From: Bev Kennedy (kennedy@graceland.edu)
Date: Wed Jul 12 2000 - 13:24:37 EDT
I've been away from the loan area for a few years, so please feel free to
enlighten me if there's recent information that I haven't seen.
Years ago we used to call the DOE to find out if an assigned loan had been
paid in full, and would hold transcripts if the loan was not paid. However,
several years ago we changed our position on this, and we do not hold
transcripts on assigned loans. I was always uncomfortable about this, and
in visiting with our attorney, we concluded that we should not hold
transcripts. Our justification was that when a loan is assigned to the
Dept. of Education, you surrender to the DOE the original promissory and all
rights and claims to payments on that note. Consequently, if the student
would pursue the transcript hold in court, you would have no promissory to
support your legal position that the student owes a debt to the school
(assuming there are no other debts). If the borrower files a lawsuit which
includes damages, the school could be liable for much more than a transcript
(e.g. the student lost a job because the school denied the transcript and
he/she sues for lost compensation.).
A key point that our attorney made to me at that time was that the DOE
position was not statuatory---enforceable in a court of law----but rather
instructional, such as in Dear Colleague letters, etc.
In any case, I think you need to be on the same page with your attorney on
this one. He/she needs to be comfortable with defending your position. But
remember, the school is always liable, not the attorney.
As always, thanks to all the folks who support the list-serve and everyone
who communicates on it---it's a great forum!
Bev Kennedy, Accountant
Graceland University
1 University Place
Lamoni, IA 50140
kennedy@graceland.edu
(515) 784-5132
Fax (515) 784-5411
> ----------
> From: Todd Sparrow[SMTP:tsparrow@uop.edu]
> Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2000 11:12 AM
> To: bursar-l@virginia.edu
> Subject: Re: Accounts turned to DOE
>
> Good Morning Diane,
>
> I recently had this issue come up and I called the San Francisco branch
> office of the DOE and the representative that I spoke with told me that
> they had no control over such things. It's up to the university. If you
> decide to hold the transcripts and the student starts checking around,
> there is nothing that I have found that will legally support your position
>
> in holding them. If you have well documented policies in your university
> catalog, then that may be something (not too sure how it would hold up in
> court) but the bottom line is that the DOE doesn't seem to care one way or
>
> the other.
>
> Anyone hear anything different???
>
> Have a good day everyone.
>
> Todd Sparrow
>
> Bursar
> University of the Pacific
> 209-946-2446
> tsparrow@uop.edu
>
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