Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Georgia
My nephews attend private school, we re-enrolled at the school, we were required to pay a (non-refundable) application fee, matriculation fees and they started deducting the tuition. All before school starts. The re-enrollment was based on the previous years rules/policies. We were not formally or informally advised of major changes taking place with the school policies. At the end of July 2010 - the school posted on its website the new 2010-2011 policy handbook, nothing was mailed to us, nor were we advised to review it on the site. So much has changed that we have removed the kids from the school. Now the school is refusing to refund the matriculation fees and are charging us 500.00 withdrawl fee per child. We would not have re-enrolled under the new policies of the school. They did not provide us adequate notice of changes & additional fees for the school year. These changes were not and still are not posted on the schools website. When I discussed the situation with the headmaster, he simply said "If thats how you feel, then remove the children" then let me know that I am bound to the policies even if I do not sign the book. How can I be bound to the changes of policies & fees if they are provided after their required deadline for submitting enrollments doc/tuition payments & fees? What can I do to prevent the 500.00 fee per child and receive a fair refund?? Please help.
2 Answers from Attorneys
You left out the only thing that matters. What does your contract with them say?
This is not a credit and collections issue, but an education law issue. I do not handle education law. However, the starting place is a review of your contract with the school. It probably indicates that parents are bound by the policies as set forth in the handbook and that the policies can be revised at any time. If that is the case, you are bound by the policies regardless of whether you had actual notice of them or not.
Regarding your refund, you have to read the contract and/or policies to see how much you can receive back. While I understand that you feel that you are entitled to all of it since the children did not attend, the school filled slots for your children and may have turned away other children. Now that you have withdrawn the children, the school has empty spaces which it may or may not be able to fill, since the children who got turned away may have made other arrangements. The retention of your money is to compensate the school for their lost profit.
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