5 year unpaid tuition.

I am wondering if colleges have to follow a procedure to obtain unpaid tuition before reporting the debt to a collection agency. I signed up for a class at a community college over 5 years ago. I tried to drop it, but I think that the computer system was down, or I couldn't contact the appropriate people. The school is super disorganized and I remember finally calling some staff to leave a message that I had dropped the class. I never heard from this college at all. Then just recently, I got a letter from a collection agency stating that I owed this amount. But again it's been over 5 years and I NEVER heard anything from this school.

Here is my issue: I am going to dispute this first with the school on the grounds that I thought I had followed the proper procedure to drop the class and assumed that I was successful because I did not get a reply that I still owed. My question is whether there is a rule that schools have to first contact students before reporting it to a creditor. Now I assume that it's on my credit report also.

Any help/ammunition for this I appreciate.

Thank you!