transcripts being held hostage

[TenderMoni]

I'm in the same boat as this "middle aged" woman...not sure if you consider me middle aged (38, lol). I owe my private school $18k; they won't budge, no payment plan. Do you know how much she owes? I've been listening to a lot of Dave Ramsey recently and now the thought of being debt free doesn't sound so daunting. Here are the scenarios I am considering:

1. Start from scratch - same discipline (from what i've read, the Big 3 only care if you want to get credit for these courses, compared to, for instance, Harvard Extension who explicitly states you cannot owe money to any other university when you apply)

2. Using an unofficial transcript I have, fill in the credits I need to finish my degree (using the tips from this site) and save up 1/3 of what I owe the school - offer them this as a settlement with the contingency they consider my account settled in full and I can get my transcripts. Being that it's been almost 20 years, and they've gotten nothing, they may be ready to negotiate, but I would want to have at least half (as a cushion) to offer them.

3. Start from scratch - completely different discipline - leaning towards this as I was a communications/theatre major. I took a bunch of bullpoo courses and didn't get the best grades. I really desire a fresh education with skills I can use now. I will eventually pay my former school, but it could take more than 3-4 years to get to them.

Final advice - she should consider how many credits she has there, the amount she owes, her current income, the amount of debt she has and how long it would take her to pay it off. It may surprise her that she COULD be debt free in under 2 years (gross assumption); if this is a possibility, taking any remaining courses while she pays off the other school might be an option...this is of course assuming she has some idea of what she took there.

HTH