Quoting
Irishlass
My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: Illinois
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing to seek legal advice regarding harassment and threats of being sued for an unpaid student account balance. I shall try to explain the complexities of the situation with the best recollection that I have (as it took place years ago). I recently graduated university with honors, and like most students, I have incurred debt and have some consumer debt in collections. Like many, I have fallen on hard times recently, and have found myself having nowhere to live, no money to my name, no assets, and no job. I have a vehicle that I am still paying on, and I never miss a payment. I just graduated and began my search for a full time position and was turned down from a job due to this debt (that is how it was brought to my attention).
I attended a state school beginning in Fall 2008 in IL, after community college. I chose the university because it was financially affordable for my situation at the time. Having been accepted to the university, I took out a combination of scholarships, grants, and federal loans. The tuition roughly cost $8,000+ for room, meals, and tuition. Upon entering the university, I had immediate hesitation of attending. The university was supposed to provide entrance counseling for classes, loans etc. That was never done. We had student orientation in large groups wherein we were taking across campus, given a huge amount of paperwork to fill out unsupervised and taken to the registrar’s office to register for classes. All paperwork signed was never explained to me and like most students I didn’t read any fine print.
After attending the University for a short time (only a few weeks), I realized this place was unsuitable at best, due to conditions that were unsafe for me to continue attending, as well as personal matters at home (sick family etc).There had been a school shooting the year before, and security was lax at best. There were bugs in the dorm, campus security was allowing and aiding in underage drinking, and condoms were being passed out like candy. The place was dirty with food on the elevator floors, and I felt unsafe and unsanitary. This school was focused more on fun then academics and it did not suit my needs. I decided that I should withdraw from the campus and move out of the dorm. I began the process of withdrawing, but I moved out of my dorm first because the process took a week or more. I left my dorm and told my roommates, and stopped going to classes. During this time, I petitioned to cancel my federal student loans and withdraw from the university officially. Prior to me notifying the university of my withdrawal, no one attempted contacted me or my family about my absence. I was not attending classes nor in my dorm.
I began the process of withdrawing. The federal student loans that I had taken out to pay for the term $4,000+ was canceled by FAFSA, as it had not been disbursed into my account yet. I cannot remember the exact amount of time that went by from the start of the semester to when I withdrew, but it was only a few weeks at most, as the student loans hadn’t even been disbursed yet. When I had officially withdrawn from the college they sent me a bill for $4,000 odd dollars and told me that I had to pay in full. When I enquired as to the bill, they said that I had to pay for my entire tuition and room or the entire semester. When I said I had withdrawn they said it did not matter, because I had just missed the date to withdraw from the dorm room. In other words, there was a specific date that I had to withdraw by and give back the dorm key so as not to incur charges. I had never been made aware of that date, but I was told it was in the paperwork I had signed at orientation. The same paperwork that no one had counseled me on, and that had a large amount of legal jargon throughout. I had just missed the date as well. I appealed, asking them to overlook the date or to charge only partial rates, citing the bugs in my bed, the safety, and other security problems and personal matters as a reason for leaving. Please note that I left in good standing with high passing grades (All A’s). They said that was not their problem, and that I was supposed to know dates and deadlines. Again, they asked for payment in full. I explained that I had no money and I had taken out student loans to pay for the bill in the first place. I could no longer take out the student loans to pay the university, as I had fallen below half time status. I explained this to bursar’s office, but they demanded I pay in full. I didn’t believe that I owed the money, so I attempted to contact the ombudsman but they never got back to me. So I contacted the bursar’s office through email and asked to set up a payment plan of $30 a month (or something like that). They refused and said that unless it was $300.00 (or some large number like that) they refused a payment plan. They kept contacting me throughout the Spring of 2009, wherein I tried to appeal to the bursars office through emails, and they never responded. At that point, I just let it go. There was no negotiating with them.
They sent me letters regarding the balance from time to time but eventually all communication stopped. I moved around at this point, including living and studying abroad. When I returned stateside in 2011, I received a letter from a debt collection agency asking why I was refusing to pay this debt of $4,787.28. They wanted communication in 5 days. I did not communicate. They sent other letters attempting to
collect on the debt, but nothing harassing.
Then I heard nothing. The communications ceased for a long while. I moved and had been having my mail forwarded to me by family, but I only get bulk mailings every several months. I opened my mail yesterday to find letters now in 2013 from the university attempting to collect the debt. So they took it out of collections and put it back on a student account and bill with my student ID, even though I have not been a student since 2008. I graduated with honors from another well known university. I opened all the letters they sent me and they are just official account statements as if I were still a student. They began taking my tax returns in 2008, though they were small at best. I have not filed taxes recently, as I have not made any money.
This leads me to the harassment. I opened up a letter last night that had not been forwarded to my location out of town. It is from the university’s Office of General Counsel. They say that my student account is outstanding $3,576.46 and that they herby make final demand for payment of this amount. They demand I make payment in full before September 16 or a reasonable payment agreement, or they will take legal action against me in the county’s circuit court, wherein the university will be represented by the office of general counsel. Also, if a lawsuit is brought against me, they say they will order me to pay the cost of the lawsuit in addition to the amount owed. If I do not show up in court they will put out a warrant for my arrest.
I am terrified at this letter. Had I not returned to visit my family this month, I would have never gotten the letter, having lived out of state with other family. I am a hardworking individual, and I really would never try to cause problems. I have just fallen on difficult times. I had a job at the university I graduated from, but it was a student position so I could not keep it. Given today’s job market it has been hard to find anything to attempt to pay my debt off. I want to know if I should contact the university, or if that confirms my debt. I have never received a phone call. I find it odd they took it out of collections, is that legal? Can they threaten to sue me, especially without verification of my address or phone communications? It also seems awfully desperate to take my measly tax returns, and threaten to sue me if I don’t pay in full when I can’t. Please advise me on the best course of action to take.