Past Due Balances

Past Due Student Account Balances

The Student Accounts Office is responsible for collecting on past-due student accounts, and we are committed to working with and supporting students to complete their educational goals. There are different requirements for your student account balance depending if you are a current student or not currently enrolled. 

Regardless of being a current or former student, a hold will be placed on your account until the balance is paid in full or satisfactory arrangements are made. Diplomas will remain held until balances are fully paid off regardless of arrangements per the university policy.

Student Account Balance / Registration Holds:

If you owe a balance, a registration hold will be placed on your account automatically in our system. Students can also be subject to an account hold if their student account meets one of the following criteria:

• They owe a balance for any semester prior to the current term.
• Their payment plan for the current semester is inactive or is repeatedly missing payments.
• They have a remaining balance on the current semester, and it is past the due date for that semester.
• You have not completed your LESA form for the year - usually done before allowed to register for Fall classes.
• You have not submitted all of your financial aid paperwork required for your financial aid to be applied to your account balance.

A Student Account hold has the following effects:

• Prevents students from registering for additional semester.
• Prevents students from receiving a diploma at graduation.

Current Students With Past Due Account Balances

Students who elect to carry a balance on their Linfield University student account should note that their balance must be paid before they can register for the next term. Also, any unpaid past-due balance is subject to interest charges of 1% per month. Financial Aid can also be placed on hold until a previous term balance has been satisfied.

If you are having difficulty paying your balance, please contact the Student Accounts Office. We understand families run into obstacles paying their accounts in full and we try to be as flexible as we can to work out solutions that will work for the student and Linfield. Communication is key to resolving your balance due and to avoid registration holds on your account. It is important to contact our office as early as you know there are issues paying your account. We can work out arrangements with you and your family to keep you moving forward with your education plan if you reach out to us to work this out. 

To make arrangements with the Student Accounts Office, it MUST be requested in writing via email to student.accounts@linfield.edu.

Email Requests must include the following:

• Student Full Name
• Student Account Number
• When you will be able to pay -Actual Dates(s)
• How much you will be able to pay and how frequently
• When your account will be paid in full

We will respond once we review your account and any proposed payment arrangements with a decision on how we can move forward with you.

Former Students With Student Account Balances

For those who are not currently enrolled at Linfield University the balance of your student account is due in full. All past due balances that remain outstanding one month after a student has left the college or have failed to make payment arrangements are subject to be sent to a collections agency. If you are unable to pay your student account in full, the account goes into internal collections and your account continues to receive a monthly 1% interest charge. Both a diploma hold and a registration hold will be placed on your student account.

When students have a balance with Linfield University, they initially are sent a monthly billing statement via their Nelnet Student Account Portal. Students will continue to receive monthly notifications until the end of the semester, at which time they would be ineligible to register for a future semester. Students are responsible for checking their Linfield University emails for all notifications sent by Linfield Offices to ensure they are getting important account updates.

If no resolution after the semester is over, the past due balance on the student account will be moved to our internal collection system, ECSI for further collection efforts. Once your account is moved to ECSI, it is monitored by The Loans Receivable Coordinator in the Student Accounts Office. The Loans Receivable Coordinator can work with you to make payment arrangements if you are unable to pay your account in full. However, if the arrangements are not kept or sufficient, escalated collection activity may continue.

ECSI - Collection Accounts

Once your account is moved to ECSI you will be placed on a payment plan. If payments are not made for four months, the account will automatically be assigned to one of our collections agencies. Any cost by the collection agency will be the responsibility of the student and the debt will also be reported to the credit bureaus.

Once a student's account has been sent to one of our collection agencies, Linfield University can no longer set up payment arrangements with the student - this is all done through the agency and is no longer with the college. The most accurate information regarding your balance, including any fees owed, may be obtained through the agency with which the account was placed.

To set up the delinquent payment plan please contact the Loans Receivable Coordinator in the Student Accounts Office at mmcune@linfield.edu or call at 503-883-2461.