"State Sen. Ghazala Hashmi (D-Richmond) plans to reintroduce legislation during the upcoming General Assembly session to prohibit public colleges and universities from withholding student transcriptsin certain situations.
'What's really been heart-wrenching is to hear the stories of students who have employment opportunities or who have been accepted into other institutions, but they have not been able to get their transcripts in order to move forward,' Hashmi said.
Currently, every public university in Virginia prevents students who owe the school money from accessing their transcripts, though each sets it own rules regarding minimum balances for holds.
In addition to limiting the circumstances in which schools would have to release transcripts to students, Hashmi said her legislation would allow — but not require — universities to request students enter into payment plans to settle existing debt in order to receive transcripts,"
reports VPM.