A student with a passport request in hand couldn't get their college to release/defer the Letter of Acceptance after changing agents twice. What members advised:
- Colleges that work through agent channels often refuse to deal with anyone else. Several members hit the same wall — the college would only act through the agent of record, and emails from the student or a new agent went unanswered.
- Send a formal change-of-agent letter. The main advice: email the college a change-of-agent letter that names a new agent who is on the college's direct authorized panel. Colleges are more likely to accept a transfer to a panel agent than to an outside one.
- If that fails, go back to the original agent. One member's practical workaround: meet the first agent you applied through and ask them to send the request themselves — the college may reconsider a deferral request that comes through the original channel.
- Escalation path: regional manager, then refund. The college's own staff said the remaining options were for the agent to raise it with the college's regional manager, or for the student to take a tuition refund and start over elsewhere.
The cautionary theme: changing agents mid-process at an agent-channel college can freeze your file, so exhaust the formal transfer route before switching.