Students at 2 universities with campuses closed by coronavirus sue for tuition reimbursement

Students have filed separate lawsuits against the University of Miami and Drexel University in Philadelphia to recover tuition and other fees they paid before the campuses were shut down by the coronavirus.

Law360.com reports that the suits, filed in federal court in South Carolina as potential class actions, contend that students should be reimbursed for many services they’re no longer receiving, including face-to-face interaction with professors, access to campus facilities and hands-on learning.

"Although [the universities are] still offering some level of academic instruction via online classes, plaintiff and members of the proposed [classes] have been and will be deprived of the benefits of on-campus learning,” the students contend in the lawsuits.

Named plaintiffs Adelaide Dixon, who attends the University of Miami, and Grainger Rickenbaker, a student at Drexel, are looking to represent two classes of potentially thousands of students at the schools who’ve paid tuition and fees for the spring 2020 semester.

In the lawsuits, Dixon and Grainger say they picked their universities over “hundreds, if not thousands” of other higher education institutions in the nation based on advertising touting the schools’ on-campus experiences.The tuition they paid covers more than academic instruction, they argue.

Among other benefits and services, their money goes toward computer labs, libraries, student unions, extracurricular activities, art, social development and networking opportunities, the suits says.

Dixon, Rickenbaker and the other members of their proposed classes “have been and will be deprived of utilizing services for which they have already paid, such as room, board, access to campus facilities, parking and other opportunities,” they argue.

The students are seeking unspecified damages, attorney fees and court costs.