For Parents

When your son or daughter leaves home for the first time to attend college, it can be a very exciting and overwhelming time for both of you. You may look back to your own college days and remember feeling invincible as you began that period in your life, and your student feels the same way. Although they are legally adults at the age of 18, students are not always aware of their legal rights and responsibilities, which is important knowledge as they move into adulthood.

When you were college age, some of the problems that college students may face today did not even exist. This includes things like identity theft, debit/credit card issues and computer fraud. The Center for Student Legal Services is here to assist in preventing and resolving legal problems that can disrupt students` lives and to educate them about their rights and responsibilities in an increasingly complex world.

The Center for Student Legal Services was started by students and staffs two full time experienced attorneys to provide your student with high quality legal advice, education, and representation in Athens County court cases (see limitations on our services). We do our best to help students resolve many legal problems so they can concentrate on school and make the most out of their educational opportunities.

Some of the most common legal problems we assist with are landlord/tenant issues for students living in off-campus housing, consumer issues such as car repair problems, fraud, or defective products/services, and misdemeanors that occur in Athens County such as underage alcohol consumption/possession, disorderly conduct, noise violations, etc. There are limitations on the services that we can provide, which are listed in the service limitations link above.

Signing up for the program is easy and costs only $8.00 per quarter. The $8.00 fee is listed on your student`s quarterly tuition bill. If you wish for your student to have access to an attorney all quarter, simply pay the $8.00 along with the rest of the tuition and fees. If for some reason you do not wish to have access to an attorney, the Ohio University e-bill has an option that you can choose that will waive the $8.00 fee. Once you waive the fee, you cannot reverse it, so choose carefully!

Each quarter, you will see the Student Legal Services fee on the tuition bill. To have access to an attorney, you have to pay it each quarter. In other words, paying the fee during the Fall Quarter will not enroll your student in the program for the entire school year, just Fall Quarter.

If you have any questions about the program, please feel free to give us a call at (740) 594-8093.