Tuition Bill dispute with college

I'm hoping the collective knowledge of FW can advise me on how to best deal with this situation. Don't tell me "pay your bills deadbeat"

My wife submitted a form to a state school here in MA in early 2011 to take a course before applying to the MBA program (they enourage this). She had previously applied to this school as an undergraduate as well, but did not attend. Registration called her the next day after she submitted the fax to say that they didn't accept credit cards as payments and that she would get the bill through her school account.
A few weeks go by and she has not recieved any emails to her gmail account she put on the registration form, nor any postal mail. She proceeded to call the registration office and provides her name. They tell her she is not registered for any classes they say. When she called she gives her name as First + MarriedLastName.

In the fall she registered for but then ultimately dropped two classes with the same school. She found out at this time that her email address was set up as first initial + maiden last name @ school.edu. 8 months later and she gets a certified letter in the mail saying she owes tuition (~$2,300) from April 2011.

The best we can figure is that they still had her maiden name from when she applied as an undergraduate in 2000/2001 tied to her SSN. So when she registered for a course in 2011 with the same SSN they ignored the fact that her last name on the registration was different and made her email with her maiden name. That would have been fine, except she never received anything in the mail or email telling her how to access the school email account where the bill ultimately went.

She demonstrated in the fall she knows how to register and drop a class, there is a track record there. Clearly the mix up is on the schools side, but we've tried to discuss with them and its like talking to a brick wall. They just sent it to collections. I intend to send them the standard letter saying prove the debt, that you can collect the debt, you're registed in my state etc, etc. I'm making the collections company prove she recieved the bill (i.e. in her school email) AND that she was provided information on how to log into that account. I dont think they can prove it because it never happened.

Am I missing something here? Do we have a good case?

BTW we both have 700+ credit scores and already own two homes. Never been late and could write a check no problem to pay this, but I have a big issue with the fact that I dont think we're obligated to pay it. I'd rather try to make it go away without paying a dime. My wife will stop working soon anyway and we'll put any new houses and cars in my name since I'll be earning the income so we don't "need" her credit, but I'd rather have it be clean than not.

Churning college classes for fun & profit?

zimma13 said:   She demonstrated in the fall she knows how to register and drop a class, there is a track record there. Clearly the mix up is on the schools side, but we've tried to discuss with them and its like talking to a brick wall. They just sent it to collections. I intend to send them the standard letter saying prove the debt, that you can collect the debt, you're registed in my state etc, etc. I'm making the collections company prove she recieved the bill (i.e. in her school email) AND that she was provided information on how to log into that account. I dont think they can prove it because it never happened.

Am I missing something here?
You are missing the fact that most of those things are irrelevant.

Have you tried calling the school and (politely) informing them of the situation and working with them to fix it?

You also fail to mention - did she actually take the class she'd initially registered for? Is the $2300 for this class? Seeing how they say it's from April, it'd seem the $2300 is separate from the courses that were added then dropped in the fall.

Glitch99 said:   zimma13 said:   She demonstrated in the fall she knows how to register and drop a class, there is a track record there. Clearly the mix up is on the schools side, but we've tried to discuss with them and its like talking to a brick wall. They just sent it to collections. I intend to send them the standard letter saying prove the debt, that you can collect the debt, you're registed in my state etc, etc. I'm making the collections company prove she recieved the bill (i.e. in her school email) AND that she was provided information on how to log into that account. I dont think they can prove it because it never happened.

Am I missing something here?
You are missing the fact that most of those things are irrelevant.

Have you tried calling the school and (politely) informing them of the situation and working with them to fix it?

You also fail to mention - did she actually take the class she'd initially registered for? Is the $2300 for this class? Seeing how they say it's from April, it'd seem the $2300 is separate from the courses that were added then dropped in the fall.

Yes, she tried calling the school. She had many civilized emails back and forth with the appropriate people. The $2,300 is for one class that she never took in April and is seperate from the fall that was done properly (once she was given info to login to her account).

jetsfan92588 said:   I'm confused as to the responses. This doesn't seem like churning at all unless I'm not good enough about reading between the lines .

zimma13 said:   The $2,300 is for one class that she never took in April

Why didn't she take it? Did she drop or attempt to drop it?

When she called to ask if she was enrolled and gave her name they said no. This was because (we think) they still had her under her maiden name. If when she called they said she was registered, she would have dropped it. They didnt send her instructions on how to access the school email account where the bill was sent. Its absurd. Its like saying you're responsible for paying a bill but we wont notify you that you're actually responsible and when you call to check on this, we have our records F'd up so we wont tell you.

jetsfan92588 said:   I'm confused as to the responses. This doesn't seem like churning at all unless I'm not good enough about reading between the lines .

Register for class under maiden name - marry - dispute bill non-receipt due to change of last name - register for class- divorce or revert back to maiden name- dispute bill non-receipt due to change of last name - rinse and repeat

zimma13 said:   I'm hoping the collective knowledge of FW can advise me on how to best deal with this situation. Don't tell me "pay your bills deadbeat"

My wife submitted a form to a state school here in MA in early 2011 to take a course before applying to the MBA program (they enourage this). She had previously applied to this school as an undergraduate as well, but did not attend. Registration called her the next day after she submitted the fax to say that they didn't accept credit cards as payments and that she would get the bill through her school account.
A few weeks go by and she has not recieved any emails to her gmail account she put on the registration form, nor any postal mail. She proceeded to call the registration office and provides her name. They tell her she is not registered for any classes they say. When she called she gives her name as First + MarriedLastName.

In the fall she registered for but then ultimately dropped two classes with the same school. She found out at this time that her email address was set up as first initial + maiden last name @ school.edu. 8 months later and she gets a certified letter in the mail saying she owes tuition (~$2,300) from April 2011.

The best we can figure is that they still had her maiden name from when she applied as an undergraduate in 2000/2001 tied to her SSN. So when she registered for a course in 2011 with the same SSN they ignored the fact that her last name on the registration was different and made her email with her maiden name. That would have been fine, except she never received anything in the mail or email telling her how to access the school email account where the bill ultimately went.

She demonstrated in the fall she knows how to register and drop a class, there is a track record there. Clearly the mix up is on the schools side, but we've tried to discuss with them and its like talking to a brick wall. They just sent it to collections. I intend to send them the standard letter saying prove the debt, that you can collect the debt, you're registed in my state etc, etc. I'm making the collections company prove she recieved the bill (i.e. in her school email) AND that she was provided information on how to log into that account. I dont think they can prove it because it never happened.

Am I missing something here? Do we have a good case?

BTW we both have 700+ credit scores and already own two homes. Never been late and could write a check no problem to pay this, but I have a big issue with the fact that I dont think we're obligated to pay it. I'd rather try to make it go away without paying a dime. My wife will stop working soon anyway and we'll put any new houses and cars in my name since I'll be earning the income so we don't "need" her credit, but I'd rather have it be clean than not.

First, leave out anything that happened with her MBA or in May 2011 (or later). This is something that has to do with the Spring 2011 term.

What kind of billing system does this school have. Some schools have everything electronic and no paper bills are mailed out; possibly not even electronically (but I am not sure). You simply login to your student accounts (or something similar) and all outstanding bills (e.g., tuition, housing, library dues, sports pass) or money you are due (e.g., refunds, paystub/wages if you are a student worker) are displayed under appropriate menus. Of course this is something that is (or needs to be) made clear when you sign up. From the highlighted part of your OP, looks like this indeed the case. IOW, she may not even had received an email in her school.edu address.

In short, there is some responsibility on your part for not looking things up on your online account. What efforts did she make to cancel her registration in Spring 2011.

uutxs said:   zimma13 said:   I'm hoping the collective knowledge of FW can advise me on how to best deal with this situation. Don't tell me "pay your bills deadbeat"

My wife submitted a form to a state school here in MA in early 2011 to take a course before applying to the MBA program (they enourage this). She had previously applied to this school as an undergraduate as well, but did not attend. Registration called her the next day after she submitted the fax to say that they didn't accept credit cards as payments and that she would get the bill through her school account.
A few weeks go by and she has not recieved any emails to her gmail account she put on the registration form, nor any postal mail. She proceeded to call the registration office and provides her name. They tell her she is not registered for any classes they say. When she called she gives her name as First + MarriedLastName.

In the fall she registered for but then ultimately dropped two classes with the same school. She found out at this time that her email address was set up as first initial + maiden last name @ school.edu. 8 months later and she gets a certified letter in the mail saying she owes tuition (~$2,300) from April 2011.

The best we can figure is that they still had her maiden name from when she applied as an undergraduate in 2000/2001 tied to her SSN. So when she registered for a course in 2011 with the same SSN they ignored the fact that her last name on the registration was different and made her email with her maiden name. That would have been fine, except she never received anything in the mail or email telling her how to access the school email account where the bill ultimately went.

She demonstrated in the fall she knows how to register and drop a class, there is a track record there. Clearly the mix up is on the schools side, but we've tried to discuss with them and its like talking to a brick wall. They just sent it to collections. I intend to send them the standard letter saying prove the debt, that you can collect the debt, you're registed in my state etc, etc. I'm making the collections company prove she recieved the bill (i.e. in her school email) AND that she was provided information on how to log into that account. I dont think they can prove it because it never happened.

Am I missing something here? Do we have a good case?

BTW we both have 700+ credit scores and already own two homes. Never been late and could write a check no problem to pay this, but I have a big issue with the fact that I dont think we're obligated to pay it. I'd rather try to make it go away without paying a dime. My wife will stop working soon anyway and we'll put any new houses and cars in my name since I'll be earning the income so we don't "need" her credit, but I'd rather have it be clean than not.

First, leave out anything that happened with her MBA or in May 2011 (or later). This is something that has to do with the Spring 2011 term.

What kind of billing system does this school have. Some schools have everything electronic and no paper bills are mailed out; possibly not even electronically (but I am not sure). You simply login to your student accounts (or something similar) and all outstanding bills (e.g., tuition, housing, library dues, sports pass) or money you are due (e.g., refunds, paystub/wages if you are a student worker) are displayed under appropriate menus. Of course this is something that is (or needs to be) made clear when you sign up. From the highlighted part of your OP, looks like this indeed the case. IOW, she may not even had received an email in her school.edu address.

In short, there is some responsibility on your part for not looking things up on your online account. What efforts did she make to cancel her registration in Spring 2011.

You may be correct that they don't email it to the .edu address and that you may just log into a system. The point was that she was never told how to log into the system to even check. When she faxed in the form to register she recieved a call from someone saying they dont accept credit card, but after that radio silence. When she called back again they told her she wasn't enrolled in any classes. So beyond that she made no efforts to drop the class because she was told she wasn't enrolled. Funny thing is the school "claims" to have an internal record or note that someone called her to tell her they dont take credit cards, but mysteriously doesnt have a record of when she called in a few weeks later to ask if she was registered.

zimma13 said:   Funny thing is the school "claims" to have an internal record or note that someone called her to tell her they dont take credit cards, but mysteriously doesnt have a record of when she called in a few weeks later to ask if she was registered.

I don't think what you're implying here is the case. It could be that a different department responded to the question about being registered, or it could be that it was such a basic request that there was no need to record it. Most likely, though, the reason it wasn't recorded is the same reason they said she isn't registered. If they couldn't find the account when they said she wasn't registered, they wouldn't have been able to add a note to that account.

I don't mean this in a disrespectful way at all so hopefully it comes off as just advice, but I think you need to take a step back and look at the whole situation again. You're a little bit emotional (understandable) and I think that may be slightly clouding your ability to see this a different way.

Also, how have we not had a response of "pay your bills deadbeat" yet ? Is this a new FWF record?

wordgirl said:   The bottom line is: 1) she registered 2) she knew she'd registered (she paid). I hate to say this, but based on everything you've posted, the $2,300 debt is legitimate. ... I certainly wouldn't call you a deadbeat, but your wife should not have accepted the word of one $10-an-hour employee that something she knew was true was not in fact true. It's been a long time since I was in college, but even as a dumb teenager I knew to use my college ID (which was also my SSN) for every important transaction.

The way I understand it is that she didn't pay.

As I understand it:
She sent in a form using her married name to register for a class and provided her credit card number to be used for payment.
She was contacted and told they didn't accept credit cards for payment.
She contacted the school and asked if she was registered and provided her married name for them to look up the registration. She was told she wasn't registered.
It turns out they registered her and matched her SSN to her student account under her maiden name and didn't change the name on her student account to her married name.
She got a bill for $2300 for the class that she "registered" for but didn't pay for.

To me it sounds like both parties are partially at fault (by at fault I don't mean it in any legal sense or as a legal term).

I wonder if there is some argument to be made that the debt isn't valid because her name on the debt doesn't match the name on the signed contract. OP, for answers to these types of questions and assistance in verifying the debt, etc... I would recommend debtorboards or creditboards.

You are not going to get anywhere dealing directly with the university. In their eyes, and in those of most people in this thread, you are on the hook for the tuition, and I tend to agree.

I had two similar disputes with my university as an undergraduate, and I quickly learned that you are powerless in the face of such a massive, labyrinthine bureaucracy, unless you manage to get substantial support from the inside. Cancellation terms are always very clear, and for your wife they probably appeared on every form she signed, most likely replete with prorated refund schedules based on cancellation dates. For me, the university's errors were pretty straightforward, namely financial aid overpayment and a registration error. I was in the right in both cases, but it took months of work and the eventual support of a provost (not easily won) to get myself out of those messes.

They were resolved in my favor because it was clear to everyone that I was the wronged party in each case. For you, though, there is at least some ambiguity, so you will probably get no sympathy from the university.

As uutxs points out, she should have logged in to her university account to check the status of her enrollment and billing. I remember when I was a research assistant, I was never given the option of paper checks, check stubs or W-2's. Everything was electronic, and I didn't even get email notifications when I was paid. This was in the mid-2000's, so I'm guessing this practice is even more widespread now.

And as wordgirl mentions above, you should never trust the assurances of a minimally paid office worker in any context. Their primary goal is to get you off the phone as quickly as possible so they can get back to Facebook.

zimma13 said:   I'm hoping the collective knowledge of FW can advise me on how to best deal with this situation. Don't tell me "pay your bills deadbeat"

My wife submitted a form to a state school here in MA in early 2011 to take a course before applying to the MBA program (they enourage this). She had previously applied to this school as an undergraduate as well, but did not attend. Registration called her the next day after she submitted the fax to say that they didn't accept credit cards as payments and that she would get the bill through her school account.
A few weeks go by and she has not recieved any emails to her gmail account she put on the registration form, nor any postal mail. She proceeded to call the registration office and provides her name. They tell her she is not registered for any classes they say. When she called she gives her name as First + MarriedLastName.

Sounds like she registered in April to take one class, was waiting for the bill, called the university when the bill didn't show up in the mail or on her gmail account. It seems she did register and "took" the class in April. Did you wife ever drop the April class? Even if she never showed up for class, she'd be charge tuition unless she dropped that class.

b534202 said:   When I went to college people used to get dropped automatically if they couldn't come up with the money to pay their tuition on time.

Is this what colleges do these days? Send students to collection instead? But I guess if they drop people for not paying, half of the classes would be empty at these times of high tuition cost.

I see it from the other end... Student dropped from classes for late payment suing the university. We live in a litigious society.

Ecuadorgr said:   You register to classes via fax? Whoa, my time machine worked!
There must have been an online account you could have logged on to to see your classes, I don't think anybody calls to ask if they are registered - as you observed it is ridiculously error prone especially without any sort of ID number (imagine foreign names!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWV8d1XNcFcNYU still uses fax machines to register for classes depending on the major.

It was the most insanely complicated process ...

b534202 said:   When I went to college people used to get dropped automatically if they couldn't come up with the money to pay their tuition on time.

Is this what colleges do these days? Send students to collection instead? But I guess if they drop people for not paying, half of the classes would be empty at these times of high tuition cost.

Not all schools do this. Mine doesn't. I have had balances following into the next semester and still wasn't dropped. They will put a hold on your account though and deny access to transcripts, etc.

My questions:
1. How did she enter a credit card number to pay if they dont take credit cards?
2. So when someone called her to explain they don't take credit card, what did your wife say? "ok bill me, I'll send a check , forget it then, ???"

You are leaving out key details

SUCKISSTAPLES said:   1. How did she enter a credit card number to pay if they dont take credit cards?
She faxed the registration along with the CC number per the OP. I am guessing she used an old registration form with the CC number column still on it.

zimma13 said:   No worries. Appreciate the advice. What do you mean by see this a different way? what are your thoughts?

I have been taking a back seat as my wife bcc'd me on all emails with the university over the past few weeks. They are incompetent and I'll fight tooth and nail to prove they are wrong and then sue them for emotional distress (for my wife) after the fact.

This is kind of what I mean. This doesn't appear to be a situation involving trickery or intentional deception or anything like that. And if they did intentionally deceive her in order for them to benefit, I'd get on the stage and shout right there next to you. But the dispute is simply a disagreement between both sides. Both sides have seemingly reasonable arguments. And based on the fact that they aren't really profiting from this situation (I doubt the marginal cost of an additional student is really that high), I fail to see the benefit of intentional deception. Especially now that it's cost them more to deal with you/your wife and pay the collection agency.

That said, I personally don't have a problem with using the collection laws to your advantage to see if you can have this debt wiped out (although I imagine many others on FW would find that immoral if you actually owe the amount).

JBFK said:   We live in a litigious society.

Further evidenced by the fact that a couple attempted to sue someone for texting a message to someone else who was driving (and the individual sending the message was not even in the car).

zimma13 said:   
Yes, she tried calling the school. She had many civilized emails back and forth with the appropriate people.

Talking to the correct person is key. It seems as if many of the people commenting on this thead are thinking of a university like a financial firm. There are no frontline general customer service staff at a college/university. In dealing with issues, one really has to understand the university bureaucracy, and talk to the appropriate person in order to get anything done (I say this as someone with a Ph.D. who has taught on the college-level for a little over a decade).

Likely you've already done one or more of these, but in case you haven't:

First line is obviously the Registrar's office. Try to talk to them about a retroactive drop (sometimes called "late drop") from the course. There are often restrictions on these type of actions, but many universities have a procedure to accomplish this.

Second, talk to the academic Dean's office in the specific college in which the course was offered, presumably the business school (or whatever they call it). Explain the situation. If she's matriculated into a degree program (rather than what we sometimes call a "transient student") that will help her case. Simply, because this charge becomes a barrier to her completing her degree.

If she has an advisor in the program, talk to him or her. Or, the faculty member who taught the course. Often a phonecall from a faculty member will get more results than from the student.

Talking to the Bursar's office is usually a non-starter. Most of the time, they are just responsible for collecting the money--not assessing he validity of the charges. They simply apply the info the Registrar, etc. provides to them.