Student Financial Responsibility Agreement

Student Financial Responsibility Agreement


 

Agreement to Collin's Terms and Conditions of Registration and Agreement to Pay Tuition Charges and Unpaid Student Account Balances

 

PAYMENT OF FEES/PROMISE TO PAY

I understand when I register for any class at Collin County Community College District (Collin) or receive any service from Collin, I accept full responsibility to pay all tuition, fees and other associated costs and/or student account balances assessed as a result of my registration and/or receipt of services. I further understand and agree my registration is in fact acceptance of these terms and constitutes a promissory note agreement (i.e., a financial obligation in the form of an educational loan as defined by the U.S. Bankruptcy Code at 11 U.S.C. §523(a)(8)) in which Collin is providing me educational services, deferring some or all of my payment obligation for those services, and I promise to pay for all assessed tuition, fees and other associated costs and/or balances by the published or assigned due date.           

I understand and agree I am responsible for dropping/withdrawing from courses I do not plan to attend. I understand my registration is only complete upon full funding of my courses. I understand and agree if I drop or withdraw from some or all of the classes for which I register, I will be responsible for paying all or a portion of tuition and fees in accordance with the published tuition refund schedule, which specifies 100 percent remission of tuition and fees is only available for courses dropped prior to the beginning of the term or mini-term. I have read the terms and conditions of the published tuition refund schedule and understand those terms are incorporated herein by reference. I further understand my failure to attend class or receive a bill does not absolve me of my financial responsibility as described above.

Per Texas Education Code 54.007(2)(d): A student who fails to make full payment of tuition and mandatory fees, including any incidental fees, by the due date may be prohibited from registering for classes until full payment is made. A student who fails to make full payment prior to the end of the semester or term may be denied credit for the work done that semester or term.

DELINQUENT ACCOUNT/COLLECTION

 

Financial Holds: I understand and agree if I fail to pay my student account bill or any monies due and owing Collin by the scheduled due date, Collin will place a financial hold on my student account, preventing me from making registration changes and/or additions, requesting transcripts, receiving my diploma, and/or my course enrollment status may be changed to drop for non-payment or withdrawn.

 

Collection Agency Fees:  I understand and accept if I fail to pay my student account bill or any monies due and owing Collin by the scheduled due date and/or fail to make acceptable payment arrangements to bring my account current, Collin may refer my delinquent account to a collection agency. I understand and accept monies owed includes any unpaid amount on my student account, including but not limited to assessed charges for qualified tuition and related education expenses and/or adjustments to financial aid awards and/or amounts not covered under a third party funding agreement made on my behalf between Collin and another entity. I further understand that if Collin refers my student account balance to a third party for collection, a collection fee will be assessed and will be due in full at the time of the referral to the third party.  The collection fee will be calculated up to the maximum amount permitted by applicable law, but not to exceed 30 percent of the amount outstanding.  For purposes of this provision, the third party may be a debt collection company or an attorney.  If a lawsuit is filed to recover an outstanding balance, I shall also be responsible for any costs associated with the lawsuit such as court costs or other applicable costs.  I understand and agree that my delinquent account may be reported to one or more of the national credit bureaus. I hereby give authorization to apply all monies due me from Collin to any delinquent amount due; until the principal account balances as well as any other fees and/or costs are paid in full. I also understand and agree all disputes about registration or payment will be governed in accordance with the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to the principles of conflicts of laws of the State of Texas. The venue for any lawsuit regarding collection of a delinquent debt will be in Collin County, Texas.

 

Drop for Non-Payment: I understand if my course enrollment is changed to a drop for non-payment status, it is my responsibility to initiate and complete any subsequent registration activity for the term.

 

Late Payment Charge: I understand and agree if I fail to register prior to the start of a term and/or fail to pay my student account balance or any monies due and owing Collin by scheduled due dates, Collin will assess current Board approved fees, late payment and/or finance charges as published and/or included in any additional promissory note or agreement between the student and Collin.

 

 

COMMUNICATION

 

Method of Communication: I understand and agree Collin uses my Collin assigned e-mail account as the official method of communication with me; and therefore, I am responsible for reading the e-mails I receive from Collin on a timely basis and taking any required action indicated in official correspondence sent to this address.

 

Contact: I authorize Collin and its agents and contractors to contact me at my current and any future cellular phone number(s), email address(es) or wireless device(s) regarding my delinquent student account(s)/loan(s), and any other debt I owe to Collin and/or to receive general information from Collin. I authorize Collin and its agents and contractors to use automated telephone dialing equipment, artificial or pre-recorded voice or text messages, and personal calls and emails, in their efforts to contact me. Furthermore, I understand that I may withdraw consent to call my cellular phone using automated telephone dialing equipment by submitting my written request, including name, CWID, and contact phone num ber, to webservices@collin.edu or, when applicable, in writing to the applicable contractor or agent contacting me on behalf of Collin.

 

Updating Contact Information: I understand and agree that I am responsible for keeping Collin records up to date with my current physical addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers by following the published procedure. The linked procedure is incorporated herein by reference. Upon leaving Collin for any reason, it is my responsibility to provide Collin with updated contact information for purposes of continued communication regarding any amounts that remain due and owing to Collin.

 

METHOD OF BILLING

 

I understand Collin uses electronic billing (e-bill) as its official billing method; and therefore, I am responsible for viewing and paying my student account e-bill by the scheduled due date. I also understand not all registration activity will result in an e-bill being generated prior to a due date and that any activity on my account may generate additional financial activity on my account not included in the e-bill. It is my responsibility to verify my current account balance and comply with payment deadlines. I further understand that failure to receive or review my e-bill does not constitute a valid reason for not paying my bill on time. E-bill information and current account balance detail is available in the secure CougarPay portal accessed through my CougarWeb access.

 

BILLING ERRORS

 

I understand administrative, clerical or technical billing errors do not absolve me of my financial responsibility to pay the correct amount of tuition, fees and other associated financial obligations assessed as a result of my registration at Collin.

 

RETURNED PAYMENTS/FAILED PAYMENT AGREEMENTS

 

If a payment made to my student account is returned by the bank for any reason, I agree to repay the original amount of the payment plus a returned payment fee per the published fee rate. I understand that multiple returned payments and/or failure to comply with the terms of any payment plan or agreement I sign with Collin may result in cancellation of my classes and/or suspension of my eligibility to register for future classes at Collin; suspension of some payment method opportunities; collection processes as noted in the Delinquent Account/Collection section above, and/or Justice of the Peace proceedings and possible warrants, as a result of a returned check.

 

TOTAL WITHDRAWAL FROM COURSES

 

If I decide to completely withdraw from Collin, I will follow Student Development’s policy, which I understand and agree is incorporated herein by reference.

 

PRIVACY RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES 

 

I understand Collin is bound by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which prohibits Collin from releasing any information from my education record without my written permission. Therefore, I understand that if I want Collin to share information from my education record with someone else, I must provide written permission per the FERPA Student & Parent Guide. I further understand I may revoke my permission at any time as instructed in the same procedure. Further, I understand I may provide FERPA release online for my student financial account information via the CougarPay portal in CougarWeb by assigning ‘authorized user’ status to individuals of my choosing and that I may revoke that online authorization as instructed in the same portal.

 

I further understand and agree that if I, or an agency to which I provide authorization, submit a request to Collin for that third party to fund all or part of my educational expenses at Collin that this serves as my FERPA release for Collin to provide that agency with information the agency requires to complete the funding process. I understand and agree that required information may include, but may not be limited to, student account, enrollment, completion, and personal identifying information.

 

NOTIFICATION OF SOCIAL SECURITY COLLECTION AND USEAGE

 

Collin’s Business Office is required to report Social Security Numbers (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN) to meet Internal Revenue Service (IRS) information reporting regulations as well as other federal, state, and contracted business partner funding and reporting requirements. I understand and authorize Collin to use my SSN/ITIN for internal and external credit reporting and collection purposes for all charges incurred against this account for the duration of my enrollment at Collin. All entities are mandated by contract and federal law to protect your confidentiality, and SSN/ITIN’s are confidential and exempt from public records requests.

 

IRS Form 1098-T: I agree to provide my Social Security number (SSN) or taxpayer identification number (TIN) to Collin upon request as required by IRS regulations for Form 1098-T reporting purposes by logging into CougarWeb, then from the Student tab selecting the Tuition/Payment block, then the Student's Taxpayer ID Certification and providing the requested information. If I fail to provide my SSN or TIN to Collin, I agree to pay any and all IRS fines assessed as a result of my missing SSN/TIN.

 

I consent to receive my annual IRS Form 1098-T, Tuition Statement, electronically from Collin for any calendar year in which I am eligible to receive the 1098-T Form. I understand that my act of registration is my consent. However, if I choose to register but wish to withdraw my consent for an electronic Form 1098-T, I understand I must rescind that consent via the CougarPay portal by cancelling the 1098 eDelivery authorization. Upon my consent withdrawal, a paper copy will be provided for eligible calendar years.

 

STUDENT AGE

I understand and agree if I am younger than the applicable age of majority when I execute this agreement that the educational services provided by Collin are a necessity, and I am contractually obligated pursuant to the “doctrine of necessaries.”

 

ADDITIONAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR STUDENTS APPLYING FOR AND/OR RECEIVING FINANCIAL AID, INCLUDING LOANS, GRANTS AND/OR SCHOLARSHIPS 

I understand aid described as “estimated” on my Financial Aid Award does not represent actual or guaranteed payment but is an estimate of the aid I may receive if I meet all requirements stipulated by that aid program.

I understand my Financial Aid Award is contingent upon my continued enrollment and attendance in each class upon which my financial aid eligibility was calculated. If I drop any class before completion and/or do not participate as required by federal law, I understand my financial aid eligibility may decrease and some or all of the financial aid awarded to me may be revoked.

If some or all of my financial aid is revoked because I dropped or failed to attend class, I agree to repay all revoked aid which was disbursed to my account and resulted in a credit balance refunded to me.

I understand  and agree any financial aid, including but not limited to federal Title IV financial aid, I receive, except for Federal Work Study wages, will first be applied to any outstanding balance on my account in the same academic year in which the aid was awarded for tuition, fees, room and board. Title IV financial aid includes aid from the Pell Grant, Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG), Direct Loan, PLUS Loan, and TEACH Grant programs. I authorize Collin to apply my financial aid, including Title IV financial aid, to other charges assessed to my student account such as liability insurance (when required by my course selection and registration), bookstore charges, service fees and fines, and any other educationally related charges or balance due. I further understand this authorization will remain in effect until I rescind it or the end of the financial aid award period for which I was offered and accepted the financial aid award and that I may decline or withdraw this authorization at any time by providing written notice to studentfinancials@collin.edu or any Student Financials office location.

 

Prior Year:  I authorize Collin to apply up to $200 of any financial aid award disbursed to my student account against outstanding educationally related charges assessed to my student account in a prior award year. I may decline or withdraw this authorization at any time by providing written notice to studentfinancials@collin.edu or to any Student Financials office location .

 

Prizes, Awards, Third Party Educational Assistance, Scholarships, and Grants: I understand all prizes, awards, third party educational assistance, scholarships and/or grants awarded to me or processed by Collin on my behalf will be credited to my student account and applied toward any outstanding balance. I further understand my receipt of a prize, award, third party educational assistance, scholarship or grant is considered a financial resource according to federal Title IV financial aid regulations and that I am responsible for reporting that resource as such, which may therefore reduce my eligibility for other federal and/or state financial aid (i.e., loans, grants, Federal Work Study) which, if already disbursed to my student account, must be reversed and returned to the aid source. I understand I will be financially responsible for any balance due on my account as a result of such resource reversal.

 

DISPUTE RESOLUTION

 

I understand and agree in the case of any dispute with Collin regarding any terms and conditions of my registration or student life while associated with Collin, Collin may require settlement of the dispute through arbitration or mediation rather than civil litigation.


I understand and agree that by leaving this page and choosing to register for courses at Collin College, I am accepting responsibility for my student account and agree to all the responsibilities, terms and conditions as specified in this agreement.


 

 

ENTIRE AGREEMENT

 

This agreement supersedes all prior understandings, representations, negotiations and correspondence between the student and Collin, constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to the matters described, and shall not be modified or affected by any course of dealing or course of performance. This agreement may be modified to comply with future Board approved policy changes published to the Collin website and/or a change or modification signed by me. Any modification is specifically limited to those policies and/or terms addressed in the modification.