Students Suing U. Washington Over Covid Shutdown Reach Settlement for $4 Million
Remember when schools were basically shuttered but still charging full tuition? The fallout from that continues.The College Fix reports:
U. Washington agrees to $4 million settlement in COVID shutdown tuition caseStudents who sued the University of Washington for canceled classes and tuition payments during the COVID-19 pandemic reached a $4 million settlement with the public institution this week.In a decision preliminarily approved by a King County judge, the university agreed to pay $4 million to end the case while not admitting to any wrongdoing, the Seattle Times reports.“Given the potential ongoing costs of litigating this case through trial, we believe it was the financially responsible decision to agree to this settlement,” university spokesperson Victor Balta told the newspaper.A doctoral student, Alexander Barry filed the lawsuit in 2020, arguing the university should not have charged full tuition and fees when it went to remote learning, according to The Daily, the university student newspaper.“Despite sending students home, transitioning to online instruction, and closing its campuses, the University of Washington continued to charge for tuition, and/or fees as if nothing changed, continuing to reap the financial benefit of millions of dollars from students,” the lawsuit states.Barry also alleged he and other students were deprived of “face-to-face faculty and peer interaction” as well as university events and activities.The Daily reports more:
After UW made the decision to transition to online learning in March 2020, the university also determined that tuition and additional fees would remain the same as in-person instruction. Many students made the argument that they were unfairly charged since their tuition included in-person learning and access to campus facilities.Shortly after transitioning to remote learning, students created a petition to reduce tuition costs for the spring 2020 quarter, which eventually gained over 15,000 signatures.
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