Northeastern University Tuition Reimbursement Class Action Lawsuit Will Proceed

Students claiming they are owed a tuition reimbursement after Northeastern University moved most of its offerings online in the spring of 2020 due to the coronavirus dodged an attempt by the institution to dismiss the class action lawsuit.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns kept most of the claims made by lead plaintiffs, Manny Chong and Thane Gallo, who say that they and other students missed out on important in-person learning opportunities as the campus closed partway through the term. Indeed, Northeastern University, located in Boston, will be forced to face allegations of breach of contract and unjust enrichment in Massachusetts federal court.

An undergraduate and graduate student filed the class action lawsuit in May of this year. In their complaint, the students argued that they and others should have received a tuition reimbursement for on-campus activities and access to buildings after they were sent home to complete their terms online as the coronavirus surged in the area.

According to the complaint, Northeastern students were shuttled to online learning in March 2020, losing access to campus facilities supported by student fees, as well as valuable in-person learning opportunities.

The class action lawsuit accused Northeastern of unfairly retaining tuition and fees students paid in order to access campus buildings, such as the pool and gym, that were closed at the start of the pandemic.

Northeastern argued that the class action lawsuit should be dismissed. The university said that the Annual Financial Responsibility Agreement (FRA) it makes with students each year does not guarantee in-person learning and that the plaintiffs could not pin their breach of contract claims on it.

Judge Stearns disagreed, finding that students could take the terms of the FRA differently than as argued by the university.

“Drawing all inferences in plaintiffs’ favor, the court cannot, as a matter of law, say that no student who read these statements could have reasonably expected that executing the FRA and registering for on-campus courses would entitle them to in-person instruction,” concluded the order, noting that further factual development is necessary to reach a final decision.

Similarly, Judge Stearns kept the class action lawsuit claims for reimbursement of student campus recreation fees alive.

“Payment of the campus recreation fee…gives students ‘the option to gain admission to home athletic events’ and to ‘use the Marino Fitness Center, the SquashBusters athletic facility, and the Cabot Gym (fitness and pool),’” pointed out the court order.

Class action claims related to on-campus facility fees were trimmed by Judge Stearns, who found that the fees were not used to access these facilities, but support them.

“Because students pay the student activity fee, the student center fee, and the undergraduate student fee to ‘support’ certain facilities during terms for which those students are enrolled in classes, and not to gain admission to any on-campus facility or access to a given resource (or even to support the operation of any specific service at an on-campus facility), plaintiffs have not stated a claim for breach of contract with respect to these fees,” concluded the order.

Further, Judge Stearns ruled to proceed with class action claims of unjust enrichment against Northeastern, linking them to the surviving breach of contract claims against the institution.

Under this most recent ruling, Northeastern will need to face claims made on behalf of a Class of all graduate and undergraduate students who paid student activity fees or registered for classes at the university before March 11, 2020.

A number of universities and colleges face class action lawsuit claims for tuition reimbursement after closing their campuses due to COVID-19 this spring.

Students say that they understand why universities had to be closed, but argue it is unfair for these institutions to retain tuition and fees they paid to access in-person learning and other campus resources. Indeed, even prestigious institutions, such as Harvard, face claims from students over tuition money they claim is unfairly-retained.

Learn about these lawsuits and more consumer issues with TCA’s coronavirus legal news guide.

Do you think students should get tuition reimbursement for school terms affected by COVID-19 closures? Tell us your opinion in the comment section below!

The lead plaintiffs and proposed Class Members are represented by Gary M. Klinger and Gary E. Mason of Mason Lietz & Klinger LLP, W. Clifton Holmes of The Holmes Law Group Ltd. and Douglas F. Hartman of Hartman Law PC.

The Northeastern University Class Action Lawsuit is Chong v. Northeastern University, Case No. 1:20-cv-10844, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

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