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Held Transcripts

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mandi6278

Junior Member
What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state? Virginia, college is in GA

I graduated from college in 2000. In order to do that, my account had to be fully paid and settled with the college (it was). Since graduating, I hadn't been able to meet my loan obligations (heavy debt, useless degree, etc...), got depressed, let everything default, declared Chapter 13 (now done). Since student loans couldn't be included in that settlement, I've been picking up their payments and getting current. I've rebuilt my credit and things are going fine. Until now- my college won't release my transcript because one of my loans still shows as being in default because I'm paying it through a collection agency as there was no rehabilitation option available. I can provide documentation that this payment plan is in good standing, however the nature of the collection action is that they collect the full sum due over time (I don't have or have any way to get the full sum amount) and then send the lump sum to the loan agency.

If the debt in question is being settled, and I can provide proof that it is, should my college still hold my transcript? Can they legally hold it anyway since I do not owe them a dime directly? My ability to pay my debts satisfactorily rests upon my ability to get one lousy transcript and get a degree I can actually use.
 


Chien

Senior Member
Can they legally hold it anyway since I do not owe them a dime directly?
Yes, because release of your transcript was conditioned on payment of tuition and, whether you're paying them directly or paying a lending institution or a collection agency, the bottom line is that full payment has yet to be made.

should my college still hold my transcript?
That's an ethical question and is the reason that I reversed the order of the questions. I suspect that a more apt question is "will they still hold my transcript?". I also suspect that the answer is yes, because they have a legal right to and because it's policy (institutionalized policy is as inflexible as stone, as I'm sure you know). You can appeal to their good nature, but I expect they'll stand firm.
 
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mandi6278

Junior Member
Held transcripts

Continuing from VA with a GA school

- their policy says that debts do not have to be fully paid back before they release a transcript (the average student's debt load upon graduating is $20k, so that's ludicrous) but that the accounts have to be in good standing, and the account in question is in good standing with the collection agency. I feel like that should make a difference.
 

Ladynred

Senior Member
and the account in question is in good standing with the collection agency. I feel like that should make a difference.
No, the account is NOT in 'good standing' its in COLLECTIONS !! Regardless of your payment plan being up to date, the account is still in default and that, in no way, can be considered 'good standing', and that's likely the way the college sees it too.

Why didn't you have the student loans in your CH 13 plan ?? That IS done all the time, although if not paid in full by the end of the plan the remainder is still owed and payable.
 

mandi6278

Junior Member
I didn't say

I didn't say that the loans were in good standing with the loan company, just that I was in good standing with the collection agency because I've made every payment on time since they set up a plan. I'm not a moron, I understand that the loan remains in default with the loan company until it's paid in full.

This loan was not included in the chapter 13 because I didn't know it existed until I tried to pull my transcript. My life really fell apart after undergrad, and I know that I made lots and lots of mistakes, all of which I have been working on fixing for the last 2 years now.

I obviously can't go back an undo what I did, all I can do is try to move forward. And the one big step I need to make in moving forward is to get this stupid transcript so that I can get a teaching license and quit nannying (that's what happens to a non-pianist music major) and make enough money to be able to pay these people what I owe. Based on the fact that I have been on oodles of job interviews in the past 5 years and can't seem to get my foot in the door to do anything that will let me move forward and make a respectable salary because employers see that I have a music degree rather than a business or whatever degree and hire a new grad with a different major before me, and considering that this school is the issuer of my useless $90,000 degree (not THAT much debt though), and I incurred all this debt while studying for this useless degree, it seems that the school could give me a transcript so I could make enough money to pay back all the money I borrowed to pay to go to school there. It's a vicious cycle- how am I supposed to earn more money to pay these debts without going to school, but I can't go to school without a transcript, and I can't get a transcript until I make more money to pay the debts. If I can't get this transcript and get started doing something with my life, then these loan companies will be harassing me for years to try to get money that I simply don't have.

Has anyone actually been through this situation?
 

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