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Refunds are a pretty hard thing for universities to do though, in a lot of cases the money has already been spent. If the question is how much they charge for n
by easterncalculus 6y ago
Refunds are a pretty hard thing for universities to do though, in a lot of cases the money has already been spent. If the question is how much they charge for next semester (assuming closure or mostly online learning) then I think there's a stronger argument to not charge students as much.
The student perspective is basically that you're already paying so much, that the least the university can do is do good on what's being paid for or in the event where that is not possible, simply don't charge for what's not going to happen in the fall.
- graeme 6y agoThis has no bearing on legal liability. If a business doesn’t provide the promised service “we spent your money already” is no defense. Doesn’t mean universities lose the case, but whether or not they spent the money is irrelevant.
- easterncalculus 6y agoWhat does have legal liability is an act of god clause. If any sort of language like that is in whatever's being signed this situation certainly qualifies.
- LanceH 6y agoA force majeure contract absolves them of delivering their service. It doesn't mean they get to change their service however they see fit and keep all the money. People up front for an in person semester. If they really want to go the force majeure route, they should return the money up front and renegotiate the rest of the semester.
- usaar333 6y agoSure, they can return some money but who knows how much was already allocated, especially with distance learning continuing. I got no refund from my kid's preschool for similar reasons. This is a really uphill legal battle
- LanceH 6y agoThen they can file bankruptcy and students can stand in line as creditors. "I already spent it" isn't a legal defense for taking money and not delivering services.
- michaelt 6y ago> in a lot of cases the money has already been spent Then they can take out loans or go bankrupt. I mean, if you paid for a Ferrari and the car dealer can only give you a Corolla, they owe you a refund - irrespective of how big their rent and salary bills may be.
- PragmaticPulp 6y agoIf they were forced to choose between going bankrupt and having traditional in-person classes, they would be offering in-person classes right now and allowing people to “opt-out” to the remote version. These companies aren’t arbitrarily choosing to educate people remotely. They’re adapting to the situation. Likewise, it would be unreasonable for employers to cut people’s compensation for working remotely under the assumption that remote work is less efficient and therefore the company deserves a refund.
- gowld 6y agoSalary is governed by contract. People get pay cuts all the time.
- klmadfejno 6y ago> These companies aren’t arbitrarily choosing to educate people remotely. They’re adapting to the situation. That doesn't really matter though. Like, it sucks, but they're giving a much shittier product and charging full price. Your example about people being less productive is not relevant because there's no doubt that the quality of education is much worse.
- PragmaticPulp 6y agoDo you feel the same way about engineers working remotely? Is someone working remotely and communicating over Zoom delivering significantly lower quality work and therefore deserving of a lower compensation? Your assumption that there’s “no doubt” about the quality of education being worse is not a good assumption. Educators are working overtime to make the most of the remote learning situation.
- andreilys 6y agoSure and and in some cases these universities have multi-billion dollar endowments. These universities operate more like hedge funds that offer education on the side.