topic Re: Harrison college shut the doors on on my wife! in Student Loans

Harrison college shut the doors on on my wife!

OmarR — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 22:44:50 GMT

https://myfox28columbus.com/news/local/students-outraged-harrison-college-closing-without-warning

So Harrison College shut down on 09-16-18. Enrollment is down, so they literally left all their students stranded and scrambling for options. My wife was one class away from graduating. She had paid some tuition out of pocket and some thru FedLoan, as well as even paying off half of her FedLoan amount even though she had not graduated yet.

One of her options is to get all her $$$ back since they did not give her a degree and this is the route we are taking. I am hoping that getting reimbursed from a "now defunct" for-profit college as well as getting the other half back from FedLoan will not be the big hassle that I fear it will be.

Have any of you been thru something like this? Or know someone who has? I would love to hear your experience and how it turned out.

Thanks!

Re: Harrison college shut the doors on on my wife!

Medic981 — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 22:25:24 GMT

Unfortunately, this is why attending a college with proper accreditation is so important. Colleges with accreditation recognized by other colleges allow a student to transfer credits and continue their education. As a defunct college, I am not sure how you are going to be able to sue and recoup your tuition and fees as I am sure there are other creditors in line with their hand out as well.

I wish you the best of luck!

Re: Harrison college shut the doors on on my wife!

OmarR — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 22:55:01 GMT

Harrison was a college with proper accreditation.

Re: Harrison college shut the doors on on my wife!

Medic981 — Thu, 20 Sep 2018 23:06:06 GMT

@OmarR wrote:
Harrison was a college with proper accreditation.

Since Harrison college is properly accredited, I am surprised that the college's board did not attempt to reach out to other colleges with the same programs to find placement. She should have no problem earning her degree with proper accreditation attached to her program.

Re: Harrison college shut the doors on on my wife!

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Sep 2018 14:38:10 GMT

Omar:
Unfortunately, I have read that for-profit schools received up to 90% of their funding from government aid. They also have post-employment standards they have to adhere to do you will find a lot of them have either gone out of business when they are losing money or no longer in compliance, or they simply get sued.
There good news is this prevalence in deception has made it easier to get loans discharged. There is a specific program for this very thing, popular for those who went to Heald, DeVry, etc. The rest you just have to explain the situation. The school closing would be a prime example. As far as others aid... She's probably not getting that back.
I wish her luck!

Re: Harrison college shut the doors on on my wife!

OmarR — Sat, 22 Sep 2018 15:07:21 GMT

@Medic981 wrote:
@OmarR wrote:
Harrison was a college with proper accreditation.
Since Harrison college is properly accredited, I am surprised that the college's board did not attempt to reach out to other colleges with the same programs to find placement. She should have no problem earning her degree with proper accreditation attached to her program.

The Indiana State Board of Nursing as shut down this attempt. They claim that Harrison's accredited cirriculum does not match up with the cirriculum of other schools. On top of that, most schools require that you take 25%+ of their OWN cirriculum before they hand you their own degree. In this case, its going to be students starting over 100%.

Fortunately, my wife just realized that she recently paid off her FedLoans regarding a previous medical degree (a CST degree that she still uses at work) and not anything towards Harrison College. So she, likes others, have filed a dispute with FedLoan. This could take some time, and like a credit card, FedLoan still wants people making their minimum payments, but since most of the people affected are(were) currently enrolled in school, no payments were due yet.

She did pay Harrison $3500 directly out of pocket, so that refund might be an up-hill battle. For us, the money is really just a small inconvenience. Our combined income is just under $150K and we have no kids and no debt. It's just a matter of her having to commit the sweat equity all over again.

I really feel bad for the people that cannot handle this curve-ball financially. Since the Nursing State Board has denied a teach-out with other schools, will FedLoan drag their feet on getting these people re-financed with other schools? Will they go after Harrison swiftly? Harrison just sold their downtown building for $16.2M about 3 weeks ago.

One thing I have learned from all this:

Even if it costs you a little bit of interest, do NOT pay off your Fedloans until you have that degree in your hand. Keep that money in your savings or emergency fund for situations likes these. Just my opinion, but how much motivation does the govt have on refunding your money when they already have it and most likely has already been spent? This also makes me realize that paying a school directly with cash may not be the wisest choice. Students calling the school directly are only getting a disconnected number.

Re: Harrison college shut the doors on on my wife!

Anonymous — Mon, 24 Sep 2018 16:07:46 GMT

Omar: What you are looking for is a closed school loan discharge. Are you certain that is what you applied for? The school shutting down should qualify everyone. I think it can take a while to process but typically application for discharge completely halts payments. Although current legislature is making it harder, this is a great resource for those who run into this unfortunate situation.
https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/closed-school

I think there are basically to takeaways in things you can control here. First, always go the federal loans route, preferably student loans, because they have many more protections. Second, stay away from for-profit schools if you can. Imo they take advantage of people who have limited funds and want to get a convenient education. If you give them your money, people don't understand they may never get it back and will most often still be empty-handed. It's often worth the extra money to go to a state school, etc.

In your case you both make enough money you can pay of your educational debt; most will not be so lucky. The best option for borrowers is actually to start paying down while you're in school. The interest is substantial and eats people alive. People can also use these payments towards loan forgiveness. Also if you don't need the money, don't keep it. There are programs to delay payments for years if you fall on hard times. Few emergency funds will give you the interest rate for you to break with the interest accruing on the loan.
The "upside" with there school closing this way is you might be out the money you gave them, but at least you will get the loans discharged. Many of these scam schools are still in operation, and have been able to afford settlements that only pay a fraction of the loans. Glad this will work out for you both and allow you to borrow again for her to finish elsewhere.

Re: Harrison college shut the doors on on my wife!

kiea — Tue, 25 Sep 2018 20:27:42 GMT

Re: Harrison college shut the doors on on my wife!

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 01:03:33 GMT

OP im so sorry you and wife are going through this. I hope you are able to recover your losses and get the loans discharged.

Re: Harrison college shut the doors on on my wife!

CGeorge — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 01:19:14 GMT

I am so sorry, but Harrison College is not accredited.....

https://www.ibj.com/articles/60524-update-government-severs-ties-with-harrison-college-accreditor

Re: Harrison college shut the doors on on my wife!

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 13:01:16 GMT

CGeorge: That's not what the article says. There are multiple accreditng agencies. ACICS was one, recognized by the Dept of Education. However, the Dept of Education decided to no longer recognize the accreditor. This simply meant that Harrison college had to find a new one. According to their website, they were last accredited by "The Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES) is listed by the U.S. Department of Education as a nationally recognized accrediting agency."
https://harrison.edu/about/academic-affairs/accreditations-and-memberships

I think the largest problem with these types of schools is they are presented as legitimate options for a higher education with the backing of funding from Dept of Education. In fact, recently it was decided to lift several restrictions and standards for for-profit schools which will allow them to continue deceptive practices and make it harder for loans to be discharged even after the school gets shut down. I don't blame individuals who just want to get an education.

Re: Harrison college shut the doors on on my wife!

OmarR — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 18:36:50 GMT

@CGeorge wrote:
I am so sorry, but Harrison College is not accredited.....

https://www.ibj.com/articles/60524-update-government-severs-ties-with-harrison-college-accreditor

That is a 2016 article where they lost accreditation, and than re-gained it in 2017.

So yes, they were accredited until their closure this past month.

Re: Harrison college shut the doors on on my wife!

CGeorge — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 21:04:19 GMT

Very sad - what a tough position to be in...

Re: Harrison college shut the doors on on my wife!

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Oct 2018 21:50:59 GMT

OmarR: I just read an article that the Dept of Education was ordered to resume processing applications for loan discharge (for-profit schools). Was your wife able to get her application in to have the rest of the federal loans forgiven?

Re: Harrison college shut the doors on on my wife!

Anonymous — Fri, 26 Oct 2018 21:43:46 GMT

OmarR: If your wife is going to apply for the discharge, there was actually some recent news on this. A judge ordered DeVos to resume processing the applications, so they will get to your wife's as soon as they catch up with the backlog.
Another positive is collection and payment requirements are actually halted when you apply because the loans are put on forbearance. The interest accrues but that will be forgiven anyway. It also recently passed that discharged loans will no longer count as taxable income. Good luck on the process.