-they-havent-paid-tuition-and-other-debts/

    "Illinois bill would prohibit colleges from withholding transcripts over unpaid debt"
    https://www.kfvs12.com/2022/04/06/illinois-bill-would-prohibit-colleges-withholding-transcripts-over-unpaid-debt/

    "New bill prohibits universities from withholding degrees and transcripts"
    https://scribe.uccs.edu/new-bill-prohibits-universities-from-withholding-degrees-and-transcripts/

    "Some Colleges Stop Holding Transcripts Hostage Over Unpaid Bills"
    https://www.wgbh.org/news/education/2021/05/12/colleges-come-under-closer-scrutiny-for-holding-transcripts-hostage-over-unpaid-bills

    "Bill to ban transcript withholding at public universities passes Virginia Senate"
    https://vpm.org/news/articles/29415/bill-to-ban-transcript-withholding-at-public-universities-passes-virginia


    I believe the problem is the university's system that allows so-called 'debts' ...

    So before the potential 'debt' happens by an accident, the university's bursar's office should send an email or text to the student.

    "Hey, if you do this, you can potentially owe us $10,000 next time. Would you proceed?"


    It's simple. If university is fully equipped with alert system, financial counselors, this won't happen.

    But their outdated systems don't have any alert system. They just silently add debts to student's account many months later. Their system is obsolete and they have holes that create unexpected, unwanted debts.

    Please keep in mind that these students are still in their teens. They could be 18 or 19. They can easily make financial mistakes than adults in late 20's.



    Also, if they block transcript, the student then can't transfer to other schools or get jobs. What are they expecting from that? do they want these students to get messed up? just because their system is poorly designed?
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2022
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  16. chrisjm18

    chrisjm18 Well-Known Member

    Really? I'm yet to experience that. Unofficial transcripts are usually only good for the application phase. Official transcripts are required before the first day of employment.
     
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  17. nomaduser

    nomaduser Active Member

    I'm working as a web developer. If I design university's bursar system from scratch, I wouldn't allow these to happen.
    They look like a bunch of idiots... it's very unfortunate to see this.
     
  18. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    I don't think accidents are the most common causes of this, especially ones that lead to a $10,000 charge. I think it's that people drop out or withdraw from courses and have a corresponding change to their financial aid that causes them to need to pay part of those courses back. They end up with a negative balance on their account and then even if they get tuition next term they may still end up moving towards graduation without having paid off the debt from say their first or second semester.
     
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  19. nomaduser

    nomaduser Active Member

    I mean, they could not allow student to do something before making a payment & showing proof of solvency. They should fully inform students about their finance each step.

    Something is wrong... the system allows students to get debt. There's no alert email from their financial department or counselor even when they add large amount of debts to student accounts. Some students only realize about the debts much later on.

    I think the whole financial web system in US universities is very obsolete.
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2022
  20. nomaduser

    nomaduser Active Member

    To prevent that student getting debt by scholarship cancellation, they could simply send an automated email each semester.

    "This scholarship will be cancelled and added as debt to your student account if:

    - You choose to transfer to other school
    - You failed to maintain GPA above 2.5"

    They never have any message system like this.. so they just look very disorganized. They're much less automated than DoorDash.
     
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