Legal Question in Education Law in Utah

From June 2008 to June 2009 I attended a technical college in Provo, Utah. While signing up for school, it was explained to me, by the financial aid officer, that I would be receiving more than enough financial aid to cover tuition. We agreed to the terms and amounts and a contract was signed.

As part of my schooling, I was to enter an externship beginning in February 2009. Sometime at the end of 2008, I was called into the financial aid office and was told that I was $3800 short on tuition due, and that I needed to take care of this before I was allowed to go out on externship. Under the threat of not going to externship and therefore not graduating, I reluctantly signed a loan agreement with the school, for this new amount due.

When asked about this discrepency, the aid officer explained to me that the school had been audited early in 2008. The audit revealed that students were not considered enrolled in school, full time, during externship and the school could no longer accept financial aid for this time. The students whom this has affected had been told that thier tuition covered all of the necessary expenses (books, labs, etc.) and assumed that this meant from the beginning of classes till the end of externship.

So far this has affected two different classes (both in the same year, 2008) and at least four persons, totalling around $7700.

Do we, the students, have the obligation or responsibility to cover this shortfall of money that the school could no longer accept from financial aid?


Asked on 3/17/10, 7:02 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Alvin Lundgren Alvin R. Lundgren, L.C.

Regardless of what you were told, the loan documents need to be examined to see what, if anything, was promised in writing. You can always sue the school if the school misrepresented the truth.

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Answered on 3/25/10, 7:33 am


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