Education is often hailed as the key to a brighter future, a path to opportunities and personal growth. But one unfortunate incident has cast a shadow on this narrative as a teenage student was denied their hard-earned diploma due to an outstanding debt.
This incident serves as a glaring reminder of the financial challenges that many students and their families face when pursuing education. While education is often deemed a fundamental right, the costs associated with it can be a significant barrier, and policies that withhold diplomas over unpaid fees can exacerbate this issue.
Ellie McCormick from Omaha, Nebraska, was more than ready to graduate, get her diploma, and be done with high school. Unfortunately, she was denied her diploma and the school wouldn’t let her have it unless she paid a fee that she owed from freshman year!
All of this chaos was due to Ellie not returning the laptop bag that she lost her freshman year. In a video that was posted, she stated, “I was already freaking out just about graduating because I was scared to be on stage in front of everyone! So, I got it and I just sat back down, I was like 'Oh yay it's over!', I opened it up, and they gave me the whole cover and all, and it’s just this hot pink sheet.”
On that pink sheet that Ellie received was a typed-up note explaining why there wasn’t an actual diploma inside. Of course, after almost four years went by, Ellie forgot about the laptop bag that she lost and was not expecting to be reminded of it on her big graduation day.
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Even though the school was holding her diploma, Ellie took full responsibility for what had happened. Ellie soon found out in her comments on her TikTok video that this is common at a lot of schools. She did let people know that her mom did pay her fine, but she has yet to go and get her well-deserved diploma.
To view Ellie’s whole story, click the video!
