Oregon colleges latest to be sued by students over cost of learning during pandemic

Colleges across US face similar claims from students

Oregon State University’s campus in Corvallis, Oregon (Getty Images)

Two colleges in Oregon are being sued by three students claiming that they should be reimbursed their tuition fees given the transition to remote learning during the coronavirus pandemic.

Undergraduate Danielle Pranger and graduate student Garrett Harris filed a class-action lawsuit against Oregon State University (OSU) on 5 March. Caine Smith filed a similar lawsuit against the University of Oregon on 19 March, CNN reported.

These are just the latest suits against higher education institutions in the US claiming that students are not getting value for money.

The plaintiffs claim that with campuses shut down and students sent home, both institutions “continued to charge for tuition, and/or fees as if nothing changed, continuing to reap the financial benefit of millions of dollars from students”.

They are seeking monetary compensation prorated against their tuition fees as well as damages, costs, and legal fees.

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Speaking on behalf of his clients, attorney Steve Berman, representing the students in both cases, argues that they did not receive the full value of what they paid to attend the universities after the switch to online learning happened.

Both institutions are said to have refused to refund or reimburse students for payments they made for “a comprehensive on-campus academic experience”, according to the lawsuits.

The schools maintain that they continued to provide students with a high-quality education.

Mr Berman’s firm, Hagens Berman, has filed suits against 19 universities across the US, including Harvard, Rutgers, NYU, Vanderbilt, and the University of Southern California.

The two Oregon institutions are the first cases filed in 2021. The first suit filed by the firm was in May 2020 against George Washington University.

Steve Clark, OSU vice president for university relations and marketing, commented: “Oregon State University has remained open since winter term 2020 during the pandemic on its campuses in Corvallis and at OSU-Cascades in Bend. OSU continues to provide students high-quality education courses in person, remotely, and online.”

A statement from the University of Oregon claims that the lawsuit is “wrong on the law and on the facts” noting that a claim that the school’s costs have fallen as a result of the move to remote learning is incorrect.

“In fact, our costs have increased due to a variety of new technology and infrastructure investments needed to provide quality instruction and to protect our campus community’s health and safety,” the statement reads.

It continues: “Nonetheless, the university has taken care to refund our students for a number of services and amenities that they were unable to access due to federal state and local health directives.”

A large number of colleges across the US opted to return to in-person learning at the beginning of the academic year in August 2020.

In many cases, this led to outbreaks of Covid-19 either through lax safety precautions or by students disregarding measures put in place to prevent the spread of the virus.

Institutions were forced into lockdowns or a return to remote learning.