Covid and College in 2020
The fall is normally my favorite time of year, that is “normally”.
It arrives with cooler temperatures, bright colorful trees, and is carried on by the glory of college football. But this is 2020, not a good year by any standard. Even the locust plagues in the United States in the 1870’s were contained to the U.S. They weren’t accompanied by world economic downturn, extensive unemployment, pandemic, and horrific natural disasters, like massive unmitigated wildfires and torrential rains from hurricanes. We humans, for the most part seem to be making the most of things, however, those who are lucky enough to have been accepted to college are particularly challenged this year.
My niece was one of the “lucky” freshmen. She was accepted to attend the University of California, Irvine prior to the stay-in-doors mandate in March and looked forward to moving up North to Irvine to attend classes. All of the arrangements were made, which is a lot, as anyone who ever attended college on-campus knows very well. She even paid for her dorm room and some of the tuition. Then, came March. The storm rained down on her, besides her disappointment, the question arose, how do we get our money back? The amount was a hardship for her and her family to dig up.
Her family paid for 18 weeks' accommodation at the dormitory, but McKenna was only there for six weeks before she returned home because of restrictions imposed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Also, she is not alone in chasing credits for accommodation payments. As her friends and other parents confirm, "I just don't think the amount of rebate that they've given to the kids that haven't been able to be there is fair," McKenna’s father, Doug, said. “And I know others who would agree with me.”
So, now, University students are chasing thousands of dollars in refunds from accommodation providers, including my niece. And it’s not certain if these refunds will be made available easily, or if those that have paid will have to chase down claims against the universities. Our experts can do the chasing for you. Action Advocates has a great deal of experience with higher level education and it’s administration.
In addition, if you don’t get something, you don’t pay for it, right? Well, not during a pandemic and not on college campuses. That had McKenna also having to ask about pricey fees for things she could no longer get when attending classes on-line, such as parking fees, among others.
So, be aware that if you pay for anything at universities at this time prior to attending that you may be chasing down refunds that may not be that easy to get.
The other thing I love about fall is Big Ten college football. But, I don’t believe these kids should be playing in the midst of a pandemic, with no one in the stands and no one on campus. The safety of everyone involved is the most important thing, not profits. But unfortunately, that is an ideology that often fails to fit into our society. And so it goes, University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank testified before a Senate committee Tuesday as speculation swirled all the way up to the Oval Office about the fate of the Big Ten’s football season. Donald Trump has tried to pressure the conference — the home of several key Midwestern battleground states in the November election — to reschedule the football season this fall. And as the fate of our nation goes, so goes the fate of college students, and…college football, in a pandemic.
Email us at Action Advocates if you have experienced any of these types of financial hardships. We can assist you with your fight for a refund of any of the amounts you’ve expended in your pursuit of a meaningful experience in higher education.