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Universities Hold Transcripts Hostage Over Loans
Hugh Pickens writes "Dave Lindorff writes in the LA Times that growing numbers of students are discovering their old school is actively blocking them from getting a job or going on to a higher degree by refusing to issue an official transcript. The schools won't send the transcripts to potential employers or graduate admissions office if students are in default on student loans, or in many cases, even if they just fall one or two months behind. It's no accident that they're doing this. It turns out the federal government 'encourages' them to use this draconian tactic, saying that the policy 'has resulted in numerous loan repayments.' It is a strange position for colleges to take, writes Lindorff, since the schools themselves are not owed any money — student loan funds come from private banks or the federal government, and in the case of so-called Stafford loans, schools are not on the hook in any way. They are simply acting as collection agencies, and in fact may get paid for their efforts at collection. 'It's worse than indentured servitude,' says NYU Professor Andrew Ross, who helped organize the Occupy Student Debt movement last fall. 'With indentured servitude, you had to pay in order to work, but then at least you got to work. When universities withhold these transcripts, students who have been indentured by loans are being denied even the ability to work or to finish their education so they can repay their indenture.'"
I was incredibly fortunate to be able to call my department head and speak with him, he personally corresponded with the background check agency and it was finally accepted that I wasn't lying, however, they said that I couldn't list the degree on my resume. This was in 2005 by the way.
That didn't work for me. The college district sent me an extortion note years later claiming that I owed them money. Thing is that I don't owe them any money and it's an impossibility that I owe money for that term as they won't let you register for classes if you haven't paid and I took classes the next quarter. They still haven't unlocked the account. I'll probably have to file suit against the college if I want my transcripts unlocked as sending them a letter demanding evidence that I owe money didn't work and student loans aren't subject to any statute of limitations on collections.
I'm still not sure why they felt the need to send out fraudulent bills other than the budget conditions now, but unfortunately, filing a lawsuit against the state is likely the only way in which I'll get it permanently cleared up.
The American education system itself isn't that bad. It's not the best, but it's not the worst, either. The main problem is the people.
A large portion of Americans are religious to the point where they refuse to acknowledge reality. Even when it's readily available and of a high quality, these people will shun any education that may remotely challenge their religious beliefs in one way or another. They steer clear away from any sort of science, and many of them even distrust mathematics. This distrust and outright hatred of science and math doesn't leave them very many useful fields to study.
There's another large portion of Americans who aspire to be nothing more than "gangstas". Even when involving a curriculum developed by non-whites and taught by non-whites, these people still insist on rejecting "the white man's education".
Finally, there is the whole "hipster" phenomenon. These are adults who are mentally still children, usually due to growing up in a household where everything was provided to them. They also reject a useful education, either in favor of mooching off of their wealthy parents, or by studying a field that offers absolutely no job prospects and no real-world value.
It was one thing when there was a small portion of Americans who would embrace ignorance. There have always been people like that, and nothing can be done for them. But these days, we're talking about 60% or more of Americans who willfully and voluntarily reject a useful education. That's a recipe for disaster.
The issues with your argument is that you canw alk back one step further and see that all these things are requirements by the government
student aid? many government loans there so your not really correct there
food, government requires schools to provide food to XX standards, you need XX permits to operate at a school, blame the regulation there
houseing, what? most student housing around any campus I have been around minus the dorms (which are owned by the schools 90% of the time) are private owned by and rented out, you dont like it, you buy one of the houses by a college and rent it yourself.
homework assignments....ok now I know you are just making shit up. Please explain to me what having to do homework has to do with corporations? MOST homework at a school (a good one) is set up by your professor and his/her helpers, not "a corporation"
bookstores... well, yeah what else did you expect? corps are best suited to be in business of selling goods, you dont like it buy a bunch of books and talk a school into letting you open shop
you really need to think things a few steps further down the road.
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Dude... ^^ THIS. Seriously....the University I attended (Michigan "Technological" University) recently outsourced their email, groupware, etc to Google.....I'm like, what the fuck?? You teach computer programming and IT, and presume to be a top tier engineering school, but can't even maintain your own basic IT systems? Do you not see how you are outsourcing your core competency and denying your students the ability to get real world hands on experience fixing this stuff?
That's the argument I made on Facebook anyhow, and several drones (you know the type....19 year olds who think repeating establishment propaganda is the same thing as making a logical argument) immediately attacked me saying I didn't know what I was talking about. OK then, fine kids...stick your fingers in your ears and whistle. Actions have consequences. Enjoy your $100k in student debt when you're unemployed, and too stupid and inexperienced to get a job....asshat.
That was my exact situation, in 1997. Unemployment had caused me to fall behind on the student loan. Needed a transcript for the new job. Called them. Funny enough "let me have a transcript so I can get the job that will result in you getting paid back" seemed reasonable to them too.
Some countries pay--not loan--100% of the tuition for a fairly large percentage of their student population and don't seem to have the runaway cost problems that we do.
As with most situations like this, there's clearly a solution other than "the government needs to get out of the business of X". Maybe it should, but it doesn't need to; it may just need to do it better. What do places like Denmark do differently? Can we try that, rather than just giving up?
Considering almost no one pays for college without loans today, any college whose students could not get loans would be dead in the water. That gives a lot of leverage for banks to "ask" colleges to play along.
The idea that people can't go to school without loans is complete bullshit. I am going to graduate next year, and I paid for my entire education out of my own picket. I've never had a job that paid more than $10 an hour. I served in the military for one year (discharged due to problems with eyesight) so I only had a few months worth of GI bill, which didn't pay much at all. Beyond that, I paid for everything myself. Books, tuition, transportation, everything. I paid for it. Not my parents, not my relatives. All me.
And this isn't hard to do either, all you have to do is save up money and not spend it on stupid shit, e.g. your new ipad every time apple releases one, and your regular visits to starbucks (people don't need $4 cups of coffee twice a day to survive.) I've probably spent about $25,000 on college so far, and I still have about $14,000 saved up. I really don't understand how some people can spend $80,000 on college to get something as worthless as a liberal arts degree, and then wonder why they can't get a job. To me, getting a degree that there is no market for is stupid, you may as well just save the money and get no degree at all. Taking out a student loan is even more stupid.
One big mistake I notice a lot, is that a lot of people seem to go straight to university. This is the dumb, because universities are always overpriced for what you get. Community colleges (especially in places like California) are DIRT CHEAP. I pay upwards of $2,000 per year, that includes summer school, and includes books. Imagine that, a month and a half of pay for an entire year. Plus, community colleges by far tend to have a much better student to teacher ratio (which means if you have a learning disability like I do, your chances of succeeding are much greater,) the learning environment is also therefore more personal so the teachers tend to care more about the students than their status, and in addition to that they tend to offer free tutoring, and it's very good tutoring too.
Another thing is books. I don't know why, but so many students buy their books from the in school book store. This is stupid, they charge a lot more than Amazon, and better yet if you look on ebay, you can buy the international editions which are essentially the same thing, only they are made of cheaper paper, but cost a hell of a lot less.
Also if you don't dedicate yourself to college properly, you won't get shit. And dedication is all it takes. I don't consider myself to be that smart, yet I have a 3.9 GPA. People who say you have to be smart to do that don't know what they're talking about. When I was in high school I was just like the average person I see in college: I didn't give a shit and just did the minimum I needed to get D's because that's all that was required to pass. In college you're required to get C's to pass, so that's the grade I see the most people get. TV gives this impression that college is the time to smoke weed and drink beer at dorm parties, and I'm telling you right now that it's not. College is when you're supposed to work the hardest.
My dedication has paid off already by the way. I just got hired for an internship at a fortune 500 company that pays a lot more money than I've ever earned (think: how often do internships pay anything at all?) I didn't even need to interview, they just asked for my resume and then hired me because of the reputation I've earned at school.
I don't want to hear any crying from people who can't pay off their student loans, that's their own problem that they created from their own stupidity, and they better damn sure fulfill their obligations. The occupy movement sits around doing nothing while demanding jobs, meanwhile I've been working my ass off to earn a job. The occupy movement can eat my ass, I am not part of their 99%.
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