It’s been difficult to get up to this school (it’s about 3 hours away from where I live) and officially move out the dorm because of some other family things going on. I think the residence halls are closed now too and they reopen January 6. So hopefully as soon as they reopen I can get this done.
My children went to 3 different schools (in 2 different states, 3 cities) and each university was extremely strict on housing. Way back in the day, both my husband’s and my housing offices were kind of mean about it too. They billed if the room was “occupied” for ½ day over the deadline. That means if you leave a pair of socks in there, they could still argue to bill you. (It makes money for the university, so they are going to make sure to bill you!)
Physical plant should be open during the break (janitors, sanitation, power/electrical). Housing is usually open (only a couple of hours) because they are filling rooms for the semester and sometimes need to physically check the rooms.
- You should beg, borrow, and drag anyone (friends, family, etc.) who can help you get all of your stuff out ASAP. (Heck, if I lived in the DC area, I would come help you now!)
- Take pictures of your clean room. Turn in your “key” to housing and get the name of the person who takes your key with a paper receipt. Take a picture of the person/receipt.
- Go to the bursars’ office and make sure you have not been charged for meals.
Your parents don’t really seem to understand how difficult acquiring more debt and paying this bill will be. It will affect your future, as well as theirs.
If you continue to acquire debt, you wont be able to:
- buy a car,
- move out,
- buy a home
because no agency will loan you the money (nor them) to buy or rent a place with debt and poor credit.
I know that you are beginning to realize how hard this will be, but dealing with your parents who want the dream of this school will be tougher. They need to know that you have already attended this school, you got in, but it’s just not workable at this point.
What happens when you can’t find a private loan? What will they say then?
You really need to stop and take and break to work a full time job. If you can do Starbucks, Target, Lowe’s, etc., you can try to build up your savings and pay it off. There’s no harm in that. Yes, your personal credit will take a hit, the university will send your bill to collections) so don’t buy anything on credit! Pay on your ATM/cash. Please don’t create another debt!
The universities will still be there when you’re done paying off the loans. Remember that you are a good, strong student. It doesn’t matter how old you are or where you go to school. There are a lot of people who have to take breaks to pay bills and that’s okay.
I had to put my education on hold for a while to work and support both of my parents (my Dad had an accident and, my Mom fell and broke her arm). I didn’t have a choice, but I got through it. You will too!!!
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OP- in the morning call the university’s security office (I guarantee you that the security officers have to show up for work even when the U is closed). Tell them you need to move out of your dorm because you cannot afford to get billed for even one week of housing (although you’d likely be billed for the entire month). Enlist their help in figuring out how to move out, get your key to the housing office, and get your account frozen at the bursar’s office.
DO NOT wait until January. You are going to find it a LOT more inconvenient making the trip to campus once you have a job, and once you are arguing about paying rent on a room you don’t live in than you’ll find it right now, even if you need to miss a family event in order to make it happen.
My guess is that charges are posted to your account on the last business day of the month- which means December 30th. If you haven’t turned in your key by then, the U is within their rights to bill you for the upcoming month.
I hope I’m wrong… but even if classes are over, dorms are closed, and the cafeteria isn’t making lunch, there are employees on campus (every single day, even Christmas and New Years) and you need to find a few of them to help you before your 10K debt balloons even further.
Your parents? The best response in my experience is “That’s not in my budget”. Why aren’t you enrolled for spring semester? “That’s not in my budget”.
Don’t get into the details-- nobody is going to lend you enough money right now to allow you to pay off last semester, AND pay for next semester so arguing with them is absolutely pointless. If they want to magically show up with 20K then great- have a discussion about college. But until that happens, you are on a budget, are paying off your debt, and moving forward with your life and education!
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Hello! Thanks for the information and encouragement.
So without going until further detail, I’m sort of dealing with a family emergency at the moment. An immediate family member is going back to the hospital and I wanna be here for them as much as I can. Their health issue has been slowing everything down, including my college situation. I don’t wanna feel inconsiderate and bring up the fact that I still need to move out, so I’m waiting until things die down a little bit to head back up to the school. It is also the holidays so my whole family is feeling stressed right now.
I know someone said to contact security, but I contacted the RA first and she told me the dorms are closed and the earliest I could move out is January 6th. Now I also forgot to mention I spoke to several people in housing about moving out and they gave me THREE different dates to move out (classic HBCU move to have you on the run around). The latest date I heard was like the 21st I think?
At most, I’m afraid the most I can do right now is wait until January. UNLESS a family member brings it up to me and feels like it’s appropriate to take care of it now. I’ll still see if there’s more I can do. If anything, I’ll express to housing about my family emergency and hopefully, just hopefully they’ll be understanding enough to not bill me.
I have an issue with my previous university where they swear up and down I owe them money, even though I cleared the bill in order to transfer to my current uni. I’ve been e-mailing them several times and there’s been no answer. At some point I need to go up there because now they’ve sent my bill to a COLLECTOR, when I don’t have a clue why I owe them money??
I appreciate everyones’ advice on this situation. I’ve been feeling completely lost on what to do and my person life matters is making everything worse.
I will be using “That’s not in my budget” for now on, cause it definitely isn’t. Unless someone is gonna promise to show up and pay it for me. I believe you are right, there may be security or cleaners on campus at the time.
Like I stated in my previous post, with everything going on the last thing I wanna do is argue with them about this situation.
I am sorry that this has happened to you.
However, you are acting like an ostrich with your head stuck in the sand and are also doing some magical thinking. Contact Director of Res life about moving out now. Someone is there (there are probably international students on-campus living in housing). Don’t take no from someone who is not in the situation to say yes.
The new semester starts, on January 6. If your stuff is there, you are going to owe the room and board charges on top of the $10k that you already owe. You need to explain your situation to your family and res life and find out if they can let you in to move your things out. You need to take control of this situation. Don’t be passive, tell any and everyone who will listen, you need to get to campus and get your stuff.
When you leave your HBCU, you are talking about attending a third college. The 100% demonstrated need schools will most likely be off of the table (you won’t be able to send a transcript because your transcript is on hold until you pay the money that you owe them).
Stop fronting and stunting. It does not matter what your family thinks or says if they are not writing a check. So far no one has given you any money. You cant take a dream school title to the bank.
The goal should be for you to finish college. Even if it means going locally. If you gotta sit out a year, work, work and work some more. Your parents can let you live at home for free, to pay this bill off, you can get it paid off by the end of the next term- it is just going to have to make some major sacrifices on your part. Put every dollar you can on this debt.
Now you have found out that you owe 2 colleges. Remember you will need to send transcripts from both schools, to whatever college you are attending next. You may have to sit out a year, work doubles, out pay off this debt.
Get a bill from the first college. pay them
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OP- I am old- and I STILL need to use “that’s not in my budget” with friends and family when they make a crazy request. Pre-covid I volunteered to make a bridal shower for a family member- my concept was 30 people, I’d cook and bake, make a beautiful luncheon in my house, wine and champagne. Some random family member decided it should be in a restaurant, open bar, 50-60 people (“since they have room”) and since luncheon’s are “old lady” it should be cocktails and dinner.
Do I need someone spending my money for me? No I do not. Do I want to argue with some random cousin? No I do not.
You’ll find in life this stuff happens more frequently than you think! I don’t debate, I don’t argue, I don’t let someone else tell me “if you negotiate hard, I bet the restaurant will only charge you $40 a person” (remember- I volunteered to cook and bake in my own house, not provide open bar for half the world!)
I just said “It’s not in my budget” and that was the end of it…
Hugs to you. email is NOT your friend right now… you need to be having actual conversations with someone called the Bursar (or Assistant Bursar, not the work/study student who answers the phones) and you need to note the date, the time, and the name of the person you speak with. Emailing and emailing with no answer is a sign from the universe that it’s time to stop emailing and start picking up the phone. And you need ACTUAL pieces of paper- with a signature-- that says “Your balance is zero” not a verbal assurance…
I’m sorry this is so hard, but you are getting quite an education in financial management and that’s worth something for your adult life…
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Let me add: get off of this website, call NOW!
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I work at a college. Faculty and staff are still here. RAs don’t have the authority to help you, so don’t waste your time talking with them. The people you need to call are the people in charge of the following offices: the housing office, the registrar, the financial aid director, and whoever is in charge of the meal plan. Tell them you’re formally withdrawing due to lack of funds and you need to cancel everything and move out of your dorm room. I’d also send an email to all of them so they have it in writing. Do both of those things today.
Today is the 21st. I’d plan to collect my things today or tomorrow. Talk to the housing director and figure out how to make that happen.
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I called housing, called financial aid, not yet registrar but no one has been picking up. I’m unsure if my college functions the way yours does, but campus is technically closed and no one is allowed in residence halls, except for I’m guessing the cleaners. I can shoot them an e-mail, but I just sent an e-mail to someone who is in charge of the billing in housing and I received an automatic e-mail back that they are “out of the office” until January 4th.
I stated in a previous post that I have a lot of stuff going on with my family right now, and no one is able to take me back to campus to officially move out. No matter how much I try to explain how important this is, they go “we’ll talk about it later” “we are in a situation right now”
I’m trying to do what I can, but because of my personal issues it is putting my college situation on the back burner. I’m basically hopeless at this point. Someone is in the hospital, the other is taking trips back and forth to see them in the hospital, and another family member is too busy doing their own personal runs to take me. I have my license, but no car. Even if I did have a car, my parents would definitely argue with me about taking a 3hr trip by myself.
At this point, I owe the university money, (along with another university for whatever reason), have not moved out the residence hall (and might be charged an improper check out fee because I didn’t complete some winter check out because I was under the impression I was coming back AFTER thanksgiving to move out which no one brought me back), probably need to begin a job search, on top of everything going on at home. I tried to remain calm but this whole situation is falling apart piece by piece. Until my personal manners get fixed, no one is placing a big emphasis on this situation, no matter how hard I try.
Golden- call campus security. They will answer the phone 24/7, they will have home phone numbers for the Dean of Students, head of housing, even the college president if you need to escalate. You can tell them you don’t have an emergency situation but you URGENTLY need to talk to a human being in the bursar’s office to clear up a horrible situation with your bill and it has to happen before December 30th…
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Breathe.
Organize your head and heart separately. (Easier said than done, I know).
We get it.
If you want to try sending notices by snail mail, someone may open the mail. It costs a stamp.
Make a list of what needs to be done. Organize your priorities. As long as you have evidence that you tried to move out, you might be able to justify any new bills.
Do you have any HS friends with a car?
Wow! When are they going to let you be an adult?
It sounds like it’s a little “passive aggressive” on their part, in that, they don’t want you to leave that school. Present them with a printed copy of your bills and say: “If you can’t take me now, then you need to pay these bills now, as it is only getting worse with more bills”.
Stay firm and strong!
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