Community college graduation frustration

Howdy all im in a strange situation or so i think and will try and keep this as short as i can. But i am looking for some advice on how to deal/approach this.

I graduated in june from Community college. The same week my gradnfather died (important for later).

Fast forward to now. I still do not have my diploma. It is confirmed i did graduate and meet the grad requirements. The only response i ever get from the college about this is they are still printing diplomas. Is this normal?

The school sent me a debt letter. Citing that i owe them 253 bucks for unspecified things in fall 2012 and 2013. This of itself seems odd because i cant register for classes if i owe money. So how is it i can suddenlu owe.

I have called the school 3 times in regards. Iam unable to go there in person because all of my time off is going to be used toward transporting my grandfathers ashes to thailand in january.

In none of these 3 calls or letters has anyone given me a clear answer as to why i owe money. The first time i was told i dropped classes and was overpaid for grants. The 2nd time i was told that i was "overcharged" for grants. And the 3rd time i was told i would have to speak with a Martha about this but "Martha no longer wants to take these calls so i cannot be transferred to her.

The school has given me 30 days to pay this or else my name will be forwarded to collections.

Has anyone encountered this after graduating? It seems rather odd to me.

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Comments

lsud00d

First off, sorry to hear about your grandfather.

Does your school provide a fee bill online? This should detail whatever you owe.

If someone is in charge of this and they refuse to service you, go above them and email their boss, their bosses boss, etc. There's no excuse for poor customer service.

chronos42

Sounds pretty shady to me, especially since they won't specify what the charges are for. If the kill-them-with-kindness method isn't working, I'd say go all Comcast on them and keep calling with increasing oomph in your voice. A little anger sometimes gets you places. Definitely don't just roll over if you really do have no reason to believe these charges are legitimate.

Is this supposed to be a reputable institution?

Jon_Cisco

First I am sorry about your grandfather.

I tried to deal with my community college via email links from their website. Long story short they get dumped into an email box they don't read. I was encouraged to call which I found to be ridiculous.

So I went on an email campaign and looked for the addresses to follow the chain of command as high as I could. Each day I emailed then next higher up a copy of the previous days email and asked for their help resolving the issue. On about day 5 I started to see a reverse email chain with the higher ups directing the lower levels to address my issue.

Two weeks later I was successful. It's a pain but I to was unable to visit in person and I did not have a pressing need for time as you do. It might be best to visit in person or pay the bill if your credit is currently good.

Akaricloud

It's quite common for diplomas to take some time, mine took around 9 months to be honest. I wouldn't worry about it too much, there's no real use for a diploma anyway, especially from a community college.

As far as what you owe goes only the college will be able to tell you.

tprice5

Akaricloud wrote: »

It's quite common for diplomas to take some time, mine took around 9 months to be honest. I wouldn't worry about it too much, there's no real use for a diploma anyway, especially from a community college.

Yeah, it took awhile to receive mine as well. This didn't affect me at all because they just took my word that I had a degree. If they wanted to verify though, I doubt an easily replicated piece of paper would be convincing. I imagine they would contact the school or request a transcript of some sort.

Dragonranger wrote: »

The school has given me 30 days to pay this or else my name will be forwarded to collections.

It sounds like you made it out of college debt free. Congrats! I don't know how stubborn you are or how tight money is for you but I would just pay the measly $250 and not risk them affecting my credit.