Students sue BU over tuition, housing costs after coronavirus shutdown

A class-action lawsuit is taking aim at Boston University, where students argue the school owes them refunds over campus and tuition costs after last month’s coronavirus shutdown.

The complaint filed in U.S. District Court targets students’ housing costs, after BU gave students a pro-rated refund from March 22, over two weeks since some students left for spring break on March 7 and never returned to campus housing.

BU has also refused to refund fees supporting student organizations, study resources and recreational facilities, undergraduate film and television major Julia Dutra claims.

“These cases are about basic fairness,” Dutra’s attorney Richard Levine said in a statement Thursday.  “Colleges and universities are not unlike any other business in America and they too have to tighten their belts during this unprecedented time. They are not any more entitled to keep money for services they are not delivering than the mom-and-pop bakery on Main Street.”

Dutra alleges some professors are uploading lectures shorter than their scheduled class times and assignments that offer no student interaction.

“Moreover, the value of any degree issued on the basis of online or pass/fail classes will be diminished for the rest (of) their lives,” Levine wrote.

The university did not respond to a request for comment Thursday regarding the suit that appears to be the first in Massachusetts related to coronavirus-related campus closures.

Roy Willey, a class action attorney with the law firm representing BU plaintiffs, has also filed suits against 13 other universities regarding the abrupt campus closures and sending students home amid the pandemic.

The lawsuit doesn’t dispute the necessity of the closures but cites BU’s approximately $2 billion endowment and additional revenues in excess of $2 billion as cause for concern over alleged lackluster refunds.

“Now universities are not delivering those services that students and their families have paid for and it’s not fair for the universities with multi-million dollar endowments to keep all of the money that students and their families have paid,” Levine said in a statement.  “t is not fair to pass the full burden onto students and their families.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3aTdkia