International- Katie Lane received an email from her university saying she owed 1 cent in fees.
- The email stated the university could withhold her diploma if the bill wasn't paid.
When Katie Lane received an email from Washington State University bursar's office on February 3 saying there was an outstanding balance on her account, she was worried.
The email, which Insider has seen, stated non-payment of the balance could result in "late payment fees," or could mean the university would withhold her diploma.
"I was super freaked out because I thought something went wrong with my financial aid, because the semester just started less than a month ago," Lane, who is a 4th year zoology major at Washington State University, told Insider.
"So I was worried not all my financial aid dispersed or there was some sort of issue that I was gonna have to work out."
But Lane said she felt "relief mixed with annoyance" when she logged in to see how much she owed. The balance on her account was just 1 cent.
Lane posted her reaction on TikTok, where the video received over 360,000 views.
"Do you not think you could just let this one go?" Lane asked, showing a screenshot of the balance of $0.01 and an option to enroll in a payment plan. "I have a penny just laying around. I'll walk in person and give it to them."
Lane told Insider this was her initial plan, but she was going to wait to see if the university sent a follow-up email. They haven't so far.
"I can pay online, but there's a $3 convenience fee for paying by debit card and I'd rather not pay 300 times my balance," she said.
@lantie This is so college
♬ original sound - Lantie
A university spokesperson told Insider WSU's policy "is to award students the degrees they earn regardless of whether they have unpaid university balances."
"The physical diploma, however, may be withheld from students with unpaid balances of $5 or more," they said.
The 1 cent unpaid balance appearing on Lane's account was an error, they said, and they are working to correct the cause of it. "Regardless, no diplomas would be withheld for an unpaid 1 cent balance as a matter of university policy," they said.
Universities have made headlines for similar situations before. In 2017, several universities in the UK withheld degrees from students because of unpaid debts, which included library fees.
Around 6.6 million students in the US have been blocked from obtaining their transcripts, sometimes due to having bills of $25 or less, The Hechinger Report reported in 2021. The story included one student who had an unpaid bill of $2,715.33 that he wasn't aware of, and could not work out the reason for.
Lane told Insider she had been receiving messages on her TikTok from a lot of people who had gone through the same experience. She said she was enjoying all the different stories where people had received demands for similarly small amounts.
"I made a TikTok because I think the best way to approach it is just by laughing at it," she said. "Because it is ridiculous."