I owe the college (New York) the past semester financial aid and it moves to the collection agency?

I assumed you had been a student at the college since you owe them money. In that case one usually wants to claim to have taken certain classes or received a certificate or a degree. If you owe the college money they will not acknowledge any of that nor will they confirm classes you took if you want to take more advanced classes at a different college. If you don't need any of that stuff then the worst they can do is attack your credit rating and sue you for what you owe them (not send you to jail).