The Permissibility of Withholding Transcripts under Bankruptcy Law. NACUA Publication Series. Second Edition.

This pamphlet summarizes the legal restraints that affect the right of colleges and universities to withhold transcripts as a means of collecting student debts under the Bankruptcy Code of the United States which provides for restraint on the actions of creditors. An introductory section notes that there are three kinds of relevant bankruptcies (Chapter 7, Chapter 11, and Chapter 13) and three sets of provisions of the Bankruptcy Code which affect the right to withhold transcripts: (1) the automatic stay provisions, which state that the filing of a petition for bankruptcy acts as a prohibition of actions to collect on obligations of the debtor; (2) the discharge injunction, which provides that once a discharge of debts has been granted, further actions to collect them are barred; and (3) the anti-discrimination clauses which prevent public entities and some private entities from denying various privileges to persons seeking bankruptcy protection. Each of these three sets of provisions are explained more fully in the following sections. A summary suggests rules for institutions to follow in making the decision to withhold a transcript. These rules focus on the importance of the exact status of the bankruptcy action. (CK)