I attended the University of Phoenix in 2009. I attended two classes. I was very unhappy. I suppose I was very naive but I received little paper work and I was led to believe that my monies were grants. For the most part. I dropped out in January of 2010. I received a letter from UOP stating that I owed them $1.01. I found this hilarious and called and paid the charges. I have not heard boo. Not one single word from them since this time.
Last year when I filed my taxes...which I have done every single year since I turned 18... the Department of Education took my entire refund. Our family is financially struggling and this was a devastating hit. I DO have student loans for another college I attended but they are in good standing. I had no idea what was going on. After calling the DOE, I was informed the monies taken were for UOP and that despite taking nearly $3000 from me, that I still owed them more than $18, 000! For two classes. And not only two classes but classes I am certain I do not owe for.
I filed a dispute with the DOE. They turned my request down as I have no proof. As I have said, I got very little paperwork from them...and it had been so long I had thrown out the documents. I did file some other sort of dispute but have never heard anything back in regard to a decision.
Is this legal? How do I fight this? How can I protect my taxes this year? How can I protect my husband's taxes?
I very much want my money back from last year but if that's not possible I really need to receive my taxes this year as well as my husband's.
I enrolled in 2009 and unfortunately I was naive and trusting the school to help me down the correct path. I was told numerous lies and since I had no knowledge of the college admissions procedure I trusted the advisors. I dropped out of high school so I had never seen the FAFSA or knew exactly what it was. I knew it had to do with financial aid though I was told by the enrollment advisor that I would receive most of my needed aid in grants since I wasn't in a stable enough financial situation to afford any type of loans. I wasn't prepared to enroll the day of my initial phone call however the advisor convinced me that I needed to enroll immediately so I wouldn't miss the start of this block of classes. I was nervous about making such a big decision without talking it over with my husband. The advisor asked me if I thought my husband would be proud of my decision to further my education, and so I said, Ok you're right. He wouldn't want me to miss my opportunity. My husband had just took a new job with the railroad so he was gone most of the time, leaving me to care for our two children by myself. Fast forward to 2013, it was a struggle to achieve a bachelor's degree while working full time and being the primary caregiver of two small children. I spent the next 7 years trying to find work with this degree even though EVERYTHING the advisors said I could do with it was a LIE! So to finish this horrible nightmare I have almost $80, 000 in student debt and my husband of almost 20 years divorced me because he didn't want to be responsible for the debt from my stupid decision. Thanks University of Phoenix for showing me that people don't mind lying to trusting idiots like me. I want my loans discharged because I can't use the degree.