Expert: Chris Ebert - 8/19/2009

Question
I have received a student billing statement from Texas Tech University stating that I owe $3,121.13 from my spring 2005 semester.  I had recently requested from transcript from Tech be sent to another school and I received this bill instead.  It is the first one I have ever been sent nor have I received any phone calls about it previously.  I know that I don't owe the amount because I had been awarded grants that were to cover the entire semester costs. What should I do?

Answer
Sarah,

This is the second time this week (not in this forum) that someone has appraoched me with the same scenario.

The first step is to get a copy of the billing to figure out what you are being charged for. I have dealt with them in the past and they have removed the penalties and interest to help get this settled. You will need to pay them what you owe them to get your transcripts released. I have not known them to discount what is due.

As far as them contacting you about this, I can almost guarantee they will say they did. All they had to do was send the notices to the last know address which could be a dorm etc.

Finally, on the issue of the student loans / grants. If they did not get applied then it may be too late get them to apply them now.

I wish you the best of luck in resolving this.

Chris