I have a debt of 3,000 with a collection agency. I got my hopes up with thinkin that i could settle and maybe pay about 2/3 of this amount. Upon further discoveries it sounds as if i may not be able to. I fell really confused. The money owed is not through federal student loan(which i understand have no shot at a settlement with a CA), as I checked on fafsa and only money listed was a grant for a comm coll I attended a year ago. This makes me believe that the money owed is for past tuiton cost and not fed loans..what are my best options at this point, I owe roughly 3,000 to a CA and need this paid off in two months. Is a settlement woth trying?

Absolutely, the worst they can do is say "no". Most CAs are willing to settle for 40-60 cents on the dollar. They will make money that way because believe it or not they bought the debt for between 20-40 cents on the dollar. The other thing you could do is try a payment plan and so long as you made the payment you'd be set. You could even do both, talk them down and then do a payment payment plan.

Sorry but community colleges are publically funded and will not settle tuition accounts that low. A lot of school will not settle at all. They can tile for state tax offset and hold transcripts. CA's do not own these debts so they can only follow what the school will allow them to settle for.

I would try contacting the school directly. See if you can work out a payment plan with the school. I would ask them to call it back from the CA and tell them that you will deal direct with the school but not the CA. CA's tend to lie and if you pay a CA you will find it much harder on your reports than if you dealt with just the school. The school can list on your reports but if you are working with them they may not.

I would also ask the school for your account ledger and make sure all the charges are correct.

I caught my school not crediting my account for a scholarship I had won for two years in a row, after requesting my account ledger.

Work with the school and pay it off and you will be much better.

In most cases, working with the school is not an option. The CA is hired under contract for a specific period of time, and they get paid regardless of who or where the student sends the money to. The school I worked at absolutely refused to work with any students assigned to a CA and this is common in most schools. The OP himself should be able to log into his student account or he can request a copy thru the CA.

I am in a similar situation. I charged $1750 in tuition to UNM, which ended up not being covered by my financial aid. This is the biggest amount showed as outstanding on all three of my CR (currently ~$2500). The account was sent to ICR. I havent decided whether I should try to work through the school, although from post above that may not be an option, or make payment arrangements to CA. Anyone else have experience with something like this.