School Districts Cracking Down On Overdue Student Fees
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Some local school districts have been ramping up efforts to collect long overdue student fees that have added up into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In West Aurora School District 129, Assistant Superintendent Angie Smith says about 5,000 current or former students owe anywhere from a couple of dollars to hundreds of dollars in overdue school fees.
She said about 1,000 those students owe the bulk of the $1 million in overdue fees that have accumulated over the past couple of years.
The fees are for everything from student registration to field trips to lost IDs.
So, starting in the fall, action will be taken against students who haven't paid or received financial waivers.
"We can't, obviously, withhold educational services for students for not paying fees, but the extras – the athletics, the prom, parking permits, things like that – we were letting those happen, even though there were fees that were due to us; and this will give people a reason why they need to stay current on their fees," Smith said.
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She said a similar get-tough approach worked for her when she was in the Plainfield school district.
"We're not trying to do this to punish anyone; but the reality is, you are able to pay, you should be paying," Smith said.
Of the $1 million that's owed, about $580,000 is owed by current students, according to Smith. The rest is owed by students who have graduated or left the district.
She said any former student who wants to attend prom as a date of a current student, for instance, will not get to attend if he or she is not paid up on student fees that were overdue.
Meanwhile, Waukegan School District 60 is also making an effort to collect some of the $1.2 million in overdue fees students owed just in the last year or so.
Spokesman Nick Alajakis said the district doesn't expect to collect all that money, especially since 72% of the district's 17,000 students are low income and eligible for fee waivers. However, the students must apply for those waivers.
The Waukegan school district was not threatening to take away student privileges for not paying, as the West Aurora district is.
