My college is trying to screw me over

To make a long story short, i'm a Radiology major (X-Ray Tech) and am supposed to graduate next week. I transferred from one Radiology program to another school of the same chain. (Somerset Community to Pineville Community) Both of these schools are accredited from KCTCS (Kentucky Community and Technical College Systems.) I transferred from Somerset to Pineville College to finish my last semester of the program because it was closer to home and affording driving an hr away for clinicals 5 days a week was getting unbearable. Before transferring, all of my classes were said to be fine, all competencies from clinic were fine, and the rest of my classes for this Spring semester were completed then i was good to go.

Anyway, so yesterday (A week before graduation) I get this letter in the mail saying that 25% of my classes have to be completed from the school i am graduating from (Pineville) so i won't be able to graduate. Although all of my undergrad classes, all radiology classes, all clinical hours have been passed, completed, and signed off by my Radiology coordinator, they are saying i need 4 hours of anything before i can graduate which will put me into the summer semester.

My point of view: Everything was told to me from the get go that everything was in order and worked out fine. The college had done sent me letters upon letters to order my cap and gown to walk in graduation, i have already paid my $200 (non refundable) to take the Kentucky board exam for Radiology on May 14th. All classes required and clinical classes that were asked of me were completed, but you're going to send me a letter 7 days before graduation day and say it can't happen? Nahhh, i don't think so. SOOOO i talked to the dean of the college and he acted like i had to take 4 more hours before graduating. I told him that my attorney and I would like to schedule a meeting with him asap to get this covered because that is bull. Thoughts?

 

Sounds like a crap deal, but it also sounds like you might be up against a wall.

It's not always the same folks who decide about credit transfer, graduation set up, graduation requirements, etc etc. and where it's a college system vice just one school, it might not even be a decision made at your school.

Good luck with the lawyer meeting, but be ready to take another class or two.

 

That sucks big time! Although somewhere along the way they screwed up, looks like you will just have to take it. You still get to walk and stuff don't you?

 

I know, but paying $800 tuition for 4 more hours of classes that are uncalled for and that were not told to me at the beginning (that i could have taken this semester if i had to) and not getting a $200 refund for the board exam is not going to fly over well with me.

 

Sounds like a raw deal to me as well.

If you can't get anyone there to resolve it, maybe you can contact the first school and transfer your credits back there to graduate?

As if you had taken the classes at the second school as a transient student.

 

They said i would still walk but you still have to take into consideration tuition for those classes coming out of pocket, non refundable board exam $, gas and even more time ya know.

 

He said that would be possible, but leaving the first school in the first place did not go over well with the clinical instructor there because he felt as if his program was the top one and i was just taking the easy route out which wasn't the case.

 

You need to go talk to the Dean.

 

Yeah...Sadly (and call me a pessimist)- It's a pain in the ass to get things fixed like this, even when it's someone else's fault. Cause the person who skipped telling you or didn't know better or whatever won't be the same person who you have to work with to get it fixed...and the person you get to work with now will take the easy way and point at the rule book and say they can't do anything.

You may pay as much as a semester will cost you to fight it...if you want to take it that far.

 

man, that sucks. who did you talk to about the transfer and whether it would work? was it an advisor or liason and if so, do you have a signed copy of the advising paperwork? my girlfriend works for the college of education at our school (texas state) and sees this a lot where an advisor grants a waiver or something which usually goes against what is dictated in school regs (but somehow someway advisors always have the last word and magically do anything they want when it comes to these things, worked in my favor a couple times) and without the paperwork, your word is pretty useless. a lot of these schools just go off check boxes in a computer program and its a matter of just checking them off and an advisor can definitely bypass these checkmarks but that paper saying they granted you a pass or basically giving you a big thumbs up to transfer is the only thing you got to prove all this. hopefully, it works out alright for you but unfortunately i would get ready to take 4 more hours.

 

Even though the board exam is non-refundable, is rescheduling an option?

 

I have multiple emails from the different people of the college saying i met the requirments to graduate, then they will say no, then they will say yeah, then they say no. I also even have my advisor (Who is Radiology program coordinator) on my side saying this isn't right and all of my requirments were filled.

 

It is but you have to pay a $75 fee to reschedule for a later date.

 

better than $200 haha

raw deal though and really shitty of them not to "realize" you had to have that 25% to graduate there

 

Yes, you definitely should find out that if you haven't already. A lot of times those exam sessions are like that. You can reschedule it if you notified in time.

 

Well, the $75 is certainly less than losing the whole $200....it seems to me that if you CAN transfer the credits back to the previous institution and still graduate on time w/degree so you can take your exam...that would be the way to go...

It sounds like you are in a no win situation, so the question is, do you have enough time to fight this?

Or, would the prudent thing to do is transfer credits ASAP, graduate, take your test, maybe lose $75, maybe not if you can do it quickly...

Good luck...

 

I should have known. Most any of the board exams are extreme ripoffs. Their test contractor knows you have to have it for a job, so they stick it to you big time. $75 to change the date for you in their database.

 

Yeah, that's really shitty. Good luck!

 

This^^^.
Schools usually require a minimum number of hours at that school in order to graduate there, i.e. you can only transfer so many hours in from somewhere else.

Anyway, good luck, I hope you get it resolved.

 

Sounds pretty standard to me. Being military I transferred credits on many occasions. I have seen that rule before. However if the schools are connected and the advisers said it would be no problem, I think you can fight it. If not, just transfer everything back to the first school and graduate from there. Sometimes its easier to conform to the silly rules than to waste your time fighting with them. Pick your battles.