Unpaid Tuition (Not Student Loan) Gone to Lawsuit Collections

My question involves collection proceedings in the State of: Ohio

Hello! Thank you to anyone for any help and/or clarification.

I received a letter from a law office in Ohio (my state of residency) advising that my file has been place in their office. The letter advises that no lawsuit has been filed YET.

I have an outstanding balance from an Ohio public college from approximately 8 years ago. This was not a student loan, it is tuition that I did not pay. The law office says that I owe about $5,000 which includes interest.

A couple of years ago, I received a call from the Ohio Attorney General's office and I made monthly payments. I did not have much money, but I was scared because it was Attorney General. After a year of payments, they called to update the payment plan and the balance had hardly moved. They said it was due to interest.


I am very worried about a lawsuit and do not want this on my record. I am pursuing a career in the auto insurance industry and any lawsuits would show up when the company searches my info. Even if this was settled, once a lawsuit is filed, it will come up whenever anyone googles my name. They have not filed the lawsuit yet, but the guy on the phone said he is marking my refusal to pay and this could result in a lawsuit brought against me my his law firm (which is in my city). I dont know how much time I have and I am very scared. I have not been able to sleep well for the past few nights and am constantly breaking down and crying. I do not know who to ask for help because I am so embarrassed. I finally thought to seek online assistance and have been trying to research this for the past 5 hours online.

I need to save up money to pay. Does anyone recommend that I pay the full amount or can i pay a negotiated rate? If a pay a lower amount, what type of documentation should I request so that they do not sell the remaining balance to another creditor.

I thought unpaid tuition cleared in Ohio after 7 years. But I do not know if my 2016 payments re-set the calendar.

Thank you!