My school is saying I owe 1750!

Nursing Students Pre-Nursing

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The school that I am attending has hybrid courses. From August to October I took nine credits. From November to December I took twelve credits. My academic advisor did not make me aware that my financial aid would not cover the extra classes that I enrolled in and on top of that I received a refund check. I enrolled in a few winter session courses that I paid $300 out of pocket for but dropped them before the classes started because I could not afford the books. I called my schools business office trying to get a refund for the winter session courses and they said that they are applying those funds to what I owe. They also made me aware that I won't be able to apply for my nursing school next semester until I pay the 1750! Can they do this? I have meeting with the dean tomorrow and I'm afraid that I may walk out of the meeting still having to pay 1750! This has crushed all of my dreams of attending my local nursing school. I have all A's in my prerequisites and one B+. Your feedback is greatly appreciated.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Yep - they certainly can do that. It's up to you to make sure that you understand all of the 'fine print' in any financial arrangement with your school. Keep records, track and monitor everything.

Are you enrolled in a commercial (investor owned) school? Many of them are well-known for using hard-sell tactics to ensure ongoing tuition payments including tactics such as automatic enrollment - (where you end up obligated to pay for classes that you didn't actually choose) and holding transcripts/degrees for ransom until all debts are paid.

Good luck on your discussion - hope you can reach an agreeable outcome.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Full time is 12 credits. Financial aid is often based upon full time status. You may have been issued a refund in error if you started as full time and dropped to part time. (9 credits ) after refunds are issued. There are specific eligibility rules for pt vs ft and eligibility for financial aide. Check your award letter and any notices you may have not fully read regarding financial aid before your meeting. I know people this happened to attending traditional programs. They dropped to less than full time after the loan excess check was issued and got a bill to reimburse the school for loans disbursed but not entitled to.

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Are there any situations to where they may reduce the cost to where I can only pay half? Or if they can waive the cost since I was completely unaware? This is just not fair :no:

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Sounds like you owe the money because you were overawarded financial aid for the classes you dropped.

Be cool with the financial aid people and ask if they can discount the money owed. Then set up a payment plan. They'll usually let you continue to enroll for the follow semester, but make sure they understand that your spring financial aid is needed for that semester's expenses, not to repay your debt and that you'll pay the other money you owe over time.

If you ever get a refund check from financial aid, never spend it until you have made sure that all of your tuition and book fees are paid. Especially if you drop classes, since that means your financial aid will be decreased. Good luck.

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Sounds like you owe the money because you were overawarded financial aid for the classes you dropped.

Be cool with the financial aid people and ask if they can discount the money owed. Then set up a payment plan. They'll usually let you continue to enroll for the follow semester, but make sure they understand that your spring financial aid is needed for that semester's expenses, not to repay your debt and that you'll pay the other money you owe over time.

If you ever get a refund check from financial aid, never spend it until you have made sure that all of your tuition and book fees are paid. Especially if you drop classes, since that means your financial aid will be decreased. Good luck.

The classes I dropped had nothing to do with the fall semester courses. I enrolled in some winter session courses and dropped them on time. They're trying to make me pay for the fall semester because I had a total of 21 credits. I absolutely agree with you when you said not spend my refund until I make sure everything is paid for. Hopefully my meeting with the school tomorrow helps me out in my situation.

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Specializes in Hospitalist Medicine.

The classes I dropped had nothing to do with the fall semester courses. I enrolled in some winter session courses and dropped them on time. They're trying to make me pay for the fall semester because I had a total of 21 credits. I absolutely agree with you when you said not spend my refund until I make sure everything is paid for. Hopefully my meeting with the school tomorrow helps me out in my situation.

Wait, I'm confused. First you said you took 9 credits. Now you say 21. Which one is it? If you got a refund check, you have to apply it to what you owe for school. It's not free money to spend on other things.

The school most definitely can & will make you pay if you took courses and your financial aid was reimbursed to you directly and you didn't apply the funds towards your tuition.

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Wait, I'm confused. First you said you took 9 credits. Now you say 21. Which one is it? If you got a refund check, you have to apply it to what you owe for school. It's not free money to spend on other things.

The school most definitely can & will make you pay if you took courses and your financial aid was reimbursed to you directly and you didn't apply the funds towards your tuition.

What I said was that I took 9 credits from August to October and then 12 from November to December. In one semester that's 21 credits. If I owed anything to the school why would I receive a refund check? If I knew I had a balance with the school I wouldn't have spent the refund check on other things. But thanks for the advice and letting me know that there's no hope and there's is no way out of this.

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

If it's a federal loan funds they cannot reduce the amount owed. Your financial aid may max at 18 credits per traditional semester and that could be the issue. If it is for excess credits you may be able to come up with a payment plan rather than a single bulk payment.

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Specializes in ICU.

Yes, you are going to have to pay it back. You took their classes. I'm not understanding why you don't think you owe it. I'm sure you got your refund check back in September? That's when ours come back. You then signed up for additional classes which you are charged by the credit hour. You are going to have to pay it. Financial aid was awarded at the beginning of the semester to cover you for the whole semester. If you had planned on taking additional classes you needed to have saved your refund.

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Specializes in Neuro, Telemetry.

In short, yes. They can do this. If you owe a balance, then they can block your enrollment in any classes, can not allow you to apply for programs, and can hold your degree from you. I am not trying to be harsh since it sounds like you are bummed and this came as a shock. However, it is solely your responsibility as a student to watch your balance and financial aid amounts. I would imagine that when you enrolled in the classes that you were given a total due. Also when you get awarded financial aid, you should get an award letter or other correspondence from the school with the amount. Especially if you are receiving loans because you have to accept the loan amount. With those 2 totals you should be able to estimate what your return should be if any. If your return amount is different, that should be a flag that something is off. If you didn't do that and just cashed the refund check without checking your balance, then this is your fault. Sorry, it sucks, but you will likely have to pay the balance in full because you took the courses. They may be able to work out a payment plan with you to lift your block. What likely happened is, as someone else mentioned, financial aid caps out at paying for 18 credits. Since you took 21 credits, the financial aid paid for 18 then refunded the rest. Im actually surprised you weren't dropped from the course that wasn't paid for completely but that may be some sort of school policy. Good luck with your meeting.

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Yikes! Hopefully they'll allow you to set up some sort of payment plan!

Good luck!

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