Debt Owed

Hi Group, can someone help please.....? I recieved a letter from the
state of NY OAG civil recoveries bureau. and they said I owe them
$3900.00, I registered with empire state college(suny) back in March
of 05......and dropped out......technically, I didn't tell them I was
dropping, before the classes started, now they say, I signed a
promissary note to pay for tuition,....now I did not even attend any
classes, meet with any teachers, buy any books, FASFA, was going to
provide funding for my tuition.....I just don't see how I am
responsible for paying for something, I did not recieve.....any help
in this matter will be taken seriously, Thanks....Stan....

You're probably going to have to contact SUNY to see what records they
have of you.

First, think of it like this: The school expects to be paid before the
semester starts. If you subsequently withdraw, you might receive a
whole, partial, or no refund of your money, depending on the timing and
published school policy.

If you sign up for loans then the money is paid to the school on your
behalf, just as if you had paid the school yourself, and you owe the lender.

When one drops out, there are school and federal policies on what
happens, depending upon the timing of the official withdrawal.

Withdraw before a certain point and the school would refund some or all
of what you paid. Withdraw beyond that point and there's no refund -
they keep your money, and if it was borrowed then you still owe the lender.

You say that you didn't notify the school that you withdrew - if that's
the case and the time for withdrawal with refund passed, then you may
well owe the money. It's sort of like borrowing money from a friend to
buy a ticket to a concert and then not going. If you were able to get a
refund you'd use it to pay back your friend. If the ticket was
non-refundable you'd still owe your friend for the money he loaned you.

So it all boils down to when the school knew you officially withdrew. If
you never told them, or it was after the refund date, you're probably on
the hook for the money.


Steven B. Blank
College Financial Aid Consultants
29 Ives Hill Court
Cheshire, CT 06410
(203)250-7761


On 12/24/2007 6:53 PM, Gotoguy wrote:
> Hi Group, can someone help please.....? I recieved a letter from the
> state of NY OAG civil recoveries bureau. and they said I owe them
> $3900.00, I registered with empire state college(suny) back in March
> of 05......and dropped out......technically, I didn't tell them I was
> dropping, before the classes started, now they say, I signed a
> promissary note to pay for tuition,....now I did not even attend any
> classes, meet with any teachers, buy any books, FASFA, was going to
> provide funding for my tuition.....I just don't see how I am
> responsible for paying for something, I did not recieve.....any help
> in this matter will be taken seriously, Thanks....Stan....