Colleges hold transcripts hostage for graduates behind on their college loans

The title of this thread conveys the basic idea. Here's the source of the info:

Students traditionally have a soft spot for their alma maters. But as growing numbers of students run up debt in the high five and even six figures to pay for college, that may change. Especially when they discover their old school is actively blocking them from getting a job or going on to a higher degree.

That's what increasing numbers of students are finding when they try to obtain an official transcript to send to potential employers or graduate admissions offices.

It turns out many colleges and universities refuse to issue these critical documents if students are in default on student loans, or in many cases, even if they just fall one or two months behind.

More at source:
www.oregonlive.com...


Well, I don't blame colleges and universities from trying to get their money, everybody has to try. But this strikes me as a bit self-defeating. Because if people aren't paying back loans because they are jobless, how are they going to get a job to pay back their loans if their transcripts are withheld?

Who's on first?

Originally posted by Leftist

how are they going to get a job to pay back their loans if their transcripts are withheld?

Same way throwing a drug use rin prison gets them off drugs.

Same way a 20 year old conviction following you around for the rest of your life helps you settle down into stablility.

Same way towing a car and charging $200 in impound fees helps you pay the tax bill.

Same way bombing villages into oblivion gets the villagers to like you.

Same way corralling hundreds of people into densely packed groups in tight spaces protects them from bombs.

It obviously works great otherwise government wouldnt be applying the same method to all of these problems. Obviously.

Gee, who would have thought that the socialist institutions of education would conspire with government and act as a bill collector for government:

A spokesman from Temple confirms that it is school policy to withhold official transcripts from graduates who are in default on their student loans. As it turns out, the school is not alone; this is the position taken by most colleges and universities, though there is no law requiring such an extortionate position. They do this despite the fact the colleges themselves are not out the money. They have received the students’ tuition payments in full and are in effect simply acting as collection agencies for the federal government.

Gee, who would have thought that any socialist, communist, or Marxist would resort to extortion?

I hope this is a joke. The students already put in their time in order to get the degree. Holding back the testament to their qualifications and hard earned success would make it harder to enter graduate positions, internships, and the job market. That, in turn, would make it that much more difficult to pay off the loans.

A vicious cycle of oppression is starting here. This is no good.

Student loans are such a sham! The career paths, if you're lucky to find one after school, are not going to be dishing out the money to repay the loans in a lifetime, ever. I've overheard friends saying they are paying anywhere from 30-70% interest rates.

There's a nifty 'map' of how student loans work. I'll see if I can find it, either way lenders are getting the megabucks.

Yup they took my daughters tax refund and withheld her transcripts, she has to pay on the loan for a year to get them released.

To bad she wasn't an immigrant.

Originally posted by TheOneElectric
I hope this is a joke. The students already put in their time in order to get the degree. Holding back the testament to their qualifications and hard earned success would make it harder to enter graduate positions, internships, and the job market. That, in turn, would make it that much more difficult to pay off the loans.

A vicious cycle of oppression is starting here. This is no good.

MY daughter is working as a waitress, every single person at the restaurant has a worthless college degree, there are school teachers, lab techs, a nurse, useless pieces of paper, they can't find jobs.

reply to post by Stormdancer777

reply to post by Stormdancer777


Bless her. I just graduated on Saturday with a pretty useless degree in Political Science with a concentration in Legal Studies.

I'm about to spend even more for law school in the fall. It's partially our fault for chasing after these expensive dreams, no doubt; however, society is also at fault. You can't fully blame us when we've been told to follow our dreams, go to college, get a degree, and become a productive /respectable/ member of society.

Something is going to have to be done about this situation. A symptom is the loans situation. A symptom is unemployment levels. A symptom is the growing uncertainty about the future.
The problem...where we place our values and how we treat those who don't follow the economic motto.

Something is going to have to be done about this, and soon.

I do not see legally how the Universities have the right to do this. The students do not owe the money to the universities. I would expect someone will challenge this in court and the Universities will be foced to pay damages.

reply to post by sligtlyskeptical


The legal authority, or lack thereof, doesnt bother me as much as their apparent willingness to do it.

The schools dont benefit at all by doing this. They've already got your tuition money. So why would they? The answer to that has to be horrible.

reply to post by sligtlyskeptical


This isn't new. I graduated high school in the 1990s. If you owed them money for a book you didn't return or something, no transcript. You need a transcript to apply for college.

Same thing when I went to college. Owe them money? No transcript. This has been happening for over a decade that I know of, and probably even longer.

reply to post by Ameilia


They dont owe the school. They owe the bank.

It is a strange position for colleges to take, however, because the schools themselves are not owed any money. Student loan funds come from private banks or the federal government.

That's the difference.

That's what increasing numbers of students are finding when they try to obtain an official transcript to send to potential employers or graduate admissions offices.

It turns out many colleges and universities refuse to issue these critical documents if students are in default on student loans, or in many cases, even if they just fall one or two months behind.

Don't you get the transcripts when you graduate?
A student loan takes many many years to pay off, during which the person might default at any time.

I must be missing something .....

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


I was going to say that.

I wonder, since the school already has their money, then I bet the students would win in court. The school would have to prove that the student owes them money for the basis of holding their transcripts, which they will not be able too. I guess universities are now debt collectors.

Originally posted by TheOneElectric
reply to post by Stormdancer777

 

Bless her. I just graduated on Saturday with a pretty useless degree in Political Science with a concentration in Legal Studies.

I'm about to spend even more for law school in the fall. It's partially our fault for chasing after these expensive dreams, no doubt; however, society is also at fault. You can't fully blame us when we've been told to follow our dreams, go to college, get a degree, and become a productive /respectable/ member of society.

Something is going to have to be done about this situation. A symptom is the loans situation. A symptom is unemployment levels. A symptom is the growing uncertainty about the future.
The problem...where we place our values and how we treat those who don't follow the economic motto.

Something is going to have to be done about this, and soon.

I agree electric, I don't fault you in the least, there has been much talk lately how colleges encourage students to pursue careers they wont be able to find work in, all about the money.

The problem is, we need blue collar jobs too. When I was growing up you could raise a family nicely as a blue collar worker, now those are going too.

Originally posted by snowspirit

That's what increasing numbers of students are finding when they try to obtain an official transcript to send to potential employers or graduate admissions offices.

It turns out many colleges and universities refuse to issue these critical documents if students are in default on student loans, or in many cases, even if they just fall one or two months behind.

Don't you get the transcripts when you graduate?
A student loan takes many many years to pay off, during which the person might default at any time.

I must be missing something .....

She was going on to graduate school and they wouldn't release the records until she paid off the loan,

Hopefully you guys can enlighten me on this subject, maybe there is a solution.

Originally posted by sligtlyskeptical
I do not see legally how the Universities have the right to do this. The students do not owe the money to the universities. I would expect someone will challenge this in court and the Universities will be foced to pay damages.

Extortion is against the law, and beyond damages someone belongs in jail. Legalized extortion remains unlawful, but there is no legal act that has empowered this act of extortion. I suspect that universities and colleges are comfortable in the idea that they have so effectively dumbed down their students, so effectively suppressed critical thought that it will not occur to anyone to use the law to their advantage.

Indeed, try to find a college graduate who understands that it is the people who hold the inherent political power. Try to find a college graduate who understands that filing a verified complaint forces legal action. Instead, most will argue the point and insist on explaining the social contract without any regard for the law of contracts.

Why Your Education Costs More Than Health Care

Posted 04/25/2012
by Kevin McLeod
unitedrepublic.org/2012/why-your-education-costs-more-than-health-care/

About United Republic

United Republic is a bold, new challenge to the undue influence of well-financed special interests over American politics and government. More...

www.thenation.com...

"Last year alone, as tuitions have soared and scholarship aid has plunged, college students borrowed a record $100 billion for tuition and expenses. The default rate on that all that student debt is just under 9 percent, meaning nearly one in eleven student borrowers has fallen more than nine months behind on monthly payments. Many more students are chronically months behind in their payments but haven’t hit the default point yet."

I've been put into default because I can't pay the amount they want me to pay, even though I do pay EVERY month. I graduated college in Dec 2009 and have only recently found a job in my intended career field. As you've all seen, a lot of jobs that we do get, don't pay enough (that'd be my boat). So, I'm trying to get back into school for a higher degree to make more money.

“If I cannot get my transcript, how can I get a job and pay back my loans?” asks Rodrguez. “If I cannot obtain an official transcript, how can I apply for and earn a PhD so I can eventually get a job and earn enough to repay my student debt? The answer is I cannot. I will have to spend my life working for minimum wage and I’ll never get out of debt.”