Restarting?

Transfer Students
1

I apologize for the generic title.

Let me start off by saying, this is not one of those “I want to get rid of the terrible grades I made my freshman year of college” things. Considering that at the time I couldn’t afford books and was able to maintain a little under 3.0 off of class notes alone, I think I did a pretty damn good job. I made the mistake of going to a Catholic university my freshman year (I’m not going to name names) and it ended up being significantly more expensive than it looked on paper. I couldn’t get any loans because I had no work history at the time and my mother was the only one who would cosign, but she has terrible credit so that’s not exactly an option that would’ve worked that well.

I’ve only completely 20 to 22 credit hours at the previously unmentioned university, and I’m significantly in debt to the university it’s self, so they won’t release my transcript to me. However, if I apply to a different school (public, and in state), would they release my transcript to that school? I’m aware that I can’t actually start over because I have to include all aspects on my application.

If it makes any difference, I had to leave about 3 years ago, and since then I’ve actually done pretty well for myself. I work full time, I’ve saved about 1/7 of what I owe, and while I am reliant on my family for a lot, I’m financially able to go back. Also, I plan on switching majors because this time away from classeshas allowed me to really look into what I want to do with my life.

2

Your first university won’t release your transcript until you have paid off what you owe. And, since you owe another university a bunch of money, no college or university is likely to want to admit you as a degree candidate because that second place will think that you are unreliable. Contact your old university and set up a payment plan to get rid of your debt.

Your own local community college might be willing to admit you in non-degree status if you only want to take one or two classes each semester. But frankly, unless those are specifically career-focused classes that are going to help you get a better job in the very short term, you’d be better off putting the money that those classes would cost toward your outstanding debt at the first university.