Penalties for withdrawal before the end of the school year

[Anonymous]

We recently made the decision to withdraw our child from a private school for reasons which we obviously felt were serious but which I won’t go into in this post. What I’m interested in is others’ experience with enrollment contracts, because some of this seems irregular to us. I’m hoping some of you can comment on the following:

1. Does your school impose a financial penalty if you withdraw your student before the end of the school year? I totally understand why we would be on the hook for the remainder of this year’s tuition: we committed to pay the full amount in monthly installments and teachers still have to be paid. But we were actually charged an extra $1400 beyond our obligation because the enrollment contract (apparently—more on that in question 2) states that if the student leaves the school before the end of the school year, the family will be billed some percentage of the remaining tuition or $5000, whichever is greater. Our unpaid tuition was $3600, so we actually paid more to withdraw than we would have to stay. I don’t understand this policy and wonder if this is typical for privates in our area?

2. The whole reenrollment process at this school just seems like it is designed to hide information from parents. In previous years, there was a physical reenrollment form that came home via the student that families filled out and returned. We had to agree to the terms and sign, and since it was a paper form, it was easy to make a copy for our records. But for the last two years, this form has been delivered electronically to parents (good) as a Google form (questionable?). All the same information—we select “agree” or “disagree” and electronically sign and submit. Streamlined, sure, but what seems off to me is that most Google forms have a box to check on the submission screen for “send me a copy of my responses.” I don’t remember seeing that option on this form. So by the time I’d finished the form and sent it off into the void, I know had no record of what we’d just agreed to. And the school didn’t send us a copy or make the information contained in the form available anywhere else (website, student handbook, etc). Guess what critical information was on that form? The early withdrawal penalty scale! And sure enough, the school had retained a copy of our responses and sent them to us when we withdrew our kid. “As per your contract, you owe…” So this Google form was more than a “declaration of intent to reenroll,” it was also the actual contract. This seems intentionally opaque, and I’m wondering if other schools do this.

[Anonymous]

Just pay the amount and get out. Sounds like it's a headache to your family and you will be better off without them.

[Anonymous]

A lot of schools use online contracts, but usually professional services liek Veracross, not a Google Form. Our school has mandatory tuition insurance that covers the student needing to leave early. Since yours is using Google Forms, I doubt they are at this level. Just leave and see if they come after you for the balance owed.

[Anonymous]

If you owed 3600 and paid 1400 - then you saved $

At our school you’d be on the hook for 100% after June 1 even if you never attended a day. So it seems nice to me that they only penalize $5k max for leaving early….

[Anonymous]

No, we owed $3600 but paid $5000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you owed 3600 and paid 1400 - then you saved $

At our school you’d be on the hook for 100% after June 1 even if you never attended a day. So it seems nice to me that they only penalize $5k max for leaving early….

Lol. Reread OP - she said she was charged an EXTRA $1400.

[Anonymous]

Then you either misread the contract language or you should show them the language to prove you were over charged.

[Anonymous]

This sounds like a school on a shoe string budget. The fact they can’t pay for a professional enrollment service and use Google forms is odd. Be glad you are out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like a school on a shoe string budget. The fact they can’t pay for a professional enrollment service and use Google forms is odd. Be glad you are out.

Thank you. Other things we saw point to the same conclusion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like a school on a shoe string budget. The fact they can’t pay for a professional enrollment service and use Google forms is odd. Be glad you are out.

+1

[Anonymous]

Op, did you re-enroll for next year? Is this 3600 for this year and enrollment 1,400 for next year?

It is quite strange and illogical to be charged extra for leaving school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, did you re-enroll for next year? Is this 3600 for this year and enrollment 1,400 for next year?

It is quite strange and illogical to be charged extra for leaving school.

We did not reenroll. We got snagged by the “or $5000, whichever is greater” language in this year’s contract.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Op, did you re-enroll for next year? Is this 3600 for this year and enrollment 1,400 for next year?

It is quite strange and illogical to be charged extra for leaving school.

They got charged for leaving early of the current school year. Not because they didn't re-enroll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op, did you re-enroll for next year? Is this 3600 for this year and enrollment 1,400 for next year?

It is quite strange and illogical to be charged extra for leaving school.

They got charged for leaving early of the current school year. Not because they didn't re-enroll.

At our school, we pay in June/Jan for the next school year. And they would have kept everything if we decided not to attend or to leave.

[Anonymous]

We have left two different schools before the end of the year and neither had a clause like that. We paid the rest of the tuition but no penalty.