CNBC Discusses Lawsuit
Students are suing their colleges for coronavirus-related refunds - Published Mon, Apr 13 2020 - As colleges close their doors and move classes online to curtail the spread of coronavirus, students across the country have raised concerns that they are still paying high tuition prices for what is now an online education. In-person lectures and instruction have been swapped for online college programs that often cost less and that many researchers, students and professors believe are less effective and less valuable. Because the nature of their education has so drastically changed, many students are asking for their money back.
Now, students at two colleges, Drexel University and the University of Miami, have filed two class-action lawsuits in South Carolina federal court under the representation of South Carolina-based Anastopoulo Law Firm, against their schools in hopes of receiving some kind of reimbursement.
The suits claim that students have paid for services they’re no longer receiving, such as face-to-face interaction with professors, access to campus facilities and hands-on learning, as well as mandatory fees for activities, athletics and wellness programs that they will not be able to participate in.
The plaintiffs, Adelaide Dixon, who attends the University of Miami in Florida, and Grainger Rickenbaker, who attends Drexel University in Pennsylvania, aim to represent the thousands of students at their schools. The University of Miami enrolls some 11,117 undergraduate students and Drexel University enrolls close to 13,490 undergraduates. Undergraduate tuition and fees cost about $51,930 at Miami and about $54,516 at Drexel.
“Although [the universities are] still offering some level of academic instruction via online classes, plaintiff and members of the proposed [classes] have been and will be deprived of the benefits of on-campus learning,” said the students in both lawsuits, adding that “the value of any degree issued on the basis of online or pass/fail classes will be diminished.”
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