Colleges Withhold Transcripts From Grads in Loan Default

[marmar]

Published on Saturday, March 31, 2012 by The Nation
Colleges Withhold Transcripts From Grads in Loan Default

by Dave Lindorff


More than ten years ago, Pedro Rodriguez, a talented keyboard musician, came from his colonial homeland of Puerto Rico to go to Temple University. From a low-income family, he depended heavily on student loans to finance his four-year undergraduate study. Graduating summa cum laude with a bachelor’s of music, he went on to earn a master’s degree in music from Temple and then was hired for three years to teach there as an adjunct. By the end of college, he was $62,000 in debt but was making payments regularly until Temple laid him off, allegedly because of budget cuts. That’s when his problems began. (Pedro Rodriguez is a pseudonym to protect his identity.)

Unable to find a job as a music teacher in the current economic crisis, he eventually went into default on his loans, which included Stafford, Perkins and private bank loans. Then this year, he decided to go on to earn a PhD, which would make it possible for him to get hired in his field. He applied to a top-rated university in the Northeast, but when it was time to send his school transcripts, Temple froze him out. “They said as long as I was in default on my loans, they would not issue a transcript!” says Rodriguez.

A spokesman from Temple confirms that it is school policy to withhold official transcripts from graduates who are in default on their student loans. As it turns out, the school is not alone; this is the position taken by most colleges and universities, though there is no law requiring such an extortionate position. They do this despite the fact the colleges themselves are not out the money. They have received the students’ tuition payments in full and are in effect simply acting as collection agencies for the federal government.

The US Department of Education says only that it “encourages” colleges to withhold transcripts, a tactic which the department, in a letter to colleges, claims coldly “has resulted in numerous loan repayments.” But particularly in a time when the real unemployment rate is stuck at over 15 percent, or, if long term unemployed who have given up looking for work are included, at 22 percent, it seems not just heartless, but counter-productive for schools to block their own graduates from obtaining a document they need to move on to a higher degree or to get hired in their chosen field. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/03/31

[Major Hogwash]

1. Well, that's just ignorant.

How are the grads supposed to get jobs requiring a copy of their transcripts to pay back the loans if the stupid colleges won't give them a copy of their transcript?

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Without a transcript, you probably can't get a job in your degree field ...

especially if you are applying for a gov't or university job. So universities are stopping people from getting the jobs they need to pay back their loans ! Could anything possibly be more counterproductive? How stupidly, blindly vindictive can people get ?





ETA: Memo to self: Never, ever work for Temple. Now, if only I could find a way to boycott the Dept. of Education ... )

[SheilaT]

3. What I find most scary about this story

is that the young man in question is hugely in debt and seems to think it's a good idea to add another massive amount of debt to get more education in a field that is difficult to find work in.

And this is not all that new a policy. Back in the 1970's I had a friend who still owed on student loans and couldn't get transcripts from her college.

[exboyfil]

4. This policy makes absolutely no sense

How can you repay your student loans if you can't get a job? How can you get a job when you can't provide a transcript? Madness.


On the other hand if you are $62K in the hole, I don't see why taxpayers should be expected to continue the investment through a PhD program. It is really just kicking the can down the road. How many well paying positions come up for PhDs now days?

Studying is fun for many people. School is fun. I know of several people that have borrowed extensively with no intention of ever repaying it. It keeps a great lifestyle going for a while longer.

One approach is to start denying loans for schools and majors with high default rates.

[Nikia]

7. It depends on the field

A graduate degree in the sciences can really pay off in comparison to an undergraduate degree and is valued in private industry as well as academia.
The young man does have college teaching experience which does make it more likely that his doctorate will lead to a faculty position at a university. On the other hand, colleges seem more likely to hire professors with only a master's in music more so than in other fields.

[pinboy3niner]

5. This is heartless and needlessly punitive

Schools have no business acting as debt collection enforcers. It seems incredible that they would put themselves in an adversarial position against their own grads.

I hope students will consider this as one focus of their student/Occupy protests.

[diane in sf]

6. Time for a class action suit over this piece of vindictive stupidity.

[Quantess]

8. That is horrible!