Drexel Should Refund Coronavirus-Shortened Spring 2020 Semester Tuition and Fees, Class Action Contests

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Philadelphia’s Drexel University should refund all tuition and fees paid for the Spring 2020 semester given the school’s COVID-19-related campus closure has prevented the institution from providing “contracted for services, facilities, access and/or opportunities,” a proposed class action lawsuit claims. 

The nine-page complaint was filed by a full-time student who argues that the payment of tuition and fees covering both academic instruction and an immersive on-campus experience constitutes a binding contract between Drexel and those enrolled for the Spring 2020 semester. According to the suit, though the school continues to offer some level of academic instruction online, Drexel students “have been and will be deprived of the benefits” of on-campus learning due to the school’s suspension of all in-person activities during the coronavirus pandemic.

To date, Drexel University has failed to refund any portion of the plaintiff and proposed class members’ Spring 2020 tuition payments, the lawsuit says, adding that any such money that has been refunded has been inadequate. The lawsuit stresses that proposed class members—those who are enrolled at Drexel for the Spring 2020 semester and who have paid tuition and fees for privileges and services the school has been unable to provide—have lost out on room, board, access to campus facilities, parking and intramural and extra-curricular activities for which they’ve already paid.

The case against Drexel mirrors suits filed against Arizona’s Board of Regents and the University of Miami that claim the entities should refund students forced off campus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

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