As colleges and universities adjust to distance learning with students leaving campus, students at the University of Vermont are calling for a partial reimbursement of tuition and housing fees.
A student-lead petition calling on UVM to partially reimburse them for this semester currently has over 6,000 signatures. The university announced last week that it was transitioning to online-only learning starting Wednesday due to the virus, and other colleges and universities have taken similar measures.
In a statement, university spokesman Enrique Correderra said the university was working hard to protect the health of the community and ensure students are able to complete their academic programming.
“We are asking students and families to please be patient as we work through the potential financial ramification of this crisis,” he said. “We will be sure to inform all students about the outcomes of this situation once we know more. In the meantime, we are prepared to work with individual students who may be facing immediate financial hardship.”
The university’s website for COVID-19 states that no refunds or prorations will be provided for housing or meals, consistent with the university policy and the housing and meals contract.
“The coronavirus pandemic is beyond the control of the university, and we are currently putting all our efforts towards transitioning to remote instruction, supporting students who need to remain on campus, and providing remote support to students not on-campus,” the website states.
The virus has been spreading in the country and state, with 17 cases in the state as of Tuesday.
UVM junior Finlay Buchanan-Jacobs launched the petition and wrote that the decision to go online-only prevented students from accessing services they rely on and paid for, including student health services, student accessibility services, advising, mental health counseling, tutoring and UVM Reslife.
“The University of Vermont is effectively disabling student access to student funded resources that many students rely on for academic success,” the petition states. “This not only has the potential to handicap student academic success, but also threatens many students’ day to day wellbeing.”
The petition asks UVM to reimburse students for days spent not on-campus.
“I ask that the UVM administration carefully consider a partial tuition and housing reimbursement as a means of rectifying the inherent decrease in tuition funded resources available to students due to the closure,” Buchanan-Jacobs wrote.
Buchanan-Jacobs, a sophomore environmental engineering student, said in an interview with VTDigger that students already carry an immense financial burden to pay for college, and some students have chosen to stay on campus because they can’t afford housing and food elsewhere.
“We should be making sure students have the means to be going to a place where they feel safe and protected and can help prevent the spread of this virus,” Buchanan-Jacobs said.
Buchanan-Jacobs said the university has not been communicative, and should put students first and not force decisions between being safe during the pandemic and having food and housing.
“They should have come up with a more comprehensive response plan before saying we are going to kick you out and leave you completely in the dark,” Buchanan-Jacobs said.
The university’s 2019-2020 housing and meal plan contract states that room and meal plan fees will not be refunded if the university “closes due to a calamity or catastrophe beyond its control that would make continued operation of student housing infeasible, such as a natural disaster, a national security threat, or widespread pandemic flu.”
But the university’s “refund and bill adjustment policy,” states that the university reserves the right, in the case of “natural disaster, pandemic flu or other acts of God, where the University must cease operation for a single semester or significant portion of a semester, to modify this existing policy.”
The adjustment would be determined by the university’s administration and approved by the board of trustees.
Middlebury College is planning on reimbursing students for housing and meal plan services for time students would have been on campus, according to an email sent to students and parents March 11 from Baishakhi Taylor, vice president for student affairs and David Provost, executive vice president for finance and administration.
The email states that the college will know more and be able to determine prorated credit in the next three weeks.
“Following that decision, our staff will apply the credits and generate refunds via our online billing system,” the email states. “We will keep you updated as things unfold.”
Champlain College is “actively planning” on offering prorated credits for student housing and meal plans, according to a March 13 update from interim college president Laurie Quinn.
The amounts of the prorated credits will be determined by April 6, which is when the college expects to determine if students will return during the Spring 2020 semester, according to the letter.
“Right now, we do not have conclusive knowledge of how long our remote instruction period and delivery of related services will need to be,” Quinn wrote. “In addition to supporting remote instruction, we are continuing to offer many services to students virtually, such as health and counseling support and tutoring.”
Other colleges and universities in the state are exploring the issue. This includes Castleton University, said James Lambert, Castleton University’s associate dean of advancement.
“We are currently working closely with our fellow institutions within the Vermont State Colleges System and with federal and state authorities regarding their financial aid,” he said. “We understand how critically important this is to our families and we will update them when we have more information.”
