DePaul Students Sue For Partial Tuition Refund, Saying Remote Learning Has Been Inferior To In-Person Classes
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Students at DePaul University filed a lawsuit this week, seeking a partial tuition refund for the online learning they've been limited to since the coronavirus pandemic began.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of students Enrique Chavez and Emma Sheikh, and sought class-action status for DePaul students who paid full tuition for the Spring 2020 quarter or any Summer 2020 programs.
"These students have not been refunded or reimbursed a pro-rated portion of the tuition expenses for the educational and other services they did not and will not receive after they were forced to leave campus when DePaul University abruptly closed its doors to students due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 ("COVID-19")," the lawsuit said.
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The lawsuit said students should be reimbursed for services they paid for, but never got to use. It also said remote learning amounts to a "decreased value of education" compared with in-person instruction on campus.
"Essentially, students have paid DePaul for hands-on classroom instruction and experiences in which they can no longer engage, learning facilities they can no longer enter, and academic resources they can no longer access. Defendants are thus profiting from COVID-19, asking students and their families—many of whom have been laid off, become ill, or are otherwise suffering significantly—to bear the financial brunt of the pandemic," the lawsuit said.
In the student newspaper the DePaulia, the school said the suit takes advantage of the life-saving decisions the school was forced to make.
In April, DePaul did announce it was freezing tuition for the 2020-2021 school year on account of coronavirus pandemic hardships.