Getting Transcripts From College Wanting Money (maybe)

[nomaduser]

So, about 3 years ago I went to ASU, I have about 2 years worth of credits, dropped out because I couldn't afford it, even with financial aid. After I dropped out, they suddenly told me that I owed them money for things I had already paid for, because they retroactively took away the financial aid (I specifically asked if this would happen when I dropped out, and they said it wouldn't, but whatever).

I ignored it, and after a couple years of having bad credit, it disappeared from my credit, and I don't get any calls about it. It's been gone for at least a year, maybe 2 by now.

Now I'm considering making a degree plan and using CLEP tests and such to finish a degree, and it'd be really nice to get those credits from ASU, but I'm afraid that they won't give me the transcript because maybe I still have an outstanding balance with them. Even worse, I worry that having any contact with them at all will get them to start trying to collect again and will ruin my credit. Maybe I should just let sleeping dogs lie and count my blessings. On the other hand, if it disappeared from my credit score, maybe they don't have it listed as an outstanding balance anymore? I'm pretty sure they sold the debt to a collection agency, if that matters.

Any advice? It's a very strange situation, I know. To be clear, I've never taken out a single loan in my life. These are not student loans, just money that ASU may or may not think that I still owe them. I appreciate any advice.

I had similar issues. I was awarded scholarship when I got into a 4-year private university.
When I tried to transfer to another institution after about a year and half, they cancelled my scholarship ($16k) and asked me to pay back that money. It's a typical scam at US universities. Just ignore them.

Forget about ASU if they claim you have debts to pay off. It's totally ok to lose ASU credits.

Try NAU's competency-based program:
https://nau.edu/online/competency-based-online-degrees/

They allow you to pay $3k one-time subscription price and take as many courses as you want within 6 months.
There was a user who said his friend finished the entire degree within that 6 months term. However, make sure to not mention anything about ASU when you apply to NAU.
Here's how NAU's diploma will look like:



or try to get as many credits as possible within that 6 months subscription term and transfer the credits to other institution that will accept the credits. UoA's global campus will accept up to 90 credits.
https://www.uagc.edu/