Education Policy, Business and Technology

Universities in Va. hit students with whopping collection fees for unpaid tuition

The Washington Post: When Katie Otersen transferred from Northern Virginia Community College to George Mason University last fall, she braced for a jump in price. Tuition and fees would total $11,300, more than double what she had paid before. She covered expenses the first semester without taking out loans. But she struggled in the second.

Little by little, Otersen paid down her bill with earnings from a job at a salon, but she still owed nearly $3,000 when classes ended. When she sought to make another payment in May, she was shocked to learn that her account had been sent to a collection agency that tacked on a fee of 30 percent. She can’t continue at Mason unless she pays it.

“I can’t argue or negotiate this. I’m just stuck paying almost $1,000 more,” Otersen, 23, said. “The fact that they charged me as a student who has been paying throughout the semester this 30 percent fee is disgusting.”

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