Unorganized kid late tuition

Parent Cafe
21

Both my kids have me as an authorized payer on their student financial account.

I can see the e-bill and pay the bill online by signing in with my own username and password.

They also authorized the school to talk to me about financial aid matters. The one school uses a phrase/answer for me to get information.

Both were reminded of doing this by the school. I also know when the bill came out and when it is due.

I made sure they completed their entrance counseling and signing MPN for their loans.
I made sure they accepted their scholarships.

I had to contact the one school to make sure they applied her full tuition scholarship in the correct amount, after tuition rates increased in July.

The other kid was receiving an outside scholarship and the sponsor said they had mailed it, but his student account did not show it as a credit.

So I made some phone calls.

There is too much money on the line for me to let my kids handle the financial part of college on their own.

22

It could also get much more expensive.

Our kids’ schools clearly post the late fees, payment plan fees and credit card payment fees on the FA website.

What if the school automatically charges for a health insurance policy for the semester/year, unless you provide proof of other acceptable coverage by a certain deadline? That could cost thousands of dollars.

My son had to accept his one scholarship and agree to the terms, part of the requirements is that he completes 5 hrs of service during the year, and files the FAFSA.

I will remind him to do both. Actually I help both of mine with their FAFSA.
They would not get the student loan or state grant without it.

I need to know what the school bills for tuition, fees and how much we spent for books so we can claim the AOTC on our taxes.

It would cost us thousands of dollars if those things don’t get done on time.

My kids have debit cards for spending money they earned at a summer job. Their account is set so that the charge is rejected if they don’t have enough funds in the account.

I can transfer funds from our account to theirs if needed.

They also have an emergency credit card they can use with permission. They are allowed to pay for professional fees (clearances, Castlebranch, textbooks).

Sometimes they need to use it for something else but they ask and pay us back.

23

I do what @maya54 does. At orientation last year, we asked for the FERPA forms; the person said, “Do you know his user name and password?” i said yes, she said “Don’t bother. Just log into his account”. Definitely depends on the school!

24

Honestly I don’t give a hoot, but this isn’t Pirates of the Caribbean, where “it’s just guidelines.”

I’m not a lawyer and maybe your kid waived their rights under the law by giving you their login info, but universities are subject to a federal law called the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) that sets privacy standards for student educational records and requires institutions to publish a compliance statement, including a statement of related institutional policies. Student grades (medical records, etc.) are subject to privacy protection by FERPA, so parents are not able to access student info.

Obviously, no one is policing this “stop sign.” :wink:

25

The university has no possible liability under FERPA if my kid chooses to give me log in info. Honestly I think many schools use FERPA as a sword rather than a shield. They make it hard to sign waivers. They made parent portals cumbersome. I won’t play their game. My kid gives me log in info and we are done.

26

So, you weren’t aware of the law (“company rules”) and now you’re saying the university has “no possible liability” under the law? FERPA is there to protect the privacy of students, whether your son or daughter waived their rights (signed waiver and release) by giving you their login info and whether the university has or doesn’t have liability if that personal information is given out is above my pay grade.

But, folks here should know the reason why universities protect student’s login info and their personal data from parents or anyone else.

27

I did only use the parent portal for 4 schools, undergrad and grad for D’s. (Never had grade access and didn’t want it.) I did not have any trouble seeing or paying the bills, but I could see if I had I might have done it differently.

28

Huh? Never said I wasn’t aware of the rule. Saying I’m not interested in following it. I will always follow an actual law and will always follow a rule that could affect others. But as an attorney I know for that my child choosing to give me log in info has no affect on the university. And I have definitely seen universities rely on FERPA inappropriately when I have dealt with them on belfalf of clients dealing with insurance issues. Will say that most have excellent legal counsel who will tell their clients in admintration that they have to release information because the kid has signed a release even when admins will have tried to claim that there was “ no way for that info to be given and no way to provide a release.”