Private school wants us to pay full tuition after withdrawing our son… any advice?

Hi everyone, I’ve got a situation with my kids’ former school and could use some advice. We had both of our kids in a private school that goes up to kindergarten. Our older child moved to a different school for first grade, and after a few weeks, we decided to transfer our younger child too.

Now the private school is telling us we’re obligated to pay for the full school year for our son, even though he was only there for three weeks. We didn’t sign a contract about this and didn’t get any paperwork or emails explaining that we’d have to pay the full year. The principal just pointed us to a policy on the school’s website.

Can they actually make us pay for the whole year without a signed contract?

That doesn’t sound right! If there’s no contract, I don’t see how they could legally enforce it. Did they even mention this policy to you when you enrolled him?

Wil said:
That doesn’t sound right! If there’s no contract, I don’t see how they could legally enforce it. Did they even mention this policy to you when you enrolled him?

Nope, they didn’t say anything about it directly. They’re just saying it’s ‘in their policy’ online.

@kenturcky
Sounds like a lack of communication on their part. They should have made it clear if it was that important!

If they didn’t have you sign anything agreeing to that policy, I think you’re in a good position to argue against it. They should’ve given you the policy in writing.

Sky said:
If they didn’t have you sign anything agreeing to that policy, I think you’re in a good position to argue against it. They should’ve given you the policy in writing.

Exactly! I didn’t even know this was an issue until we tried to withdraw him.

@kenturcky
If they didn’t give you a contract, I’d definitely push back on it.

Honestly, it sounds like you didn’t get a chance to agree to their policy if they only posted it online. You might want to check any emails or paperwork just to be sure there’s no fine print.

Blaire said:
Honestly, it sounds like you didn’t get a chance to agree to their policy if they only posted it online. You might want to check any emails or paperwork just to be sure there’s no fine print.

Good idea, I’ll look back through my emails to see if there’s anything I missed.

@kenturcky
That could be helpful! If you find nothing, it’s definitely worth arguing.

Most places need you to sign something to make it official. If there’s nothing in writing, you could have a strong case that you weren’t informed about it.

Zya said:
Most places need you to sign something to make it official. If there’s nothing in writing, you could have a strong case that you weren’t informed about it.

That’s what I was thinking. Without a signed agreement, it feels like they’re just trying to enforce a hidden rule.

@kenturcky
Exactly! They can’t just assume you’d know about it if they didn’t tell you.

If they keep pushing, maybe think about talking to a lawyer. Without a formal contract, it sounds hard for them to enforce this payment.

BrainTeaser said:
If they keep pushing, maybe think about talking to a lawyer. Without a formal contract, it sounds hard for them to enforce this payment.

Good call. If they don’t back down, I might have to go that route.

@kenturcky
Hopefully it doesn’t come to that, but you’d have a strong case if it does!