FinancialBind
New Member
- Jurisdiction
- Pennsylvania
Hi Everyone,
I'm kinda in a bind here and not sure where to turn. it's a LONG story, so please bare with me
Back in 2009-2010 I attended a college, my mother was going thru health complications, so I withdrew, I originally asked my advisor to withdraw me, which she said she would do, by the time we moved forward with the withdrawal, it was past the deadline for withdrawal. However my advisor NEVER filed my late withdrawal papers. I called multiple times with no response and also emailed with no response. My mother Passed in April 2011. Upon calling the university Bursars office, they said, Nothing was owed.
A couple years later I get a call from a collections agency about a balance due, I told them this was withdrawn, to which they said, some balance remained. So I posted a payment and never heard from anyone again.
Then later in 2016 I get a knock on my door and I'm being served papers for court. Originally my attorney said the statue of limitations was passed so they just simply could not collect anything and not to worry. Ofcourse I didn't also realize I posted a payment and later verified with the bank that infact I did.
I went to court and the judge asked me to follow the university procedures and submit a late withdrawal now, to which I did and ofcourse it was rejected. we went to court again and he threw out all the late fees and the universities attorney fees, holding me liable for just the tuition owed. To which my attorney was arguing isn't fair, and if the advisor had submitted the late withdrawal for family hard ships at the time, then we wouldn't be here. He didn't agree.
Again my attorney brought up a case in a different case where the judge threw out an entire mortgage foreclosure case for something similar, however that was in another state. He's asking the only way to convince me is to find " Case Law " Is there such a case law? Also there's a twist.
I also had student loans, now I didn't know that anything was owed, simply thought my withdrawal was finished years ago, nor was / is the student loan debt on my credit report, so I simply thought everything was done. However upon checking the subsidized loan site, I see I've been incurring late fees and my student loan debt is now almost double.
Please help, I have no job, and the attorney is actually a friend of mine helping me out. I can't afford 8-10k let alone anything else at this point in my life. What are my options? Is there such a case law? If the judge took away the late fees and attorney fees for the University, shouldn't that also affect my student loans? I am completely lost and concerned. The attorney is advising me to negotiate with the university now, which I currently owe 4.5K to, after removing the late fees and attorney fees etc.
The judge said, he's doing that, because I saved the email communication from my contact attempts to my advisor PLUS my advisor at the time saying she would move forward and submit the late withdrawal forms, which she never did.
Also I want to add, that the University has a late withdrawal / retro active withdrawal policy, and it is not guaranteed and up to the sole discretion of the office of appeals. However again, originally it was never filed, we have confirmed that, then they asked me to file again in 2016 which was denied. " Ofcourse "
Do I have any options?
I'm kinda in a bind here and not sure where to turn. it's a LONG story, so please bare with me
Back in 2009-2010 I attended a college, my mother was going thru health complications, so I withdrew, I originally asked my advisor to withdraw me, which she said she would do, by the time we moved forward with the withdrawal, it was past the deadline for withdrawal. However my advisor NEVER filed my late withdrawal papers. I called multiple times with no response and also emailed with no response. My mother Passed in April 2011. Upon calling the university Bursars office, they said, Nothing was owed.
A couple years later I get a call from a collections agency about a balance due, I told them this was withdrawn, to which they said, some balance remained. So I posted a payment and never heard from anyone again.
Then later in 2016 I get a knock on my door and I'm being served papers for court. Originally my attorney said the statue of limitations was passed so they just simply could not collect anything and not to worry. Ofcourse I didn't also realize I posted a payment and later verified with the bank that infact I did.
I went to court and the judge asked me to follow the university procedures and submit a late withdrawal now, to which I did and ofcourse it was rejected. we went to court again and he threw out all the late fees and the universities attorney fees, holding me liable for just the tuition owed. To which my attorney was arguing isn't fair, and if the advisor had submitted the late withdrawal for family hard ships at the time, then we wouldn't be here. He didn't agree.
Again my attorney brought up a case in a different case where the judge threw out an entire mortgage foreclosure case for something similar, however that was in another state. He's asking the only way to convince me is to find " Case Law " Is there such a case law? Also there's a twist.
I also had student loans, now I didn't know that anything was owed, simply thought my withdrawal was finished years ago, nor was / is the student loan debt on my credit report, so I simply thought everything was done. However upon checking the subsidized loan site, I see I've been incurring late fees and my student loan debt is now almost double.
Please help, I have no job, and the attorney is actually a friend of mine helping me out. I can't afford 8-10k let alone anything else at this point in my life. What are my options? Is there such a case law? If the judge took away the late fees and attorney fees for the University, shouldn't that also affect my student loans? I am completely lost and concerned. The attorney is advising me to negotiate with the university now, which I currently owe 4.5K to, after removing the late fees and attorney fees etc.
The judge said, he's doing that, because I saved the email communication from my contact attempts to my advisor PLUS my advisor at the time saying she would move forward and submit the late withdrawal forms, which she never did.
Also I want to add, that the University has a late withdrawal / retro active withdrawal policy, and it is not guaranteed and up to the sole discretion of the office of appeals. However again, originally it was never filed, we have confirmed that, then they asked me to file again in 2016 which was denied. " Ofcourse "
Do I have any options?
Last edited:
second I understand that it's " Two " different things, however the university was paid already from not only my student loans, but also my financial aid, plus if the judge is saying one is not honorable, shouldn't that also reflect the second? Also, I literally didn't really attend classes, as they were " virtual " plus I have emails from the advisor telling me to stick it out and speak with the professors as opposed to just withdrawal shouldn't that count for something? See all this is intertwined with one thing.
