University of Vermont Students Call for Coronavirus Refunds

A recent University of Vermont class action lawsuit claims the college should refund their students for tuition and housing due to coronavirus closures.

Plaintiffs Nilay Kamal Patel and Rachel Gladstone say they were enrolled in the University of Vermont for the spring 2020 semester. For the semester, they allegedly paid tuition, on-campus housing costs, meal plan expenses, and other fees.

However, due to the closure of campuses following the coronavirus outbreak, the plaintiffs have reportedly not received the education they paid for.

A years’ worth of tuition at University of Vermont is $16,392 for in-state residents and starts at $41,280 for out-of-state residents. Students are also responsible for covering room and board costs which runs at $13,354 for a year.

These fees were reportedly justified by the University of Vermont’s “unique learning and living environment” promised to students in their advertisements.

Unfortunately, these standards were disrupted with the global COVID-19 pandemic. According to the plaintiffs, the university was forced to transition to online learning following spring break in early March.

During spring break, the University of Vermont announced that all classes would be moved to online learning beginning March 18. Students were encouraged not to return to their resident halls but the announcement noted that “the university will remain open.”

Have you been denied a refund for tuition or other college expenses such as room and board? Get legal help by clicking here.

On March 23, the University of Vermont extended online learning through the rest of the spring semester. The school directed “[u]ndergraduate students who currently reside on campus in the residence halls, as well as non-local students who live off-campus” to “return to their homes.”

Although the University has offered a $1,000 housing credit to students who moved out of their residence halls by March 30, the plaintiffs say they have not been compensated for the unused room and board expenses they paid.

“Class members have demanded the return of the unused amounts of funds paid for tuition for on-campus housing, for meals and for fees, through a number of channels, while UVM has made clear its policy that it will not return any tuition or fees, and will only provide a minimal credit (not a full return of the pro-rated, unused amounts) for housing and an inadequate future credit for meals,” the University of Vermont class action lawsuit argues.

The plaintiffs note that the university’s housing and meal plan contracts allow them to terminate the agreements “[i]n the event of calamity or catastrophe that would make continued operation of student housing infeasible, such as an influenza pandemic,” but these agreements don’t give the school the right to keep unused fees.

The University of Vermont reportedly has further terms which protect it from providing refunds in the event of an emergency closing.

However, the plaintiffs argue that these terms only apply “in the event that the University of Vermont closes.”

Since the school has remained open – as evidenced by their announcements –they cannot rely on these clauses, according to the plaintiffs.

The class action also take issue with the University of Vermont retaining their tuition payments.

According to the students, studies show that student performance is lower when classes are in an online setting. Not only do grades suffer, but performance in future classes is allegedly impacted as well.

The University of Vermont class action lawsuit acknowledges that the university is working to continue to provide some level of education to their students, but argues that students paid tuition based on the assumption that they would receive the full benefit of brick and mortar classrooms. Since they have not received these benefits, the students argue that their money should be returned to them.

“[University of Vermont] has retained the value of payments made by Plaintiffs and the other Class members for tuition for live in-person instruction, on-campus housing, meals and fees, while failing to provide the services for which those fees were paid,” the plaintiffs argue in their University of Vermont class action lawsuit.

The students claim that they are owed refunds of their tuition and other payments which went unused. They seek refunds on behalf of themselves and other similarly situated students. The plaintiffs aim to represent several Classes of people who paid tuition, housing costs, meal plan expenses, and other fees, respectively.

Plaintiffs and the proposed Class are represented by Ariane Ice and Tom Ice of Ice Legal PA.

The University of Vermont Tuition Refund Class Action Lawsuit is Patel, et al. v. University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, Case No. 2:20-cv-00061-jmc, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont.

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