College Student Roasts University for Trying to Collect $1.96 Unpaid Bill, Divides Opinion

The College of William and Mary, located in Williamsburg, has amassed a $1.3 billion endowment, something that a TikToker by the name of Joseph who posts under the handle @jo_sif mentioned while slamming the school for repeatedly sending him reminders that he owes the university $1.96 in fees.

America is one of the most expensive countries to go to college in the world and consistently ranks as having the highest education costs. The collective student debt of folks who attended college in the USA clocks in at a whopping $1.75 Trillion, which is just another testament to the cost of higher education in the country.

Despite the high cost of US Education, in terms of quality when compared to other industrialized nations, America does fall behind, which could be one of the many reasons why fewer and fewer Americans are going to college, and maybe why so many TikTokers are getting upset over Joseph's post about the College of William and Mary's "petty" constant requests for a nominal amount of money.

In the now viral clip, Joseph writes in a text overlay, "Not my $1.3B endowed school hitting me up for $2 the past 8 months." He then shows off a series of emails from the university, highlighting the $1.96 total amount they're asking for in each message.

He ends the video with a video screen grab of him responding to one of the emails with a message of his own: "are you guys hurting for the $1.96 or do y'all got this," and then the video cuts out.

In follow-up TikTok clips, Joseph showed off their responses and gave further context as to why they're constantly "hounding" him for the money. As it turns out, the Bursar's Office was attempting to collect unpaid printing fees from the student. He responded that since it's been 8 months, he's "assuming there are no consequences" if he doesn't pay the fee.

He then followed up by asking if they're "hurting" for the money, again, which he then followed up with a dance peppered with hip thrusts and throwing up middle fingers to the camera while shirtless.

He didn't get a response and then a week later sent out a response asking if the charges were "waived" since they didn't respond which he then followed up with another shirtless dance, but not before asking if they were hiring at the University.

Some commenters had their own ideas for how Joseph would be able to have fun at the Bursar's Office expense in follow up correspondence, like explicitly stating that he'd only refund their money if they put, in writing, that they were "hurting" for it.

"tell them the only way you’ll send it is if they say in writing 'we’re hurtin’ for it'"

"W&M definitely don’t need the 1 dollar They cannot be serious"

"Valid this is me with my $40 hospital bill tbh"

"It’s all accounting. Outstanding invoices are a nightmare regardless of the amount and they’re probably just trying to close out their books."

Others said that if nominal bills like these go to collections it could ultimately spell bad news for Joseph and others who ignore them when it comes to credit scores: "My brother refused to pay a $30 sprint bill to the point it went to collections and destroyed his credit. The interest rate on a car for him…"