Refund: The word that has been rattling around in just about every college student and parent’s head. Because college classes have been moved to online platforms and campuses have been closed, many are wondering if they’ll get any money back for their unfinished dorming semesters and their student fees.
Many students depend on the services of their universities to be able to sustain themselves and are beginning to question and petition their institutions to give them their money back. Colleges are dealing with this situation differently across the board. Regents of the University of Minnesota recently approved larger room and board refunds in response to student criticism.
The University of Minnesota encouraged students who felt that they needed more from their refund to reach out to their regents, work with their student government, and create petitions.
Many institutions are anticipating students to take legal action as several colleges have already had this happen. A class-action lawsuit was filed March 27 “on behalf of all people who paid fees and/or the cost of room and board for the Spring 2020 academic semester at The University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and/or Northern Arizona University.” The lawyer representing this case, Adam J. Levitt, stated “They [the students] feel as though the universities where they pay their hard-earned money haven’t been treating them remotely fairly, some parents have debated whether or not to send their children back to the schools because they paid for room and board and want to make sure they get what they paid for. That’s not a choice any parent or any student should have to be made with something as serious as the COVID-19 situation.”
When students should be receiving their refunds varies from university to university. Students at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst will be receiving their returns on April 17th, whereas students at the University of Maine have already received their packages – these packages from the University of Maine included student fees as well as tuition and board. Most colleges haven’t announced any refunds except in cases where students had unusual circumstances or withdrew from their institutions.
The University of Wyoming has assured us that students will hopefully be getting something back, and as of Friday, April 10th, refund packages started to roll into student emails. Easy to follow steps on how to set up an electronic refund deposit were also sent out. Residence Life and Dining did say that around half of UW students had a housing processing error but should be able to see their refunds by next Wednesday. If you are concerned about receiving a refund, set up the electronic refund deposit found in the Student Financial Portal on WyoWeb, contact Financial Aid, and always check your email.
