The letter was to formally notify you of amounts owed to Rio Hondo College, and that Rio Hondo College is participating in the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office Tax Offset Program (COTOP).
Prior to submitting an account to COTOP for tax offset, the Rio Hondo College Accounting Office will send out a “due process” collection letter to the last known address of the students, instructing them that they may be sent to COTOP. Students then have 30 days to pay their fees in full or to make payment arrangements before the debtor data is submitted to the State Chancellor’s Office. This is to allow the debtor time to question the debt and/or pay the college before the tax offset process begins through the Franchise Tax Board.
Non-resident tuition; enrollment fees; library fines; library replacement material charges; parking fees; parking fines (limited to those fines submitted within 3 years of being incurred); personal checks returned for non-sufficient funds; returned check service charges; child care charges; instructional equipment breakage/replacement charges; health fees; transcript fees; foreign student insurance charges; dental health
center charges; community services fees; lost key charges; transportation charges/fees; audit fees; contract class charges; instructional material fee; damage to campus facilities/equipment charges; student representation fee, student center fee; campus financial aid funds, and the Board of Governors Enrollment Fee Waivers (BOG) for which the student was not eligible.
Please follow the instructions on the letter you have received. You can pay your fees either online through ACCESSRIO, in person at the Cashier’s Office, or by mail. If your fees are not paid in full in the 30 days after the letters are sent out, your information will be submitted to COTOP.
You may submit objections and any supporting documentation to this action personally, or in writing. Please include:
- your full name,
- student ID number,
- mailing address,
- and send your request within 30 days from the date of this letter to Rio Hondo College, Attn: Accounting Office/COTOP, 3600 Workman Mill Road, Whittier, CA 90601.
Upon receipt of your objections and supporting documentation, a Committee will review your request. If the committee finds that the debt is in error, the COTOP request will be withdrawn or the amount will be corrected. If no objections are submitted or if the objections are considered to be insufficient, we will proceed with this action.
Your pasts due student fees were submitted to COTOP due to non-payment. Because Rio Hondo College did not receive anything in writing to dispute the charges explained above, COTOP was used as a collections tool provided by the State of California. If you want to dispute your charges, please follow the instructions above.
You can log into your ACCESSRIO account and check the amount you owe. Under Financial Information, click on the Make a Payment link to view your past due balance.
Please note our policy regarding student receivable collections:
All account balances not paid in full when due are the sole responsibility of the student. The District expects to recover 100% of the debt amount and the student is responsible for all costs incurred by the District to collect such debt. These include and not limited to late fees, collection costs charged by the collection agencies usually 25% to 33% of debt, the California Community College’s Chancellor’s Office Tax-Offset Program 25% of the debt, litigation/attorney’s fees, court costs and interest. Our Accounting staff is available to discuss your financial difficulties and recommended a payment plan to avoid incurring additional fees.
