• FreeAdvice has a new Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, effective May 25, 2018.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our Terms of Service and use of cookies.

University withholding transcripts over parking fee from 2008

Accident - Bankruptcy - Criminal Law / DUI - Business - Consumer - Employment - Family - Immigration - Real Estate - Tax - Traffic - Wills   Please click a topic or scroll down for more.

jlawski

Junior Member
This happened in New York state.

A couple days ago I went to order transcripts from my undergraduate university for enrollment at a local school.
I got a notice that my request was denied due to unpaid parking fines.

I called the office and was told a hold was placed on my account on April 30th, 2012, nearly two whole years after I'd graduated. The woman on the phone with me was the director of the parking affairs office and looked into it to find I'd been issued a ticket on December 2nd, 2008. I cannot for the life of me remember getting any tickets while at school. I asked for details and turns out the violation number on the ticket no longer exists at the school, so she cannot tell me with certainty what the ticket was issued for. She said that several notices had been mailed to the address on my DMV records, an address that I no longer lived at. My bad there - and yet this is the very first I've heard of this offense, way too late to appeal.

The original ticket was for $25 - I was told the fine was $35, as a $10 fee was tacked on 90 days after the ticket date.

So now my only option - if I'd like my transcript, anyway - is to pay a $35 fine for an offense I do not remember having any awareness of committing.

It's a relatively small fine so the money is not what's bugging me about this situation.
What I can't wrap my brain around is why this hold showed up 4 and a half years after the ticket. It feels a little shady. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll probably need to pony up and pay, but my big question is how this process is legal? How can they arbitrarily, after the fact, withhold information about my education - tuition and fees being fully paid for otherwise - because of a $25 ticket from years ago?

Any enlightenment here would be appreciated!
 


Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
This happened in New York state.

A couple days ago I went to order transcripts from my undergraduate university for enrollment at a local school.
I got a notice that my request was denied due to unpaid parking fines.

I called the office and was told a hold was placed on my account on April 30th, 2012, nearly two whole years after I'd graduated. The woman on the phone with me was the director of the parking affairs office and looked into it to find I'd been issued a ticket on December 2nd, 2008. I cannot for the life of me remember getting any tickets while at school. I asked for details and turns out the violation number on the ticket no longer exists at the school, so she cannot tell me with certainty what the ticket was issued for. She said that several notices had been mailed to the address on my DMV records, an address that I no longer lived at. My bad there - and yet this is the very first I've heard of this offense, way too late to appeal.

The original ticket was for $25 - I was told the fine was $35, as a $10 fee was tacked on 90 days after the ticket date.

So now my only option - if I'd like my transcript, anyway - is to pay a $35 fine for an offense I do not remember having any awareness of committing.

It's a relatively small fine so the money is not what's bugging me about this situation.
What I can't wrap my brain around is why this hold showed up 4 and a half years after the ticket. It feels a little shady. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll probably need to pony up and pay, but my big question is how this process is legal? How can they arbitrarily, after the fact, withhold information about my education - tuition and fees being fully paid for otherwise - because of a $25 ticket from years ago?

Any enlightenment here would be appreciated!
Just pay the $35 - it's the easiest, cheapest, and fastest way to solve this problem.

But, to answer your question: Because they can.
 

RRevak

Senior Member
This happened in New York state.

A couple days ago I went to order transcripts from my undergraduate university for enrollment at a local school.
I got a notice that my request was denied due to unpaid parking fines.

I called the office and was told a hold was placed on my account on April 30th, 2012, nearly two whole years after I'd graduated. The woman on the phone with me was the director of the parking affairs office and looked into it to find I'd been issued a ticket on December 2nd, 2008. I cannot for the life of me remember getting any tickets while at school. I asked for details and turns out the violation number on the ticket no longer exists at the school, so she cannot tell me with certainty what the ticket was issued for. She said that several notices had been mailed to the address on my DMV records, an address that I no longer lived at. My bad there - and yet this is the very first I've heard of this offense, way too late to appeal.

The original ticket was for $25 - I was told the fine was $35, as a $10 fee was tacked on 90 days after the ticket date.

So now my only option - if I'd like my transcript, anyway - is to pay a $35 fine for an offense I do not remember having any awareness of committing.

It's a relatively small fine so the money is not what's bugging me about this situation.
What I can't wrap my brain around is why this hold showed up 4 and a half years after the ticket. It feels a little shady. I've resigned myself to the fact that I'll probably need to pony up and pay, but my big question is how this process is legal? How can they arbitrarily, after the fact, withhold information about my education - tuition and fees being fully paid for otherwise - because of a $25 ticket from years ago?

Any enlightenment here would be appreciated!
Basic simple answer: Because your transcripts are property of the school, not you. So when you owe the school money they hold their property until they are paid. I know its a pain, trust me, but its been decided multiple times over to be perfectly legal. Your only option is to pay what you owe so they will release the hold and you can move on. Does it bite? Sure. But its your only option.
 

HighwayMan

Super Secret Senior Member
If you would have followed the law and notified the DMV of your address changes within ten days then you would have gotten the notices. You could be getting another ticket or two for failing to make those notifications for your license and registration.

Pay the lousy $35 and move on with your life.
 

Find the Right Lawyer for Your Legal Issue!

Fast, Free, and Confidential
data-ad-format="auto">
Top