jake elliot
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- New York
Let me preface this by saying I have not mentioned the university by name as I don't want to give them a heads up that I'm about to take legal action, nor do I want to create more problems. I would greatly appreciate any and all insight on the following situation:
After I was accepted into the university, and before I even began my first-year semester, the university's financial aid office reached out to my family and I about a "4-year Fixed-Rate Tuition Plan" that would "save me money over the course of 4 years". Being that I was a minor at the time (17), I could not solely agree to the fixed-rate contract, so my parent and I visited the financial aid office for more insight. There a financial aid office representative sat down and spoke with us about the fixed-rate plan. Being that I was a student with a 0 EFC (the lowest EFC a student can have), the university felt that I could benefit greatly from a fixed-rate tuition plan due the fact that I was an extremely low-income student. The representative went on to explain that I could only save money by agreeing to the fixed-rate plan, and made no mention of the fact that I could actually lose money if tuition never substantially went up. Basically I would agree to pay approximately $40,000 a year, while tuition currently was about $38,000. Essentially when tuition "eventually" went past $40,000, I would supposedly benefit by being locked-in at $40,000. To the best of my recollection (this occurred in 2014), my parent agreed and eventually signed the contract. Since I was only 17, my signature alone would not be enough, and I do not recall if I signed the contract. I also was never provided a copy of the contract. I would not be surprised if the university doesn't have a copy either. Nonetheless, my undergraduate tuition was now locked-in at $40,000 a year with little explanation other than the fact that it would most definitely "save me money in the long run".
Here's the issue though, tuition never went past that locked-in amount during the entirety of the 4-years and I was stuck overpaying almost $4,500 total more during that 4 year period until I eventually graduated. I was forced to make out-of-pocket payments to the university as my scholarships (along with federal and state aid) did not cover the excess amount of tuition I was now being billed. As a low-income student this was extremely difficult and I felt that I was taken advantage of by the university. I was deceived and lied to by the university, and at one point the university even promised to refund me in-full for the overpaid amount (both in email and verbally!) I will now go into detail about the numerous contacts I had with the university financial aid office over the course of the 4-years regarding this issue.
During my sophomore/2nd year, the university made the abrupt decision to freeze tuition at $38,000 for *all* students. Unfortunately, as a "fixed-rate" student I was still stuck paying the $40,000 a year. I quickly realized I was being screwed, and I contacted the financial office via email attempting to get out of the fixed tuition plan, and to receive a refund for the amount I had overpaid so far. They stated that I could cancel the contract, but that I would not be refunded the overpaid amount for the previous year. I then attempted to cancel the fixed-rate plan, and the university prevented me from doing so and told me "they were mistaken" and that the contract is final. I have this entire conversation in email. Again a representative assured me that I would "save money in the long-run". Over the next few months I went back and forth with the financial office and it went nowhere. They insisted that the "contract was final".
Then came my third-year. Tuition did rise to about $39,000 this year, but I was still stuck paying $40,000 again. Additionally, being I was a business student, a tuition differential of $1500 per year kicked in during my junior and senior year. I was under the impression that the fixed-rate contract prevented that as the representative had promised it would when my parent signed the agreement. Apparently the representative was misinformed as I landed up having to pay that $1500 like everyone else (on top of the $40,000 a year tuition). The university later insisted that was in the fine print on the contract. Basically my tuition landed up not even being a fixed-cost as the differential still kicked in. The summer before the third year began I was furious about this and was finally able to get an appointment with the "financial aid office director". I explained the issue to him, and he told me that this had happened numerous times in the past and each time the student was refunded the overpaid when they graduated. He assured me both verbally and IN-EMAIL that I would be refunded the overpaid amount, and that I could cancel the fixed-tuition agreement. I submitted a request to cancel the agreement. Weeks later after I had already began my third year at the university, the director contacted me via email again stating that the agreement could not be cancelled and that he was "mistaken". He made no mention of a refund, despite having promising it in email form and verbally, and the financial aid office began ghosting any of my emails on the topic. Any attempts to meet with the director again in-person were denied, and each time I visiting the financial office I was forced to talk with a rep that could not assist me. The fourth year eventually came and tuition did eventually rise to almost $40,000, but I was still out the almost $5,000 from the three prior years. I eventually graduated and that was that.
Now I'm looking to take legal action. The university is located in New York state, and I live in New York state. I have never taken legal action against anyone and have no experience with any of this. Is this something I can take to small claims being that the amount is less than $5,000 and the time period is less than 5 years? Or do I need a lawyer for this? Are there any free resources that I should know about that would assist me? Anyone I should contact? Basically, where do I even begin with an extremely complicated issue like this? I would greatly appreciate any information on how to proceed with this, and I apologize for the very long post.
After I was accepted into the university, and before I even began my first-year semester, the university's financial aid office reached out to my family and I about a "4-year Fixed-Rate Tuition Plan" that would "save me money over the course of 4 years". Being that I was a minor at the time (17), I could not solely agree to the fixed-rate contract, so my parent and I visited the financial aid office for more insight. There a financial aid office representative sat down and spoke with us about the fixed-rate plan. Being that I was a student with a 0 EFC (the lowest EFC a student can have), the university felt that I could benefit greatly from a fixed-rate tuition plan due the fact that I was an extremely low-income student. The representative went on to explain that I could only save money by agreeing to the fixed-rate plan, and made no mention of the fact that I could actually lose money if tuition never substantially went up. Basically I would agree to pay approximately $40,000 a year, while tuition currently was about $38,000. Essentially when tuition "eventually" went past $40,000, I would supposedly benefit by being locked-in at $40,000. To the best of my recollection (this occurred in 2014), my parent agreed and eventually signed the contract. Since I was only 17, my signature alone would not be enough, and I do not recall if I signed the contract. I also was never provided a copy of the contract. I would not be surprised if the university doesn't have a copy either. Nonetheless, my undergraduate tuition was now locked-in at $40,000 a year with little explanation other than the fact that it would most definitely "save me money in the long run".
Here's the issue though, tuition never went past that locked-in amount during the entirety of the 4-years and I was stuck overpaying almost $4,500 total more during that 4 year period until I eventually graduated. I was forced to make out-of-pocket payments to the university as my scholarships (along with federal and state aid) did not cover the excess amount of tuition I was now being billed. As a low-income student this was extremely difficult and I felt that I was taken advantage of by the university. I was deceived and lied to by the university, and at one point the university even promised to refund me in-full for the overpaid amount (both in email and verbally!) I will now go into detail about the numerous contacts I had with the university financial aid office over the course of the 4-years regarding this issue.
During my sophomore/2nd year, the university made the abrupt decision to freeze tuition at $38,000 for *all* students. Unfortunately, as a "fixed-rate" student I was still stuck paying the $40,000 a year. I quickly realized I was being screwed, and I contacted the financial office via email attempting to get out of the fixed tuition plan, and to receive a refund for the amount I had overpaid so far. They stated that I could cancel the contract, but that I would not be refunded the overpaid amount for the previous year. I then attempted to cancel the fixed-rate plan, and the university prevented me from doing so and told me "they were mistaken" and that the contract is final. I have this entire conversation in email. Again a representative assured me that I would "save money in the long-run". Over the next few months I went back and forth with the financial office and it went nowhere. They insisted that the "contract was final".
Then came my third-year. Tuition did rise to about $39,000 this year, but I was still stuck paying $40,000 again. Additionally, being I was a business student, a tuition differential of $1500 per year kicked in during my junior and senior year. I was under the impression that the fixed-rate contract prevented that as the representative had promised it would when my parent signed the agreement. Apparently the representative was misinformed as I landed up having to pay that $1500 like everyone else (on top of the $40,000 a year tuition). The university later insisted that was in the fine print on the contract. Basically my tuition landed up not even being a fixed-cost as the differential still kicked in. The summer before the third year began I was furious about this and was finally able to get an appointment with the "financial aid office director". I explained the issue to him, and he told me that this had happened numerous times in the past and each time the student was refunded the overpaid when they graduated. He assured me both verbally and IN-EMAIL that I would be refunded the overpaid amount, and that I could cancel the fixed-tuition agreement. I submitted a request to cancel the agreement. Weeks later after I had already began my third year at the university, the director contacted me via email again stating that the agreement could not be cancelled and that he was "mistaken". He made no mention of a refund, despite having promising it in email form and verbally, and the financial aid office began ghosting any of my emails on the topic. Any attempts to meet with the director again in-person were denied, and each time I visiting the financial office I was forced to talk with a rep that could not assist me. The fourth year eventually came and tuition did eventually rise to almost $40,000, but I was still out the almost $5,000 from the three prior years. I eventually graduated and that was that.
Now I'm looking to take legal action. The university is located in New York state, and I live in New York state. I have never taken legal action against anyone and have no experience with any of this. Is this something I can take to small claims being that the amount is less than $5,000 and the time period is less than 5 years? Or do I need a lawyer for this? Are there any free resources that I should know about that would assist me? Anyone I should contact? Basically, where do I even begin with an extremely complicated issue like this? I would greatly appreciate any information on how to proceed with this, and I apologize for the very long post.
