Students Sue Columbia For Refunds After Coronavirus Closure

UPPER WEST SIDE, MANHATTAN — Columbia University students forced to leave campus and shift to online classes despite already paying full tuition are taking their pleas for refunds to the courts, according to two lawsuits filed this week.

Two class-action lawsuits, both filed in Manhattan federal court Thursday, accuse Columbia University of breaching its contract with students by not refunding tuition after closing down its campus and moving all classes online because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The suits, one of which claims more than $5 million worth of damages, argue students shouldn't have to pay upwards of $58,000 tuition when they are getting by without access to university services they paid for, let alone dealing with their own struggles during the pandemic.

"Many students, like me, are struggling to pay for basic living costs now that our lives have been thrown into chaos by this crisis," said Emmaline Bennett, one of two students who signed on as plaintiffs to one of the lawsuits.

"Columbia has an endowment of $11 billion and pays its top-level administrators millions of dollars a year, so it certainly has the funds to help students out in this crisis."

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Bennett, a senior, said the $2,500 or so she would get from a partial refund — less than other students given she receives financial aid — would translate to six months of living expenses she has been struggling to cover by looking for remote work while also balancing a full class-load.

The Ohio native is one of a small amount of students still on campus because she had COVID-19 symptoms when the university closed March 17. But, like students who left, she is still missing out on normal campus services she paid for, like the dining hall, which has severely reduced its hours.

Finishing the semester has been made even more difficult by trying to quarantine herself and throw her efforts behind political causes that seem particularly important right now, Bennett said.

"It doesn't actually feel like I'm a student anymore," she told Patch. "It's incredibly difficult to focus on the daunting course load that I still have to do in all of my classes when my life after graduation is so uncertain and it seems like there are so many other things going on in the city and in the world that I need to direct my energies toward instead."

Joining the lawsuit was also a matter of solidarity, she added.

"I know that thousands of students at Columbia would benefit considerably from a tuition remission," she said.

Both lawsuits were filed by either one or two students, but are on behalf of the entire class who have been impacted by the closure.

They follow an online petition, signed by more than 8,000 students, asking for refunds started almost immediately after Columbia closed down its campus in March.

Bennett said students still plan to organize in other ways against the school's refusal to give refunds given that most are in immediate need of financial relief, but that the lawsuit will ensure Columbia listens.

"...It's unclear how we would get a refund from Columbia without a lawsuit, because it's an institution based on profit and won't simply give up $300 million because students ask for it, and we need to be realistic about that if we want to actually win this demand," she said.

Aside from not being able to have classes in person, the suits also claim that the online classes will diminish the value of a degree from Columbia for the rest of the students' lives. Classes have been switched to pass/fail grading at Columbia after pleas from students to do so.

So far, Columbia has said it will refund students' housing costs but refused to reimburse any tuition.

Any refunds they have given — like $119 of a $1,065 fee one student got back, or $125 Bennett was refunded for student life fees — is far from enough, the suits claims.

"While Defendant has refunded some of the fees, such refund has come with no explanation, appears to be arbitrary, and in any event, is wholly insufficient," one of the suits, filed by an anonymous student, reads.

Similar lawsuits have been filed against Pace University and Long Island University, according to the New York Post.

Students at New York University, particularly at the arts school, have also been calling for refunds given the coronavirus pandemic.

Columbia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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