Howard University Hit with Class Action Seeking Refunds for Spring 2020 Tuition, Fees

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Howard University faces a proposed class action that claims the school has improperly failed to issue refunds for tuition and fees paid for the Spring 2020 semester that was disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The 20-page lawsuit contests that Howard’s response to the COVID-19 crisis deprived students of the benefit of the in-person education and services for which they paid tuition and fees.

According to the first amended complaint, the historically Black university suspended face-to-face instruction at its Washington D.C. and Beltsville, Maryland campuses for the remainder of the spring semester on March 16, 2020, and held courses in only an online format thereafter. As a result of Howard’s transition to online learning, the school has failed to deliver the educational services, facilities, access and opportunities for which students contracted and paid, offering instead “subpar” alternatives that were “in no way the equivalent” of an in-person education, the lawsuit argues.

Nevertheless, Howard has refused to issue refunds for tuition and fees paid for the Spring 2020 semester, the case says, contending that even if the school had no choice in canceling in-person classes, it has improperly retained funds for services it has not provided.

The lawsuit says that students who paid Howard’s Spring 2020 tuition specifically chose to enroll at the institution on an in-person basis and have been deprived of opportunities for collaborative learning and in-person dialogue and feedback and critique, not to mention access to laboratories, equipment and other facilities and services promised in the course catalog.

“The remote learning options are in no way the equivalent of the in-person education putative class members contracted and paid for,” the complaint states.

According to the lawsuit, the cost of tuition and fees were meant to cover not just academic instruction but “an entirely different experience” that was to include face-to-face interaction with faculty and peers; access to campus facilities; student governance, unions and activities; extra-curricular activities and sports; social development and independence; hands-on learning; and networking and mentorship opportunities.

The lawsuit, which looks to cover those who paid Howard tuition and fees for in-person educational services for the Spring 2020 semester that the university failed to provide and have not received a refund, echoes dozens of other cases filed against colleges and universities nationwide over their alleged failure to issue refunds after transitioning to online learning in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Since its initial filing, the lawsuit has been transferred from Maryland to the District of Columbia.

ClassAction.org’s coverage of COVID-19 litigation can be found here and over on our Newswire.

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