Oct. 3 – Thousands of current and former University of Maine System students have begun receiving partial refunds of tuition and fees as part of a $2.15 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit over online learning during the coronavirus pandemic.
About 16,180 students enrolled in the university system in spring 2020 are eligible for the payments, which range from $20 to $573 depending on the campus they attended and the amount of tuition or fees they actually paid paid.
The payments come after a settlement was reached between the system and students in July, ending a class-action lawsuit seeking partial refunds over the system’s response to the pandemic.
The lawsuit, filed in Cumberland County Superior Court, alleged that the system breached its contract with students when classes and other services for which they had paid tuition and fees were moved largely online after spring break, which coincided with the start of the pandemic in Maine.
The lawsuit is similar to dozens filed by college and university students across the country against their respective institutions, many of which have also agreed to multimillion-dollar settlements.
The University of Maine System said Wednesday it is standing by its decision to tell students not to return to campus at that time, a move it said was necessary to comply with government orders and protect public health while also offered students an opportunity to continue. their studies.
“Guided by science and in the best interests of our students, Maine’s public universities led the way in making a timely transition to online learning when an unprecedented global pandemic that ultimately took the lives of more than a million of our fellow Americans began to spread,” Chancellor Dannel Malloy said in a written statement.
“By doing this, our system maintained access to high-quality teaching and research education, and ensured that our campuses and communities in Maine were among the safest in the country. We stand behind this lifesaving action and remain very proud of how our students, faculty and staff have adapted and innovated in ways that have transformed access to postsecondary education and opportunity forever.”
John Turcotte, an attorney for students in the case, said he was unable to contact lead prosecutor Hunter Stewart for an interview Wednesday.
Stewart, who was a student at the University of Maine Orono in the spring of 2020, said in an affidavit filed in the case that he and other students did not receive the in-person campus-based programs they had signed up for and signed up for reported. that semester.
“Being a student at UMaine Orono meant access to the campus, facilities, labs, libraries, classroom instruction, study halls, personalized learning, face-to-face interactions and all the benefits associated with the Orono campus,” Stewart wrote. He said he didn’t have access to those things for much of the semester.
“Instead, the university and/or system held my prepaid funds and failed to provide the services owed to me and my fellow students,” Stewart wrote.
Turcotte said individual students each receive between $20 and $573, depending on the campus they were enrolled in and the amount of tuition or fees they paid.
Checks were sent to eligible students on September 23, said Madely Nava, who is managing the case for Apex Class Action, the third-party organization charged with distributing the settlement funds. Students did not have to do anything to sign up for the payment and should automatically receive a check if they are eligible and were enrolled during the Spring 2020 semester.
The $2.15 million settlement allows the university system and its students and alumni to avoid full-blown lawsuits that would be costly and time-consuming, Samantha Warren, a spokesperson for the system, said in an email Wednesday.
Students at Orono’s main campus will receive a partial refund of their spring 2020 tuition and a portion of fees, while students at other campuses will receive a partial refund of a portion of the same semester’s fees, Warren said.
Students who enrolled in online-only classes at the beginning of the semester, who have not paid tuition or fees, or who left the system before March 16, 2020, are not eligible for a refund, according to the settlement agreement. Attorney fees will also be paid from the $2.15 million settlement fund and could amount to $716,666, which is one-third of the total fund.
Anyone with a question about the settlement, including about their individual payment information, should contact Apex directly at claims@apexclassaction.com or 800-355-0700, Warren said. A website, umsrefundlawsuit.com, has also been set up with information about the settlement.
Separate from the class action settlement, the system immediately reimbursed students who lived on campus during the spring 2020 semester for unused room and board.
In addition, the system distributed more than $45 million in funds provided by Congress through the U.S. Department of Education in the form of emergency tuition assistance grants related to the temporary disruption of campus operations.
Other universities across the country have settled similar lawsuits, each agreeing to pay millions of dollars to students enrolled during the spring 2020 semester.
American University and George Washington University in Washington DC have each agreed to a $5.4 million settlement with their former students. Johns Hopkins University paid $6.6 million, the University of Pennsylvania paid $4.5 million and Quinnipiac University in Connecticut paid $2.5 million.
Penn State reportedly reached a tentative settlement with its former students last month and could pay out a total of $17 million, according to news reports.
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