Additional Information
In light of COVID-19, colleges and universities across the country have closed their campuses and moved to “online learning.” Despite having constructively evicted their students, and discontinuing campus-based housing, dining, and services for which students paid significant fees, many of them are not offering refunds of these fees.
Did your college or university issue a refund for tuition, room and board, or any other fees/memberships? Colleges and universities are charging students, an already vulnerable population, for goods and services that they are no longer providing to them.
Many college students paid for (or borrowed money to pay for) a campus-based experience they are no longer receiving.
Many schools insist that they do not have the finances to offer any kind of refund to students. The president of Georgetown College, Will Jones, said in an email to students, “the college is not in a financial position to offer any rebates on housing or meal plans for this three week period (or the remainder of the semester, if we are in a situation that requires us to remain online beyond the next three weeks).” (source)
At the same time, however, colleges and universities are seeking insurance proceeds for these disruptions, and are receiving enormous financial aid from the federal government’s CARES act to address coronavirus-related shortfalls.
Bottom line: while these are unprecedented and difficult times, it is unfair for colleges and universities to expect students and their parents to bear these losses. And it is unlawful and illegal for colleges and universities to retain students’ money for services that they are not providing. Contact us to see eligible to join a coronavirus school refund class action lawsuit for compensation.
