I am up shits creek with my college career. Here's a breakdown of the situation
I went to community college on and off from 2005 to 2009. I got a few A's, a few C's and a lot of F's. While this is an issue, it's not the biggest issue. In my last semester attending the school (We'll say it's school A), I had gotten a financial aid check from them but I never cashed it. I found another way to pay for the semester and I sent the check back to Sallie Mae. I bombed the semester and had no inkling there was a debt on my account.
Fast forward to 2012, I joined the Navy in 2010 and I was wanting to start school again while I was in. I applied for a school and while I didn't want to get my School A transcripts, I knew I probably should anyway. Request a transcript, and the school tells me I have a financial hold on my account to the tune of $3000. They say that I never returned the student loan check to them and the balance was still outstanding. As I said, I sent the check back to the Loan Company, but apparently I was supposed to give it back to the school. So while I fucked this part up, there was a paper trail that the check was sent to Sallie Mae. I showed the school this info and they would tell me "OK we will look into it, we are super busy right now." I kept getting this same reply over and over for three years until my debt got sent to state collections. Since 2014, my state tax refund has been getting garnished to pay for this debt I don't owe.
I called my mom who lives in the state still to try and help me out, to go down to the school and talk to them in person. In 2015 she did a ton of work and we sent all this info to a lady in charge of financial aid. She told me she was close to getting to the bottom of this and she doesn't think I cashed the check.
I thought the situation was resolved, but low and behold, I got another tax return garnished by the state,
but wait there's more CONT.
Honestly, I can deal with the slow battle for this stupid fucking debt, but now my college career is on the line. I know you are supposed to report all your previous transcripts to any schools you attend, but I went to a community college in 2015 and I don't remember putting that I went to any other schools on my application. I did two semesters, got great grades, then went to another CC (we moved to a new area), didn't tell them I went to School A, am about to finish the semester with a 4.0. I am applying for University now and I need to send my transcripts to the University, so here's where I get fucked. These are the players:
School A (1st community college I "owe money to")
School B (2nd community college)
School C (3rd community college)
School D (University)
>Apparently, I put that I attended School A on my school B transcripts (I don't remember doing this, I am thinking they have a way of looking at a students entire school career online or something? School B wants transcripts from school A before they can send my transcripts to School C and D.
School C needs my transcripts from School B before they will send my transcripts to school D
School A won't send my official transcripts until the debt has been taken care of.
Now I am fucked, I was just going to lie and say I never attended school A, as a lot of the classes I took I had taken in school A and either failed or got a C (but have no gotten a B or A in after taking them again).
I am thinking of saying I made a mistake and that I never attended school A, and that I must have meant that is where I got my GED (technically I did, thats where you took the test). This will only work if they didn't find it out on their own.
I called School A and told them "what the fuck, I need this shit resolved like pronto, what's the the hold up?" They said now they have to see if the cash was checked, something that should have been done before but wasn't. They don't know how long this will take.
CONT...
So here I am, back to square A, but now with ALL of my transcripts on hold due to fucking school A. I don't know how to make them figure this shit out faster, it's been four years and nothing has come of it, now I am losing money and if I don't figure this out before the start of the summer semester, I won't be able to enroll, pushing my finishing date back even further. This is all I can think to do right now:
Plan A) Call School B and tell them that I never took college courses at school A, I simply took my GED there and I must have not made that clear on the application. Hopefully they don't investigate further, but if they do, then I could possibly be tried for school misconduct for lying about not attending a school before
Plan B) Keep working to resolve this issue with School A over the phone and with my mom in person. I don't live in the same state anymore, so I can't go in person myself. Hope it is resolved in a week so I can continue my life.
Plan C) Get a fucking lawyer, start putting legal pressure on them to figure this out. Only problem is a lawyer costs money, is it worth losing money to get it resolved when I wouldn't get more than like 300 bucks back from my garnished tax returns?
Problems I see arising: If I get the issue with School A cleared and send my transcripts, it's going to fuck with my GPA, all those F's are going to drop me like crazy. This is why I didn't want to use them originally. I am a great student now, but this will bury me and possibly ruin my chances to get into a nursing program. I know its academic dishonesty to not send transcripts from all school, but should I keep up the lie and just try to get out of sending it to school B? I didn't put it on my app for school C or D, but if school B gets them, they will probably appear on my official transcript, right?
I have no idea what to do...
Yeah typical, nobody knows what the fuck to do just like everyone else. I am so fucked.
>>17090278
honestly dude, you are in the military and should have a decent amount of disposable income. I would suggest just paying the debt you dont owe. you should be getting your tuition paid for anyways by the navy. just kinda think of it as paying for school like normal. It sucks. But 3000 is not much in the long run. Dont waste time not going to school over 3k.
>>17090315
>paying a debt you don't owe is OK!
Jesus christ you americans are dense, why give up money that YOU made to a greedy organization just because Sandra in Accounting didn't do her fucking job correctly? OP needs to escalate this, maybe even get a lawyer, and sue the shit out of Sallie Mae. If they are smart they'll just settle out of court and throw out the loan. It wouldn't be difficult to find a lawyer that would take the case for next to nothing. They love picking on those big bully ripoff artists.
>>17090331
Never said anywhere that it was okay. This situation is shitty, but OP should not delay getting his education if he is able to swing 3000 without much of a problem.
>>17090348
same guy here
what >>17090315 said may not be that bad either, but it seems like a bigger pain in the ass. But there are 2 options for ya
Get a lawyer, hopefully scare them into dropping the charges.
Pay it and start school like normal.
well three things...
do what you are doing now and keep getting jerked around.
your choice OP
>>17090331
I am not in the military any more. I am out and I don't have that disposable income, that's why this is a big deal. I don't have the money, plain and simple. I could pay up to like $1000 for a lawyer which would still save me $3000, but that's about it.
>>17091018
*$2000, not $3000
