{"id":138007,"date":"2023-11-28T00:01:57","date_gmt":"2023-11-28T05:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/?p=138007"},"modified":"2023-11-27T18:32:49","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T23:32:49","slug":"student-sues-lafayette-college-for-breach-of-contract-during-covid-19-shutdowns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecollegefix.com\/student-sues-lafayette-college-for-breach-of-contract-during-covid-19-shutdowns\/","title":{"rendered":"Student sues Lafayette College for breach of contract during COVID-19 shutdowns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Similar COVID-related class-action lawsuits against colleges and universities remain in litigation, some were dismissed, others settled<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

A former Lafayette College student is suing the school for a breach of contract due to the loss of in-person learning during the COVID-19 shutdowns in the spring of 2020.<\/p>\n

Julia Jin-Wolfson, a student at the private Pennsylvania institution at the time, said she paid full tuition for the on-campus experience at Lafayette.<\/p>\n

However, she and other students were sent home in March 2020 after the outbreak of COVID-19 and did not return for the remainder of the spring semester, according to her legal complaint<\/a>, filed Oct. 17.<\/p>\n

As a result, she was \u201cforced to take her classes remotely, refrain from visiting campus, and prevented from utilizing various on-campus services for which she paid,\u201d the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n

In many cases, these classes were pre-recorded lectures or virtual Zoom meetings that deprived students of \u201chands-on, experiential, and collaborative learning and in-person dialogue, feedback, and critique,\u201d for which they pre-paid, Jin-Wolfson states in the case.<\/p>\n

Students also lost access to facilities, services, dining, and housing, the lawsuit states.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy not giving prorated refunds for tuition or fees charged for on-campus education and services not provided, Lafayette breached its contracts with students or was otherwise unjustly enriched,\u201d according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Jin-Wolfson is seeking \u201cdamages and restitution resulting from Lafayette\u2019s retention\u201d of her tuition and fees. In 2020, tuition was $27,256 plus a $240 activity and technology fee, the suit states.<\/p>\n

Lafayette College\u2019s media and communications team told The Fix<\/em> that they cannot comment on pending litigation.<\/p>\n

The Fix<\/em> also contacted the legal counsel for Jin-Wolfson via email, but they did not respond.<\/p>\n

Jin-Wolfson\u2019s case is not the only one of its kind. Similar COVID-related class-action lawsuits against<\/a> the University of Pennsylvania and John Hopkins University settled<\/a> earlier this year for $4.5 million and $6.6 million, respectively.<\/p>\n

In April, CU Boulder settled<\/a> a class action lawsuit with students who alleged they were deprived of the education they paid for during the lockdown, agreeing to pay $5 million.<\/p>\n

In October, Cornell University also agreed<\/a> to pay $3 million to settle a lawsuit alleging the Ivy League university failed to adequately reimburse students after it shifted to virtual learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

Several students at Rhode Island colleges and universities also filed a lawsuit seeking tuition refunds from Johnson & Wales University, the University of Rhode Island, Brown University, and Roger Williams University. However, in 2021, a federal district judge dismissed<\/a> the suit.<\/p>\n

“While some of the class-action suits against the colleges and universities are still in litigation, and still others dismissed, several major cases have been settled in recent weeks,” USA Today<\/em> reported<\/a> Aug. 23, noting, for example, that the University of Delaware agreed in June “to set up a $6.3 million fund to partially reimburse tuition and fees that the students paid for classes, housing and activities.”<\/p>\n

As for Lafayette College, in 2021, it reported<\/a> losing nearly $40 million in revenue as a result of the COVID-19 shutdowns due to low enrollment and refunds for student housing from the spring 2020 semester.<\/p>\n

The college gave students a 50 percent refund for room and board if they lived in college-owned housing and had to leave due to COVID-19 in early 2020, The Lafayette<\/em> student newspaper reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MORE: Lawsuit: U. Delaware \u2018unjustly enriched itself\u2019 during COVID-19 pandemic<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

IMAGE: Maridav\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

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