Newsbrief: Colleges refund students for room and board

by Patrick Mulhern

Colleges are faced with the challenge of refunding students for on-campus expenses, which creates greater issues for some dependent schools.

Colleges are offering room and board refunds due to early forced closings due to coronavirus, according to US News.

Some schools have already produced a dollar amount that will be refunded to students who planned to continue living on campus for the remainder of the spring semester. For some larger, wealthier schools, this is not much of an issue.

Smaller schools that depend on yearly room and board from students, refunding students the money needed to stay afloat is “an uphill battle,” said US News reporter Emma Kerr.

“We understand everyone is going through hard financial times and that will include the universities, but whatever happens, the financial burden cannot and should not be passed down to students,” said James Farnsworth, a University of Minnesota senior.

Legal actions are taking place against universities trying to refund students with less than a quarter of the room and board payments. “Students feel as though universities that receive their hard-earned money, are not refunding fairly,” said Kerr.

Some universities are turning to a credit system for students paying for room and board come next school year.

Patrick Mulhern

I’ve been finishing up all my classes with this final stretch of work

and trying to get outside for every nice day possible!