<p>The school was generous to let the child attend school at all. At the school my kids went to, all fees needed to be paid 2 weeks into the term- or you were out. period. Private school is a luxury…</p>
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yup … at my kid’s school near graduation families get an email and snail mail if their student owes the school anything (library book, late fee, activity fee, etc) … no tuition is involved but no diploma or transcript until accounts are up to date. I have no idea if there is a chance to appeal due mitigating circumstances.</p>
<p>There’s always community college as an option if they won’t release his transcripts.</p>
<p>I agree with most of what’s been said.</p>
<p>The school can do this, and I understand why they do this. It probably is true that if they don’t take a hard line, more and more families will expect that the school will send transcripts anyway, even if the family’s account is in arrears.</p>
<p>I don’t think the comparison to retail theft is off-base.</p>
<p>It does seem harsh that the school won’t negotiate. Could there be circumstances we don’t know about? Did the family fail to pay tuition, but find the money to redo their kitchen, or to take their customary spring break at their condo in Vail? If I were negotiating for the school, there could be some circumstances that would cause me to dig in my heels.</p>
<p>Here’s one part I’m not so sure about, though:</p>
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<p>The school may well have thought it was being generous. If I had been the headmaster and allowed the student to persist in school without paying, I would have thought I was being magnanimous. But in hindsight, maybe the school would have done this unfortunate teenager a better turn by sending his records to the local public school months ago, before the debt was too great. Yet, if it had done that, a significant portion of the community would have gossiped in the parking lot about how “heartless” the school was being.</p>
<p>Heck, it’s quite possible (ahem) that I have an unpaid parking ticket or two from my university and so if I were to request a transcript for some reason, they could withhold it until I paid the parking fee. That’s all the leverage a school has, so I don’t see what’s so surprising about them using it.</p>
<p>At my kids’ public school, senior kids are required to return all borrowed books or pay replacement costs before the school can give HS diploma and send final transcript to college.</p>
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<p>You cannot register as a matriculated student in community college unless you show proof that you have successfully completed high school or passed the GED.</p>
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<p>Maybe the family was afraid of being gossiped about in the parking lot had they taken the child from school. Every child in the US has the right and is entitled to a free education in k-12 public school system. Private school is a priviledge and a luxury. </p>
<p>At the end of the day, the family knew or should have known if they were going to be able to keep thier child in school given their financial situation. If they could not afford to keep the student in school, at any given time they could have transferred the student to public school and let him complete the requirements for his diploma instead on incurring more debt (it happens all of the time).</p>
<p>I think the OP did not get full details from the " sons friends’ parents".</p>
<p>If there were severe financial problems out of the family’s control (primary breadwinner being injured in an accident and unable to work, other medical crisis, that type of thing), then one would think that the school would be working with them in good faith and that if they had some kind of payment plan set up, that they would release transcripts. Was it that kind of situation?</p>
<p>Even then, most schools will not release the transcript until the account has been settled. What is to stop a person from setting up a payment plan, sending in one payment and no longer paying the bill once the transcript has been sent?</p>
<p>I can’t imagine getting through the whole year without paying. Our experience has been tuition is charged starting before school begins, & finishes up before the year is over. </p>
<p>If they couldn’t pay it, and couldn’t arrange other alternatives- there is still public school.</p>
<p>Students have to switch to a public college all the time- it isn’t anything to be ashamed of- not as much as ignoring your contract to pay the private school.</p>
<p>In my state, cc is open to all, 18 yrs and up. No high school graduation needed.</p>
<p>I certainly don’t know all the details but, I do know the mother was hospitalized last(?) year for some type of surgery. He only applied to state colleges.
According to my son, the family hasn’t taken vacations and his friends social life has been limited. My son didn’t realize any of this at the time, I guess it wasn’t something his friend would readily share.
I don’t really know the parents but, he’s a really nice kid, very, very bright.</p>
<p>This is fine if someone is going to cc as a full pay student. However, one cannot receive federal aid (Pell, stafford loans) unless one has either graduated or passed a GED.</p>
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<p>The private schools my kids attended offered a tuition insurance plan. If this was offered to OP’s friend’s parents and they chose not to participate, that is another reason to be less than sympathetic with their predicament.</p>
<p>The public school my kids attend has senior ‘clearance’ prior to graduation. All books, fees, administrative stuff has to be taken care of or not only will your student not receive their diploma or transcripts not be sent out, they do not participate in the graduation ceremony. Harsh? Perhaps, but you know way before your transcript is held hostage that there are outstanding issues to be addressed.</p>
<p>Private schools make arrangements with families for payment all the time. Based on the mother’s illness it’s possible that the family was on a modified plan, perhaps making payments of some sort and possibly stopped at some point prior to fulfilling the entire obligation. I highly doubt the student attended the entire year with either no payment or no agreement for when payment would be made. </p>
<p>We don’t know all the facts, heck we know very few of the facts, making it impossible to pass judgement on this family or the school. The only clear point to be made IMO is that it’s sad for the student that it’s coming down to the 11th hour. Launching to college is stressful enough! I hope the family can reach a resolution with the hs and university so the young man can start school.</p>
<p>" . . . in arrears for tuition to his private HS. Now they won’t release his transcript to college.
I’ve never heard of this . . ."</p>
<p>It happens all the time.</p>
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<p>That’s not true for all community colleges or necessarilly for all programs within a community college. From Community College of Philadelphia
Sure most of programs are “selective” but still, all hope is not lost. I would also think that a motivated student who has in fact completed high school should be able to get a GED fairly easily. It’s a crappy situation to be in for sure, especially when it’s not of one’s own doing. But there are options.</p>
<p>At my high school, if you weren’t all squared away on books and tuition and library/cafeteria fees, they wouldn’t even let you take your finals.</p>
<p>Without a lot more details, I find it hard to have sympathy for this family. I understand that families can get into financial pickles, especially if they were marginally getting by to begin with. </p>
<p>But if they were of an income bracket that enabled their child to go to a private highschool in the first place, and have secured a way for son to go to college now (and probably own a house, have health insurance etc), surely they could come up with a creative way to take care of their tuition debt before sending son off to college. It seems if they aren’t willing to pay it now, they never will, and it’s not clear why the school should just wave good bye to them. </p>
<p>The fair and responsible outcome here would be that son defers college for a year until the tuition is reimbursed. That is hardly the end of the world and it would simply mean taking responsibility.</p>