School lied about transfering credits and is now trying to collect on loan

[GeneNJ]

Hello all,

My son applied for financial aid for a local tech school last year. When we went with him to speak with a conselor she assured us that if he would be able to transfer credits to the local community college after he completed the course. During his first week of school he spoke to a professor that told him none of the credits were eligible to be transfered to the CC. We confronted the school and they said there was nothing they could do. My son pulled out of the program and we refused to pay the school anything.

We recently received a letter from a lawyer saying we had 30 days to respond or we would be considered liable for the loan. I have read alot of the great advice in the infocenter and was wondering if anyone had specific advice for me about my situation before I send a debt validation letter to the lawyer. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thx in advance.

Gene in New Jersey

[johnwhite]

Crazy......

[velodiva]

Gene,

Do you have anything in writing showing your son pulled out of the school program? Did you sign anything with the school?

Velodiva

[Amerikaner83]

You or your son signed something with the school i'm sure. Even if you drop out- or as in this case withdraw due to his tech school credits not transferring... You signed something stating that you'd pay if enrolled. How much of the class did he actually take? The community colleges around here don't give any refunds at all after classes have gone for one week. And the first week they only give like half.

Sorry but you're probably not going to get out of paying the school.

[Denita]

Amerikaner hit the nail on the head.

The financial aid for the school course is a separate item from the actual course itself. If you had paid cash you would have lost the entire amount after X days depending upon school policy. Yes the fact that the course does not transfer to the local CC sucks, but that is par for tech courses or private education courses to not transfer to the local community collages. These for profit schools are designed to get you to sign up without regard to your actual education (but that's another topic)!

Teach your son a valuable lesson here: Don't sign any contract (and signing up for courses is a contract) without understanding the ramifications. If you don't understand it, bring it to someone else before you sign it (an attorney for example). Don't just listen to the financial aid representative explain it - read it yourself to make sure what you are signing agrees with their verbal statements. It is not unusual for a sales rep (and that's what they are) to gloss over the ugly details like repayment conditions and the fact that there are no refunds.

Read your financial aid contract. You probably owe it. Don't make the mistake of letting this debt build up because it can quickly become unmanageable. Get rid of this debt by paying it off, even if you didn't take the course. This lesson may be one of the most important ones for your son to learn.

[Drake Savory]

What did you get in writing about the grades transferring? Most of that stuff is approved by a counselor before you enroll and you should get a sheet (handwritten most likely) of what exactly transfers. Look at it this way, if you didn't how would you know what classes to schedule your first semester?

[LynnInMN]

Yup he owes it....he needs to read the withdrawal policy.