The Illinois legislature is currently considering the Student Debt Assistance Act, a measure that prohibits institutions of higher learning from reporting delinquent accounts to credit bureaus and withholding transcripts due to past due balances.

We expect more states to follow suit with similar statutes.

This doesn’t mean institutions don’t have ways to recover that revenue, though. In fact, ECSI has been helping students and schools avoid credit reporting and the involvement of collections agencies for decades. Understanding our philosophy and approach to past-due accounts can help you improve your cash flow while improving graduation rates.    

ECSI is NOT a Collections Agency. And We Don’t Want to Be.

We believe in the mission of higher education. Our goal is to help students in past-due situations without any threat to their educational or financial futures. After all, nobody benefits from the collections process. Students in the collections process may miss out on finishing their education, or receive negative marks on their credit. Institutions sending them to collections will likely miss out on receiving the full amount of revenue they’re owed.

We work to provide a compassionate path to helping students pay off their balances and stay enrolled … while also helping institutions recovery the funds they need to provide the best education and campus experience possible.

Making the Payment Process as Painless as Possible

The best way to avoid credit reporting and collections is by taking a student-friendly approach – one that provides them with the flexibility to resolve accounts over time with payments that fit their financial situation.

Our RecoverySelect solution does just that. It uses sophisticated software to provide flexible payment plan options to students long before credit reporting or the collections process become a consideration. Students can easily set up or edit payment plans, make payment and manage their accounts online at any time. 

Schools Also Benefit from the Student-First Approach

With a 40% resolution rate, RecoverySelect has helped schools recover millions of dollars from past-due accounts that might otherwise have been lost in the collections process. At the same time, it’s increased student retention rates at those institutions by more than 25% and helped boost graduation rates.