Do unpaid tuition bills expire after a certain number of years like other bills can?

September 25, 2010 6:21 AM

Do unpaid tuition bills expire after a certain number of years like other bills can?

Just a simple question:

I have recently heard that if you have certain kinds of debts (like unpaid, old credit card debt in collections) if a judgement hasn't been obtained against you by a certain number of years, the debt "expires."

If this is true, could it work the same way for tuition bills?

I have a 9 year old tuition bill for around $6,000. Since I was never able to pay off that bill, I never graduated, and because I never graduated, I've never been hired for a job making more than minimum wage or so. I have never been able to afford a car, need cosigners for apartments and phone contracts due to my income, am usually broke by the end of each pay period- I'm just saying, I have very little extra money beyond what I need to actually keep living.

I now have the opportunity to interview for a slightly better-paying professional job. The only problem is, they require my transcripts from college. My college will not release the transcripts while I still have an outstanding balance. And, I have the fact that I attended that college for the years I was there on the resume and application, so they know about it.

Is there any way I can get this bill dismissed somehow since it has been so many years, as you can apparently do with other debts? If so, would the college release my transcripts after that? Their policy of not releasing transcripts until all debts are paid off is extremely strict and I have never heard of any exceptions.

posted by anonymous to law & government (9 answers total)

The statute of limitations keeps creditors them from using the court system to collect a debt, after a period of time that varies from state to state, and without that recourse, most of the other methods unsecured creditors (e.g. credit cards) use don't have any teeth, so they tend to give up.

But the school has another way to collect the debt: you want your transcripts. The debt is, essentially, *secured* by the transcripts. This gives them much more leverage. Eventually, they figure, you will want your transcripts, and pay up.

The school's registrar may have some sympathy if you call them and explain the situation, or they may not. Given what you say about how strict they are, probably not. I really doubt you will be able to get your transcripts without paying.
posted by kindall at 6:36 AM on September 25, 2010 [1 favorite]

is this a public, state university? i know in my state, if you don't pay your tuition bills for a certain period of time, the state will confiscate your state tax returns and credit it towards the outstanding amount.
posted by TrialByMedia at 7:00 AM on September 25, 2010

I've been on both sides of this -- had my transcript blocked for unpaid fines and fees, and years later went on to work for a university department where we blocked transcripts of students who owed us money. Sometimes the fees were 15-20 years old, but the transcript block stayed in place. It may sound strict but it's par for the course for public universities and I believe private as well.

The department where I worked would create payment plans on a case by case basis for students who needed access to their transcripts, but couldn't pay the whole thing at once. The student would make an initial smaller payment and commit to paying the whole thing off over time. We'd temporarily unblock the transcript and keep it unblocked if they kept making payments. You have absolutely nothing to lose by contacting the registrar at your former university and seeing if they are willing to work with you on this.
posted by runtina at 7:30 AM on September 25, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yeah, if you want them to give you your transcripts, you need to pay them. The only expiration for debt is their ability to sue and garnish wages and such. The credit card companies, for instance, never forget a charged-off debt. They deny people credit for stuff that happened 20 years ago, that can't be put on a credit report, because they have it in their own files.

They might let you pay in installments to release the hold on your records. My university did that for me, but it was for $80 in library fines and I was currently enrolled.
posted by SMPA at 8:07 AM on September 25, 2010

Look at it this way: will this new job pay you enough more that you'll make more than $6000 above what you're making now within some reasonable period of time? Then it's an investment if you think you'll get the job, and in any case, once you do this you can do the really important thing here and go back to school with transfer credits, get a degree, and get out of the economic hole you're in.

In any case, regardless of whether the debt expires, and regardless of your situation, these were bills you accumulated, for which you received services, and it is your moral obligation to pay for those services on whatever schedule you can, just the same as if you owed money to a hospital or a department store, but the more so in that you had a clear choice to take on this debt, and resolving it has clear value for your future. The college, I'm sure, wants to get paid and will work with you to make it possible. Don't keep hiding from it.
posted by fourcheesemac at 10:07 AM on September 25, 2010

You have absolutely nothing to lose by contacting the registrar at your former university and seeing if they are willing to work with you on this.

Seconding this. I work in a registrars office for a major university. Contacting the accounts dept. about your outstanding debt won't suddenly trigger an investigation or cause the collectors to knock down your door -- but if you're really paranoid, just speak hypothetically so they won't look up your record. They will probably try and work out a payment plan with you that could actually be quite reasonable.

Depending on the institution's policy, you may be able to receive an unofficial transcript to show the interviewers, but they are probably hoping for something with a registrar's signature.
posted by Think_Long at 4:10 PM on September 25, 2010

Just to repeat what other said in general about debt.

The legal right to chase a debt will have a statue of limitations - but no creditor is obligated to forget about that debt or make it disappear.

it's exactly the same as if you loaned someone $6, and he never paid you back. You have X years before the courts will say "You waited too long, not our problem" - but you are still free to handle that information however you see fit.

It's $6000. That's peanuts in the long run. Be an adult, pay what you OWE, and move on... you are the one in the wrong here.
posted by TravellingDen at 8:33 PM on September 25, 2010

Nobody really answered your question. No, school debt does not expire, and stay's with you, even through bankruptcy. Of course, there are exceptions. But if you got a typical student loan, you have to pay it eventually.

Why does student loan debt warrant that kind of attention from the bankruptcy court?

A. Debtor protection from the Bankruptcy court and the power of the Bankruptcy court to relieve the debtor from obligations he or she legitimately incurred through a chapter 13 bankruptcy derives from powers granted to the Bankruptcy court by the United States federal government. It just so happens that the United States federal government also guarantees student loans.

Q. So you cannot make the Federal Government forgive a debt that you owe the Federal Government by using a debt relief program like the United States Bankruptcy court against themselves?

A. Yes.

Q.What about debt from a private school or a student loan debt from a private scholarship fund?

A.Sometimes student loan debt with no link at all to Federal student loan programs may be treated by the bankruptcy court in a manner much more like credit card debt or medical debt than student loan debt. Loans from non-profit organizations must get the same treatment as those guaranteed by the Federal Government.

Q.What would be an example of a student loan that would not be discharged in a bankruptcy court?

A.Through your school you arrange a loan that goes through a large national bank, with the obligation to the bank guaranteed by the Federal Student loan agency known as Sallie Mae.

Q.What would be an example of a student loan that would be discharged in a bankruptcy court?

A.The United Organization of Semi-Professional Tidily Winkers, a for-profit association, makes you a loan to study Tidily Winking at the University level.
posted by ShootTheMoon at 11:20 AM on September 27, 2010

OP did not say he had a student loan, but a "tuition bill". So all this stuff about non-dischargeability in bankruptcy is irrelevant and misleading.

Christ, looking at this question and these answers, I begin to question the wisdom of asking (and answering) legal questions online.

runtina: "You have absolutely nothing to lose by contacting the registrar at your former university and seeing if they are willing to work with you on this."

As a legal matter, this is wrong. By contacting the college, the OP may be "reaffirming" the debt, which starts the statute of limitations clock all over again. Would a phone call to the registrar constitute a reaffirmation? I do not know, but I think it's certainly possible.

One thing that the answers above got more or less right is that no debt (student or otherwise) "expires". There's a legal saying that statutes of limitation "affect the remedy, and not the right." That is, the creditor (the school, in this case) is still owed the money -- they just can't use the remedy of a collection lawsuit against you personally to get paid.

It may be that the best thing for you, under the circumstances, is to contact the college and do what you have to do to get the transcript. Just be aware that once you've made contact, you may not be able to rely on the statute of limitations as a defense to a collection action.
posted by lex mercatoria at 8:37 PM on September 27, 2010