College graduate denied diploma over medical debt dispute

A college graduate from Georgia is being denied his diploma until he pays back a medical debt he incurred while he was enrolled at the university.

Dylan Merrell played football for two years at Long Island University in New York. After he graduated, he learned that both his transcripts and his diploma were being held due to a $6,824 medical hold that was placed on his account.

"I found out that I had a medical hold on my record for insurance reasons, which completely blindsided me and caught me off guard," Merrell told CBS Atlanta. "I was told that my diploma was being withheld from me if those fees weren't cleared."

LIU, like many college athletics programs, requires student-athletes to have primary health insurance before they can participate in practices or other physical activities tied to their sports.

The university's student-athlete handbook requires players to upload their health insurance details, including front and back copies of their insurance cards, into the school's athletics portal for clearance before they play.

Merrell says he followed the instructions by submitting his information for his Blue Cross Blue Shield policy. He waived the school's health insurance offering.

However, school administrators are claiming that he did not, and that he now owes the school more than $6,000.

"The school is telling me that even though I uploaded my own insurance, I didn't waive the school's insurance off," he said. "So that insurance was automatically applied anyway, which means I would have to pay that fee."

The situation has left Merrell in a difficult position when it comes to job hunting; prospective employers typically ask for his university credentials, but he cannot provide them due to the medical hold.

"It's extremely frustrating. I've been in multiple job interviews where they asked for my official transcript, or they asked for my diploma, and I haven't been able to provide it," he said.

Merrell said he believes at least 15 job applications have been stalled because he cannot produce his records.

His mother, Carla Merrell, said it's frustrating seeing her son have to face another hurdle just for the chance to work and make a life for himself.

"He finished, he graduated, and so this is your reward?" she told CBS Atlanta. "With AI being in place and young graduates looking for a job in this economy, competing with people with years of experience, to know that this is yet another hurdle that he has to get over is quite frustrating and disappointing."

According to Reginald Shareef with The EDGE Foundation — which helps students navigate campus issues — colleges have recently been bundling school insurance with students' tuitions. The only way for students to avoid the charges is to file a waiver rejecting the insurance each term.

"It's one of the top reasons why people owe balances to universities because of unexpected charges that people don't foresee, or a lack of communication," he told CBS Atlanta.

LIU said that it has sent reminder emails concerning the waiver policy since last August.

The university also told CBS Atlanta that it will provide transcripts and confirm degrees to graduate schools or employers who inquire about them, regardless of outstanding balances or holds on student accounts.

The Independent has requested comment from the university.

This article’s headline was amended after publication to correct that the school withheld his physical diploma, not his overall degree. He still finished the course work to earn his degree.