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Medical School Appears to Threaten Ejection Over Late Tuition


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Hi,

I am a 4th year medical student at a canadian medical school. My school has currently suspended my student file because I accidentally missed my tuition payment for the autumn 2019 semester leading to the loss of my malpractice insurance and thus the inability to complete my current rotation. This was done without any warning except for a single email with a vague object line and no flag that I've only just now realised I've received a month ago... No phone call, letter or anything. The current situation has me worried for a few reasons:

1) Their emails mention that the suspension of my files implies that I "cannot continue to attend my academic activities" without any specification of whether that is temporary or permanent (i.e. it isn't cleared whether it's a temporary administrative measure or I'm expelled)

2) I'm supposed to finish my degree in a couple months which greatly limits my options in the event that I end up failing my current rotation because of an excessive amount of missed days

3) I don't feel like getting expelled 4 months away from finishing my degree with a six-figure debt and no way to repay it outside of practicing medicine

So far, I've tried to contact many people but have been unable to get a hold of anyone despite several phone calls and emails to the clerkship administrator, program director, program administrative director and undergraduate medical program dean. The only information I could gather was that even though I have obviously made the necessary payment, my file can't be reoponed unless it's a wednesday for some reason. They couldn't give my any information about what happens once my file is reopened and whether I can continue my degree.

I was looking for tips on how to handle this situation from people who have (unfortunately) gone through a similar situation or who have a law background. Obviously, this is a very unpleasant situation for what is essentially a fairly minor issue and brings a lot of stress especially during the CaRMS period on top of everything.

Thank you for your answers!

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11 hours ago, Meridian said:

You missed paying your tuition 6 months ago. It was not a small amount like forgetting to pay your monthly cell phone bill.  I think you have most of the responsibility here.  If you are at your home school right now, go to the registrar in person on Monday morning.

No doubt that I messed up (even though it wasn't 6 months and it wasn't that large an amount considering the QC tuition). What bugs me is the lack of clarity and the apparent possibility of a completely overdone sanction.

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51 minutes ago, QCThroaway said:

No doubt that I messed up (even though it wasn't 6 months and it wasn't that large an amount considering the QC tuition). What bugs me is the lack of clarity and the apparent possibility of a completely overdone sanction.

Also, I dont know if its uncalled for, but try to keep a paper trail of all of your interactions and possibly audio record meeting with faculty. At the end of the day, its best to protect yourself. Since your school has already been uncooperative, its best to take some additional precautions. 

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26 minutes ago, Rococo said:

Don’t underestimate the rigidity and severity of a QC medical school. Your best hope is with a sympathetic administrator. In general, your future means absolutely nothing to anyone in the institution. If you end up with no future, then it's your fault. Don't go in with any idea of righteousness - it simply doesn't matter to them.  The institution is infallible.  

QC seems ruthless.

Especially with match day <1 month for you too?

Also tuition in QC is puny compared to other jurisdictions. Why did they not threaten you with this 6 months ago when you missed the payment? There should be checks and balances.

Still your fault for missing it, but seems overblown response - and very delayed?

Maybe some more clear details about when you missed, when they notified you, etc. Why did no one call you? 

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42 minutes ago, JohnGrisham said:

QC seems ruthless.

Especially with match day <1 month for you too?

Also tuition in QC is puny compared to other jurisdictions. Why did they not threaten you with this 6 months ago when you missed the payment? There should be checks and balances.

Still your fault for missing it, but seems overblown response - and very delayed?

Maybe some more clear details about when you missed, when they notified you, etc. Why did no one call you? 

Basically what happened is that they threatened not to send my MSPR to CaRMS (Are you guys starting to see a pattern? Haha... A bunch of my classmates got that sweet email.) during the autumn period because my summer tuition wasn't paid (even though it wasn't even late). I obviously paid at that point but thought I was paying for my autumn tuition and figured I was fine for a while. My autumn tuition bill literally came in a few hours after that payment was made causing me not to realise it had come in. The only notification I got was an email on the 15th of January with a very vague object line ("Ion [sic] and participation to your program's activities" because apparently they couldn't even use complete words) which I missed even when I was actively looking for such an email this week to see if they had sent one. I can't tell you why I never got a call or at least a physical letter, I'm trying to figure this out myself.

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this seems like quite the mess up on all sides -

if you weren't enrolled was your medical insurance paid? if not that is very bad, particularly if there was away electives etc. 

The office there should have been way more aggressive about tracking you down, and of course in hindsight you should have noticed the payment didn't go through, not miss the emails etc. 

Like others say - get into their office in person and straighten this out asap. hopefully it can be resolved, but I suspect there will have to be some pushing from people at the school to help. 

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11 hours ago, QCThroaway said:

All is well in the end. Got an email from the administrative director this morning confirming that my payment came in and that I could resume my rotation.

 

Thanks to everyone for their advice!

I am glad this worked out for you. That sounded like a total nightmare and an insane amount of stress.

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