A college simply WILL NOT allow you to graduate/transcript/etc until all accounts have been settled. Even if you are able to establish some sort of payment plan with them - they will not release those things until that balance is $0. Be aware that if they send you to collections there is likely to be an incremental 25-35% added to the balance (the collections company adds their fee) - so there is an incentive to try to work something out with the college before that happens.
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I came from a low income family And my parents didn’t understand the financials of our university but they did understand loans and did not want any part of that.
When I went to school, decades ago , we didn’t have access to Internet. We received every document in paper format. We were required to read and sign loan documents.
No I didn’t know anything about financials, but I’m a pretty strong reader. I read through every document that was given to me and what the Loan expectations required and delineated.
What I read through, scared the bejesus out of me, so I made sure, that the few loans that I ever took, were small. That I could work to pay them off.
I had skills that actually paid pretty well. At one summer job they taught me to be a lab assistant and I learned how to draw blood under the direct supervision of two physicians and phenomenal nurses who actually didn’t have time to draw blood. Then later I became a certified phlebotomist which paid some of the bills And does not require a college degree. You just can’t be queasy about drawing blood.
I also sewed as a hobby and I didn’t realize how many of my dorm mates needed hems done and rips repaired. On weekends, I cleaned dorm rooms. That’s the nastiest job I ever had, but I charged adequately for it.
There are honest, hardworking things that you could do, within your own skills set, to make money and not require a degree to pay that bill.
I biked everywhere to save money.
You need to pay off a huge bill and if you really want that paperwork from your school, you need to strike a deal with that bursars office.
One of the things I want to caution you about is to NEVER use a credit card to pay off an educational bill. That’ll make it so much worse because that bill never disappears.
You should not be planning grad school right now. You can’t even afford the undergrad bill how can you even think of grad school???
I have a PhD colleague, “Christy” that I used to work with. She had attended a “for-profit”university. She started as an undergrad and finished her so-called masters and PhD degrees there.
The last time I spoke with her, she owed $350,000 and it was all put on credit cards for her education.
That was in 2015. She asked me how I was managing to pay off my graduate school loans. I told her it was paid off long ago and she was shocked. I attended an in-state public university for my graduate studies.
She lived with her parents, in her childhood room; she had gotten married. She drove her dad‘s old truck. Her husband worked piecemeal jobs. He had two preteen daughters from another marriage that lived with them every other weekend.
We worked at a nonprofit, and I made more money than she did, as I was the second highest paid professional, after the director.
She and her husband relied on her parents.
They both had really poor credit. Last I heard it’s now 2024 and she’s still living with her parents in her childhood bedroom with her husband.
Talk to your bursars office; make a payment plan To pay off your dream school expenses.
Work any legitimate jobs and don’t create any new bills.
Seal any credit cards away in an envelope.
Pay your bills with cash on hand.
Pay off your school bill first because It will grow.
Good luck!
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