After Charlie* embarked on his Ivy League adventure, he thrived. But unbeknownst to him, money was a problem.

Charlie, did you know that you had outstanding tuition bills?

For the year and a half I was at school, I had no idea there were any problems with paying for my tuition. If my parents received any sort of statements or letters, I was never privy to them.

I do not blame my folks for keeping this information from me. I think their first instincts were to protect me and to try to figure out on their own how they were going to come up with this huge sum of money to see their firstborn through his college education. And, the way I was raised, this is what parents do. They find a way, any way, to make their kid’s dreams come true, no matter what the sacrifices or hardships. And we were not raised to discuss the “sordid topic of coin.” So this crisis (and believe me, it was a crisis) just simmered and boiled over. And my entire family and I suffered for it.

How did you find out that you had to leave school?

I was home for the Christmas break. I had packed up all of my bags and even had some boxes addressed to my campus address that I needed to be mailed. I remember walking into our kitchen and telling my parents we had to go to the post office that day so the stuff would be at school when I arrived. They didn’t respond; they just sat there, very quiet. And I knew. I knew something was terribly wrong.

Mom and Dad broke the horrible news to me that I would not be going back to college and that Mom and I would be leaving the next day to collect all of my belongings. Of course, I was thunderstruck, devastated, shocked. I did not know how any of this could have happened. HOW could my carefully planned life have gone so terribly wrong? I remember a lot of tears. I was in a stupor for the entire drive and spoke very little to my mother.

When I got to school, I had to tell all my friends, as well as all of the freshmen I counseled (I was a Resident Counselor for my sophomore year) that I had to leave and I did not know if I would ever be coming back. I had less than 12 hours to pack up my entire college experience, stuff it into a tiny car and leave it all behind me. Once I got back home is when the anger and the fury at the school and what they had done to me and to my family begin to really take hold.

Because of the unpaid tuition bill, it took several years before your school would release your transcripts — meaning that you couldn’t continue your education elsewhere. How did that situation change your education plans?

I had no choice but to immediately go to work. With no college degree, I did not have a lot of options, but I did find a job at a local book retailer. I worked for several years in my home state and then transferred jobs to a neighboring state. Like any twentysomething , I needed to find my independence.

I always planned to go back to college. It was simply a question of when. And the WHEN was determined by the release of transcripts from the school. My education plans never changed — they were only postponed.

When all was said and done, how much did you owe?

We owed over $30,000, which included late fees and fines.

How long did it take to pay off the balance?

15 years.

Tomorrow, the final chapter: lessons learned (and emotional baggage packed).

* Names have been changed to protect the financially challenged.