Kentucky Garnished $50M for Unpaid Tuition Without a Court Order

In the last 12 years, the Kentucky Department of Revenue has claimed in excess of $50 million from students behind on payments to Kentucky’s public universities. The department has managed to do so by taking money out of the students’ tax refunds and paychecks without a court order. It has also collected a hefty amount in fees as well, tacking on a 25 percent collection charge that the people owing the money have to pay.

The ability to collect those debts in that fashion may change soon since one county judge in Kentucky has ruled that UK HealthCare’s use of the revenue department in a similar way for collecting on medical debts from patients is illegal, according to Tribune News Service.

The Aftermath of the Ruling
After the judge issued that ruling, Kentucky public universities took notice since that department collects the debt for all Kentucky public universities with the exception of the University of Louisville. The debt that is collected is usually owed because of students falling behind on tuition payments.

As UK HealthCare attempts to appeal the court’s decision, five universities lent their support, informing the court the decision could be disastrous for the schools which depend heavily on the money collected by the department of revenue. The schools who filed a brief in court were Morehead State University, Western Kentucky University, Eastern Kentucky University, Murray State University, and Kentucky Community and Technical College System.

Jane Fitzpatrick, Morehead State University general counsel, penned the motion that was sent to the court.

“This is important because it’s a substantial way of our collecting monies that are owed the commonwealth,” Fitzpatrick said, according to Tribune News Service.

https://lendedu.com/news/how-kentucky-garnished-50m-for-unpaid-tuition-without-a-court-order/