I have been attending Westwood College and they are now shutting down. I graduated last week in their final term. I owe THEM for tuition, I did not take out any federal loans or borrow any of the funds from any other entity, so my debt is only with them. I have not received any bills because they made a mistake when I moved and changed my address in their system for all things except billing. But I haven't received any emails or phone calls in the regards to the debt, which I just saw last night that their system says my account is 4 months past due . As of now, Westwood is shut down and completing the dissolving of their company. So, should I start trying to make payments, or should I wait and hope this just goes away??
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School is shutting down, do I still pay the debt?
- Thread starter Chuckonit
- Start date
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OHRoadwarrior
Senior Member
No one here is going to tell you to default on a contract you agreed to pay.
LdiJ
Senior Member
Its not going to go away. Whoever is winding down the affairs of the school will have to collect debts owed to it, in order to pay its creditors. You might avoid paying it for a bit, but eventually you are going to have to pay.
quincy
Senior Member
What is the name of your state, Chuckonit?
Westwood is forgiving some loans (from 2004 to present), as a way to settle lawsuits filed against them by the various and assorted states where they have/had colleges. Certainly if you were in the criminal justice program in Illinois, you should look into that.
I would not start making payments on the loans, in other words, until you investigate the loan forgiveness programs. But you should do this soon.
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quincy
Senior Member
Not really. Many school loan payments do not start until 6 months or longer after graduation (when you are supposedly employed and able to start making payments).
What student loans? OP stated the TUITION was unpaid. I know of no school that gives a diploma if you haven't paid them.
Zigner
Senior Member, Non-Attorney
This is what the OP said:
[SUP](emphasis added)[/SUP]
In other words, the OP has a loan directly from the school.
Or it could be unpaid tuition which is considered a debt.
Zigner
Senior Member, Non-Attorney
The OP seems to state that the only entity he borrowed funds from was the school. That's the inference I'm going with.
It is a possibility.
quincy
Senior Member
Westwood offers/offered its own student loan program (APEX) to cover tuition payments and costs.
These loans were often misrepresented to the students, some were provided to students without their knowledge or consent, and, although no interest accrued on the loans while the students were enrolled, the interest rates after graduation were high (18%). It was these loans that led to the Colorado Attorney General suing Westwood, for violations of the Colorado consumer credit law and the Federal Truth in Lending Act.
Westwood settled with Colorado and terms of the settlement included a $2.5 million credit to students with APEX loans, similar to the settlement reached in Illinois which forgives some student loans. Alta Colleges, Inc. (18 of which operate under the Westwood College name) has also been sued in other states by the states, by the Department of Justice, and by the students and by the teachers.
Following are a couple of links with information on Alta Colleges (Westwood, et al), and on other for-profit schools (ITT Tech, Corinthian, etc) sanctioned by the states and federally.
http://www.help.senate.gov//imo/media/for_profit_report/PartII/Alta.pdf
http://www.collegeaffordabilityguide.org/choosing-a-program/online-colleges-sanctioned-by-government-organizations/
These loans were often misrepresented to the students, some were provided to students without their knowledge or consent, and, although no interest accrued on the loans while the students were enrolled, the interest rates after graduation were high (18%). It was these loans that led to the Colorado Attorney General suing Westwood, for violations of the Colorado consumer credit law and the Federal Truth in Lending Act.
Westwood settled with Colorado and terms of the settlement included a $2.5 million credit to students with APEX loans, similar to the settlement reached in Illinois which forgives some student loans. Alta Colleges, Inc. (18 of which operate under the Westwood College name) has also been sued in other states by the states, by the Department of Justice, and by the students and by the teachers.
Following are a couple of links with information on Alta Colleges (Westwood, et al), and on other for-profit schools (ITT Tech, Corinthian, etc) sanctioned by the states and federally.
http://www.help.senate.gov//imo/media/for_profit_report/PartII/Alta.pdf
http://www.collegeaffordabilityguide.org/choosing-a-program/online-colleges-sanctioned-by-government-organizations/
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I did not take any loans, not federal or even apex. I was on an employee waiver until I stopped working there with 2 terms left to go. They sent me Apex paperwork by I told them that I didn't want to do apex and never even printed it out. I finished and received my diploma and official transcripts today!. But, I was charged for tuition for the last two terms and it is owed directly to the school.
quincy
Senior Member
What is the name of your state? Which Westwood school did you attend and for what degree?
I suggest you have an attorney in your area review the tuition debt, to see if it can be excused or if you will be stuck paying it off.
Good luck.
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